Chapter 1

Coded Reality

It all started on September 22nd, when the visual horror game Doki Doki Literature Club first came out. Right from the get-go the game quickly blew up with popularity, becoming a fan favorite in visual horrors and unique characteristics. Twenty-year-old Takumi Shogo finds himself to be an expert when it comes to visual novels of all kinds. Motivated by sheer excitement, his desire to unlock the truth and what endings the developer had planned. Despite being a hermit, in the real world he was just a regular college student who stayed in the campus dorms. During his free time, he would surf the internet, playing video games, or mess around with computer coding. The daily life, really. Outside of this life style, he kept up with his studies pretty fairly and got along with everyone he met.

["I-I love you!"]

"Yes." Takumi muttered under his breath while image on the screen changed to the protagonist hugging Sayori. In all the hours spent on achieving every single ending, rumors spread that there was actually a hidden ending in the game other than the one the developer offered. Many theories had begun appearing on social media formats, but many were fake which lead to the downfall of this false claim. Even the developer of DDLC denied there was ever an actual hidden ending. Despite this, Takumi continued to search for this false claim himself.

Now approaching the death of Sayori. Her hanging body left in the back of the game's window. Takumi rumbled through DDLC files, deleting, copying, saving. Even as going so far in messing with the game's codes. But even that didn't make any sort of progress whatsoever.

Spending the whole day reliving each character text and choices, there was no sign of that particular ending. With all hope gone down the drain, his wasted day seemed all for naught. "God damn it." Was all he could sum up in his efforts. Giving his body a good stretch after sitting in his computer chair all day. His arms and legs were stiff enough that they started to cramp up.

Night was approaching and classes started early tomorrow. Better get to bed he thought as morning came by fast. Hurrying into his pajamas, he made a quick effort to scramble up something to eat before bed. A sandwich or two could work. Maybe wash it down with a fizzy drink. Just as he was about to hit the sack, a notification appeared on his computer. Now it was completely normal to get messages from other users on Steam. Upon reading the message, the user under the name 'Soma' gave a brief description on how to unlock the supposedly secret ending. To Takumi, this was a whole lot of bullshit.

He didn't want to be reminded of his solid efforts in trying to find this hoax. But he would humor the guy with a little honesty and reluctantly read the instructions. It all seemed good to be true, too simple for him to do. "Apply a code?" Carefully reading the next sentence, the unknown user continued to persuade Takumi in trying out his theory. If it was full proof then why in the world would he want him to do this? Not that he cared much. But something about the other user felt off. It was a strange feeling all the same, although the faster he can finish this, the faster he can catch some sleep.

Following the instructions word for word; opening up the game's files and codes, Takumi finally managed to reach the end of the rope. Still having doubts that this would actually work, he ended up doing it anyways. More or less, it only took him a couple of minutes. On the screen were programming coding to the game itself. What he did was only alter the numbers and entered the codes given to him by the other Steam user. Once the preparations were complete the rest of the coding continued to overwrite itself in an orderly fashion. "What a relief. "He said, rebooting the game. Much to his surprise, the intro usually shown was now a black screen with the words 'Waiting for game' written across.

This puzzled him to the point of asking Soma for any sort of explanation. C'mon ya basterd. There was a brief silence before the user could give any sort of reply. "Thank you." Was the only response they'd given despite all the trouble he went through to import the codes. "You got to be kidding me." Before he knew it, the user went offline in an instant. Causing his suspicions to arise to the point of paranoia. It wasn't the fact that he couldn't give a proper explanation but the fact all of this could've been a trap that he could hack into his system using the game mechanics. Although nothing of the sort was ever done before, at least by the game itself. If he was ever to hack into his computer then he would need to corrupt the source before actually taking control. Spending a few more minutes searching every inch of his computer data for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. But there was nothing. Nothing of the sort.

With a sigh of relief. "Thank god." Relieved that nothing had happened to his computer. If the code he imported into the game were to trigger something, then that would only mean Soma's theory would prove to be correct after all. This riled his excitement but quickly swayed it away from his sleep deprived body. Before slipping into bed, he closed the browser and began shutting down his computer. With all the programs closing, next came a black screen where the main PC drive turned off. Shutting off all the lights, the room was enclosed in darkness besides the street lights emitting through the small cracks through the blinds. Can't wait for tomorrow he thought before shutting his eyes. Slowly drifting into a deep slumber.

...

...

...

Is anyone there?

Can anyone hear me?

Hello?

I know you are-

AHS3#Y 92# GS I8DMER SAWR DJSHWNE1342 2321JANSDJASD #! #SSAAS

[Starting game]

Chapter end

Author's notes:

Haven't did any writing in forever but I found the urge to write something for DDLC. The game did hit me harder than it should and it was fantastic game until the very end. This chapter is short but bittersweet. Longer chapters will be written in the future. Anyway, get a cup of tea, sit down, and enjoy the journey of Fitter and Happier. -TSK