A/N: Welcome to my new story about the four girls of the Doki Doki Literature Club! I hope you enjoy reading as Alex gets to know Sayuri, Natsuki, Yuri, and the president of the club, Monika.

"Hey! Are you ready? What are you waiting around for?" A familiar voice roused Alex from his slumber.

Normally he was up early enough to meet his neighbour outside, but he'd stayed up late the previous night playing video games and slept through this morning's alarm. Luckily, he hadn't taken any of his books out of his backpack last night, so he could throw on a change of clothes, grab his bag and run outside.

"Sorry I kept you waiting! I must've slept through my alarm this morning," he said to the girl waiting outside.

"That's okay… but today of all days! You promised that you'd come to literature club with me after school. How would you do that if you got detention for being late for first period?"

"Well… that's what I have you for!" Alex gave his neighbour a gentle mock punch on the shoulder. "Actually Sayuri, it's usually me waking you up in the morning, why so eager today?"

She looked down at her shoes and the boy could see a slight blush colour her cheeks. "Today's special," she mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"W-we should get going or we'll be late!" Sayuri started briskly walking towards school and he had to drop the subject to run after her. Catching up from behind, he couldn't help but notice her pale, slender legs curving down from the hem of her skirt towards her knee socks. He wasn't sure, but it seemed like her skirt was shorter than usual. Not that he was the kind of boy to stare at girls' skirts.

Putting that thought out of his mind, he caught up with Sayuri and they chatted amiably on the way to school. Since they weren't in the same class, they parted ways at the stairs in the entrance hall. "Don't forget: Room 2-A after class today!" Sayuri called over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs.

Alex wasn't really that excited about going to literature club, but he didn't have that much to lose. He'd promised Sayuri that he'd come for one meeting, mostly because they were childhood friends and she'd long ago learned how to push the right buttons to get him to do things for her. It helped that Sayuri had mentioned he'd be the only boy in the literature club. He enjoyed having plenty of free time to himself to chill and play video games, but he'd reached the point where he'd sacrifice a little bit of that time to a cute girl.

"Room 2-A, right," he muttered as he walked down the hall to his homeroom.

The day passed in a blur. Soon Alex found himself standing outside Room 2-A, one hand outstretched to knock. Although earlier in the day he wasn't concerned about stopping by Sayuri's literature club, now he was starting to have second thoughts. However, he knew how upset Sayuri would be if he bailed at the last minute, so he steeled himself and knocked on the door.

"Door's open, come on in!" someone called back from inside. He pushed the door open and stepped into Room 2-A. He had made the right decision. Sitting with Sayuri at a cluster of tables were three very cute girls: a short, pink-haired girl sitting with her arms crossed and an exaggerated scowl on her face, a tall girl with long, flowing purple hair engrossed in her book, and one with shimmering green eyes and long hair held up by a bow.

He knew the third girl, Monika, from class. Almost every other guy in their class had asked her out in the past and she shot down every single one. If all the chiselled athletes, charming artists, and erudite academics hadn't measured up to her standards, Alex knew an ordinary guy like him had no chance with her.

Monika stood up from the table and smiled at him, "You're… Alex, right? Sayuri mentioned that she had a friend who promised to join to literature club, but I never thought it would be you! Come sit down!" Monika nudged the girl next to her, rousing her from her reverie. "Hey, Yuri, snap out of it, we have a new member!"

There was a seat open between Sayuri and Yuri, so Alex walked over and sat down. "Ummm… I didn't actually promise Sayuri that I'd join the literature club, just that I'd come for a meeting." At his words, the four girls' faces fell. He looked around the table at each of their reactions, quickly regretting his words.

"Why'd I even make cupcakes for him. Sayuri, you're so stupid!" the pink-haired girl said, turning her scowl on Sayuri. Yuri's eyes met his, then quickly darted down to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sayuri's eyes start to well up with tears.

Even the usually unflappable Monika seemed downcast. "Do you really mean that? We were so excited to have another member in our club."

Alex knew he had to salvage this situation if he wanted a chance with any of these girls. "I mean… I didn't want to promise I'd join because I was worried I wouldn't feel welcome. But you're all so welcoming that I definitely want to join!" It was a white lie. He did want to spend some more time with the girls, even if he had relatively little interest in literature itself.

The four brightened up immediately. Monika beamed at him and said, "I'm so happy to hear that! Let me introduce the club members to you then! You already know Sayuri, our pink-haired baker is Natsuki, the bookworm here is Yuri, and I'm the club president, Monika. We're so excited to have you here!" She pointed to each girl as she spoke, finishing with a hand on her chest, and each girl responded with a nod and a smile. "Getting back to club business, we were going to spend some time reading before we talked about our books, but since you don't have a one–"

"I-I don't mind sharing," Yuri said quietly. She moved her chair over, pushing her book so it rested on the table between Alex and her.

It was an extremely sizeable book, and Alex noticed she was already 300 pages deep. "But you're so far through it, and I'd have to start from the beginning. You don't have to share with me. I'll just go grab a book from the library or something."

Yuri giggled softly. "I don't mind. I-I just get lost in the author's imagery anyway, so it doesn't matter to me if I read it again. Maybe I'll just put a bookmark in at my page and I can…" She looked around quizzically. "I thought I left it somewhere around here."

"Here, you can use this as a bookmark." Alex grabbed a pen from his bag and handed it to her.

"Oh, thank you. I'll be sure to give it back to you!" She put the pen in the book, hooking the cap over the page she was reading, then flipped back to the first page. "I'm sure you'll like this book. It's all about a quiet girl who discovers her inner strength. Then she falls in love with a handsome prince and she saves him from the evil witch that tries to take him away. I just love this one phrase the author uses where the girl defeats the witch. It goes like 'when her hand reached out to touch the witch, she felt nothing but dust. Dust, like the eternal shadow that covers that which lies dying and forgotten.' It's so beautiful."

Alex was taken aback. Unlike when talking normally, her voice didn't quiver, nor did she stutter. "You… must really like this book," he said, looking at her in surprise.

Her face turned bright red and she quickly averted her eyes. "W-well I-I..." She couldn't finish her sentence.

Alex's eyes widened. "That's a good thing! I can't wait to get started." Trying to direct her attention away from her nerves, he turned the pages to the start of the first chapter, then started to exaggeratedly focus on reading the story. Without turning his head, he could see a small smile form on Yuri's lips and she turned to focus on the book as well.

At first, he would ask her if she was finished with the page before turning to the next page, but it seemed to break her concentration, and the answer was always yes, so he started turning the page once he finished.

They stayed like this for a long time, silently reading, passing the page from Alex's right hand, holding one corner, to Yuri's left, holding the other. After many minutes, Monika's voice caused both to look up. "I didn't even realize, but we read right through discussion time. Guess it's time to go home!" She smiled while sticking her tongue and tilting her head to one side, an adorable look in Alex's eyes.

Sayuri looked over at Alex. "Ready to walk home?" She glanced at Yuri and smiled warmly. "Yuri, don't you live in the same direction? Why don't you walk home with us?"

The taller girl smiled back. "I-I'd love to. I-I mean, if that's okay with you, Alex." Her eyes grew worried as she turned to Alex.

"Of course, that's fine with me. Why don't you keep my pen until tomorrow? You can use it as a bookmark until you get home then bring it back tomorrow."

Yuri's eyes widened. "That's so nice of you! Thank you so much!"

"It's really no big deal."

Sayuri cut in. "Shall we get going?"

Alex and Yuri nodded. After packing their bags, Alex, Sayuri, and Yuri stood up and walked towards the door.

Monika smiled at the trio and waved. "I'll see you tomorrow. Remember to bring your books!"

As they walked home, Alex and Sayuri talked about their classes, with Yuri occasionally breaking her silence to make a comment. They came first to Yuri's house, and after wishing her a good night, Sayuri and Alex walked onwards. Finally, they reached their houses and promised to see each other in the morning for the walk to school.

The next day, Alex once again found himself at Room 2-A. This time, he didn't bother to knock, opening the door and walking inside. As expected, the four girls were waiting for him inside. He sat down next to Yuri, who gave him a shy smile and pulled the book they'd read out of her bag.

Monika broke the silence. "We're going to do some reading again. Hopefully this time I won't be a total goof and forget to call us together before club time ends."

Alex reached out to start flipping to the page where they'd stopped yesterday, but Yuri reached out a hand to stop him. Their hands touched, and Yuri jerked hers back in surprise. "I-I didn't mean to do that! I just wanted to say maybe we could sit on the f-floor today. I-it's better for my b-back." She seemed to be shaking as much as her voice.

Alex's eyes drifted down her body. "Yeah, your… posture must be really hard on your back."

"Y-yes, that's exactly it. M-my posture."

Despite the sense that both knew she was lying, Alex was happy to humour her and stood up from his chair, gesturing towards an open spot underneath one of the windows.

Yuri blushed, but stood up and followed Alex over to the window, sitting on the ground with her back against the wall and her legs tucked demurely underneath her. Alex sat down cross-legged beside her and reached out to hold one corner of the book. Unlike yesterday, when he could easy let his other hand hang freely in the space between them, Yuri had moved so close that there was no space in between. He was uncomfortably aware that he had nowhere to put his arm so that it was neither touching her, nor weirdly held across his body, making it obvious that he was avoiding touching her.

He decided to take the confident approach, letting his arm slide down to rest on his leg, and letting his elbow relax onto her lap. He pretended not to notice as though he was already engrossed in the book. He felt her tense slightly at his touch, but seeing no reaction, she relaxed and turned her attention to the book. She even slid over further, and Alex could feel the curve of her body against his side, taxing his every effort to remain focused on the book.

They stayed like this, reading in silence, until Monika called the group together. "Reading time's up! Since it's Friday, we'll just have to read by ourselves over the weekend. But be sure to be ready to discuss on Monday!" She turned to Yuri and Alex with a puzzled expression on her face. "Since you two are sharing one book, I guess you'll have to make some plans for the weekend." She gave Yuri a sly smile and continued, "Just try and stay focused on the book, we can't have you coming in on Monday and not having read anything because you were busy with other stuff."

Alex and Yuri glanced at each other, then looked away awkwardly. Alex wondered if Monika had been reading his mind, since focusing on the book was the last thing that Alex had planned to do if Yuri came over during the weekend. For her part, Yuri seemed so flustered that even her typical stutters deserted her, leaving her speechless.

"I was only kidding you two! Hope you have a good weekend!" Monika grabbed her bag and left the room, with Natsuki and Sayuri trailing closely behind after bidding their farewells.

Now Yuri and Alex were alone. He turned to her, only to see her frozen from shock. He decided if he didn't break the silence, they may still be standing here until Monday morning. "Hey Yuri, maybe we should exchange numbers… y'know, so we can plan to meet up over the weekend."

"O-oh yes, of course!" Yuri handed Alex her phone and waited as he entered his number in her contacts. "I can text you my number if you want."

"Maybe you should enter your number in my phone now, just in case," Alex said, handing her his phone.

Yuri giggled, slightly embarrassed, but entered her number into his phone and handed it back, her hand shaking slightly. "I'm busy tomorrow, but if y-you wanted to meet on S-Sunday, I-I'm free then."

"Yeah, that's sounds good, I'll see you then."

Once again, there was an awkward silence.

Alex spoke up, "Maybe we should start walking home? We live in the same direction, so we can walk back to your house together."

Yuri seemed startled, but smiled and agreed. The duo picked up their bags and walked out. The awkward silence settled into an amicable quiet as they walked home.

Saturday passed without much note. As much as Alex had enjoyed the literature club, to his surprise, he liked having an entire day to catch up on his video games.

On Sunday, Alex tidied up his room and hid a few of his more embarrassing belongings in his closet. Before long, he heard his doorbell ring and a text arrive on his phone, both telling him that Yuri had come as promised.

He walked downstairs, let her in, and suggested that they go upstairs to his room.

As he expected, Yuri blushed at the suggestion and couldn't meet his eyes, but she nodded and followed him up the stairs to his room. When they arrived, they sat down on the floor as they had on Friday and Yuri pulled out the book to read. To Alex's surprise and carefully concealed delight, not only was Yuri sitting just as close as before, but she was outright leaning into him, resting a bit of her weight against his side. Not wanting to break the spell that captured Yuri's attention and allowed her to relax, he pretended to pay their position little mind and opened the book to their page from Friday.

After a couple dozen pages, Yuri seemed to relax further, letting her body slide closer so that her weight shifted from Alex's side to resting gently against his chest. Her leg had moved underneath his, and he could feel the warmth of her thigh through her tights and his sweatpants. Alex's eyes slid from the pages of the book to the girl pressed against him, seeing the curve of her chest under her sweater.

This was it. The moment where he made his move. Now or never. He stretched his free arm over his head, then brought it down around Yuri, his hand on her hip, pulling her closer to him.

No reaction. She remained transfixed by the page in front of her.

"Hey Alex, you're taking a long time to finish this p–" She stiffened, noticing their position and Alex's arm around her. "A-Alex, w-what are you doing?"

Time to play it cool. He slowly placed the book they were holding on the ground and turned his head to face her, keeping an arm wrapped around her. "I was just so caught up in the book that I must've just done what felt most natural."

The silence dragged on, but since Yuri hadn't pulled away, for once Alex decided to wait until Yuri wanted to break it.

Eventually, she spoke. "W-well, I guess that's okay." To Alex's surprise, she turned and placed a hand gently on his chest. "I-I don't know how to say this exactly, but…"

Alex waited as she gathered her courage to continue.

"You've been spending a lot of time with me since you joined the literature club. E-even though you're Sayuri's friend, and Monika's in your class, and I'm just the weird quiet girl who likes poetry and novels, a-and…" Her eyes glanced downwards, then rose to meet his. "I-it's really n-nice. I've never had a friend like you before, s-so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do."

The moment of truth. Alex placed his now-free hand on her cheek, cupping her face gently. He smiled, saying, "What would happen next in one of your books?" and started to lean in closer.

Yuri blushed, but her lips parted in a timid smile and mirrored him, leaning closer.

Alex felt her breath for a moment, then their lips touched softly. Her fingers curled, grabbing the fabric of his t-shirt and his arm pressed more firmly on her back, holding her against him. His lips moved slowly stroking hers and she hesitantly started to echo his movement.

After what seemed to both to be an eternity, they pulled apart. Yuri's cheeks blushed a deep red, but her eyes never left Alex's face. "T-that was really…" she said.

"Yeah."

"S-so does this mean… do you want… are you…" she tried to find the words to express the questions stirring in her heart.

"I'd like that."

"M-me too."

"Then…" he gently tugged at her face with soft fingertips. She smiled and start to lean towards–

Then Yuri stood up.

Alex looked at her in shock, but Yuri seemed as surprised as he was. "Yuri, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. If this is moving too quickly, just let me know. Why don't we go back to our book? We don't want to make Monika upset because we didn't finish our assigned reading."

"I-I'm sorry. I-I don't know why I did that. I-I'm just so new to this that I don't know what I'm doing." She sat down beside him, close enough to be touching, but less intimately than the fleeting moments before.

But Yuri suddenly remembered that she had to be home for dinner soon.

"W-wait! I'm so sorry, but I just remembered! I have to go! My parents will be waiting for me for dinner!" She stood up and started to haphazardly pack her bag.

Alex was now completely confused. "But it's barely four in the afternoon and you live less than ten minutes away." He stood up and took her hand. "Yuri, I'm sorry if this made you uncomfortable. I just think you're really pretty and sweet and smart, and I went with what felt natural."

Yuri seemed even more flustered than before. "I-I'm sorry! This isn't because of anything you did. I-I really liked it," and in a quieter voice, she added, "and you." Her expressed grew determined and she put a hand on his cheek and pulled him in for a quick, but affectionate kiss.

When they pulled apart, they spent a moment searching each other's eyes, then Yuri turned, finished packing her bag, and ran downstairs out of the house.

Alex slumped down on the floor beside his bed. "Girls… I'll never understand them." But he knew that it could've gone much worse, and he'll see her at literature club tomorrow. He could sort things out then.

Walking to Room 2-A, Alex noticed that a crowd had gathered outside the classroom. At the centre, Monika stood arguing with the school headmaster, while Yuri and Sayuri stood in shock, tears gathering in their eyes. Alex broke into a run and pushed his way through the crowd to the three girls.

"W-what the hell is going on?"

Sayuri turned to him first. "I-it's Natsuki… she… she's dead! H-her body is in the classroom and she's dead!" Her words seemed to break the dam holding back her and Yuri's emotions and both broke into sobs, turning to hold each other.

All feeling seemed to drain from Alex's body. The world felt sluggish, like he was trying to drag himself through water. His vision blurred. He couldn't speak.

His head slowly turned to Monika, who had started shouting at the headmaster. "How can you cancel literature club? This is all we have… I just wanted… how could you… why are you ruining everything?"

Alex felt dizzy. The world twisted in front of his eyes.

"WHY ARE YOU RUINING EVERYTHING?"