(Ok, time to pull the next few chapters pretty much completely out of thin air, haha. Wish me luck!)

I do not own Doki Doki Literature Club or any of the characters portrayed in this story.

_

Since I've known Sayori for so long and we used to hang out often, I'm pretty well aquainted with her mother. She's almost like a second mother to me, even. At least she was when I actually used to spend a lot of time with Sayori... I'm not sure how that'll change when she finds out about Sayori and I dating, though. She's known for having an abnormal interest in romance stories, so it'll be a unique reaction, no matter the case. I guess I don't need to worry about that for now though, since I assume we're still planning to tell her during dinner.

'Well, here goes nothing...' I think to myself, standing up from the couch as I hear the door open.

"Good morning, Mrs. Saitō," I say with a small bow as she walks in. "It's nice to see you."

Sayori takes after her mother in a few ways. One of those ways is their physical appearances. Their faces are remarkably similar, although Mrs. Saitō is obviously quite older. She's a little bit taller than her daughter, and is a bit bigger, too. I wouldn't say that she's fat, or even unhealthy, but she's definitely bigger than average. Her hair is the same strawberry color as Sayori's, but it's longer and straighter (probably because she actually combs it), running down to about the level of her upper ribs. Her hair parts down the middle, and she has a red hair clip on either side of her head so that it falls behind her ears.

"Oh, Anon!" Mrs. Saitō smiles at me. "What a nice surprise! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well I came by to walk with Sayori to the festival. But, when I got here she..."

I find it harder to say than I thought. How can I tell her that her daughter stabbed her own arm? This will probably get really awkward on my end if I don't just say it though.

"Oh, did she oversleep?" Mrs. Saitō lifts her head as if she's listening for something, then sighs. "She's in the shower still? Well, you didn't have to stay behind for her this long."

"Y-Yeah, I did need to. I can't just leave her alone."

"Because of her depression?" Her expression suddenly becomes worried. "I was worrying a little about that, but it isn't that bad, right? She told me it's fine."

"I wasn't worried either, but..." I take a breath, steadying my nerves. "When I came in, I found her in her room and... She cut her arm with scissors."

"Huh?" Mrs. Saitō's face takes a second to register what I said before she becomes hysteric. "MY BABY HURT HERSELF?!"

"D-Don't panic," I say putting my hands up. "She's fine."

She grabs my shoulders and starts shaking me. "WHAT PART OF THIS IS FINE?"

"I already bandaged it up, and I don't think it's anything permanent," I say quickly, trying to get her arms off of my shoulders.

"YOU DON'T THINK IT'S PERMANENT?!" Mrs. Saitō grips my shoulders harder and shakes me more. "WHAT IF SHE GETS A SCAR? WHAT IF SHE CAN'T USE SOME OF HER FINGERS? WHAT IF HER ARM IS DISFIGURED? HOW BAD IS IT? WHAT IF SHE NEVER GETS A BOY TO LIKE HER?!"

"Calm down! It's not that bad. Besides, I wouldn't be worried about issues with boys anyway."

"W-Well, I guess, but... Wait..." She lets go of my shoulders. "What do you mean by that?"

I tense at her question, and I think she can see it.

"Do you... like her like that?" She asks, eyes widening.

"I, uh..." I assume we're still holding that discussion over dinner. "Can we... not talk about that right now?"

"Oh... OH MY GOODNESS!" Mrs. Saitō puts her arms around me with immense force. "IT'S YOUNG LOOOVE!"

It doesn't take much to distract Mrs. Saitō from the apparent panic she was just in. I already knew that air-headedness is another trait that Sayori got from her mother, but she's being even more air-headed than usual. Even aside from that, I'm shocked that she's happy about this, considering Sayori is her daughter and everything. But, I have something else to be worrying about right now...

'Sh-She's suffocating me!' I cry in my head, struggling to get the words out of my mouth.

"P-Please... Can't... Breath..." I choke out, weakly trying to wrestle from her crushing grip.

"I'm sorry!" She quickly let's me go and waves her arms around in excitement.

"You're not... upset or anything?" I gasp, regaining my breath.

"Goodness, no! Why would I be?"

"I don't know. I guess I expected you to be more... protective of your daughter?"

"Well, my husband would be. But, to be honest," Mrs. Saitō leans down and whispers to me. "I've been hoping that you liked her!"

"R-Really?!" I gasp out. "Wh-Why?"

"Because, we've known you for like 15 years! You're practically part of the family already! Besides, I trust you more than any other guy she might bring home."

"Y-Yeah, I guess that makes sense," I say with thought.

"Plus, I kinda think of you as a son that I never had, so how can't I root for you?" Suddenly, her expression turns serious, and she starts muttering to herself. "But, if I think of you as a son and she's my daughter, wouldn't that make it wrong? But, whoever marries her would legally be a son-in-law, so I guess I could see it that way. But that's completely different, right? I mean, it really doesn't matter, since you're not really family, but how should I feel about this...?"

I chuckle and take a step back. I guess I should have seen something like this coming, considering she is quite a shipper. She's been like that for as long as I remember, both for the TV shows she watches and sometimes in real life. I just didn't expect her to ship me with her own daughter. Through my own laughter and Mrs. Saitō's rapid muttering, I don't notice Sayori walking down the stairs.

"Wh-What is happening?"

I turn to see Sayori. Her uniform is slightly more neat than normal, and it looks like she combed her hair a little. Her bow is still a little crooked, though. Her skin seems to have some more color to it, though her eyes still look empty. As Mrs. Saitō turns to look at her daughter, her face loses its concentration and becomes panicked, like it was earlier.

"MY BABY!" she yells, running over to Sayori. "LET ME SEE YOUR ARM!"

"Why?" Sayori asks plainly.

"D-Didn't you hurt yourself?"

"Oh, yeah. But Anon fixed it for me." A small smile forms on her face.

"Did he do a good job?" Mrs. Saitō asks, pulling Sayori into a hug.

"Y-Yeah, he did great." Sayori's smile widens as she talks. "I'm sorry Mom, but we need to go. We're running behind already."

"Okay," Mrs. Saitō sighs as she releases her daughter. "Just don't get into any more trouble, or you'll have me worried sick."

"I'll try not to worry you anymore," Sayori says before turning to me. "Are you ready, Anon?"

"Yup," I say, turning to head to the door. "We're probably still on time to see a couple of the events."

"Mhmm, okay!" Sayori smiles at me.

"D-Do you two need lunch money for the festival? Or... anything?" Mrs. Saitō asks as I open the door.

"No. All of the food is free, because it's mostly provided by students," I explain.

"O-Okay. I guess I'll meet you two at the psychology office at 2:30?" she asks as we walk out.

"Yeah," I reply. "We'll text you if there's a change of plans."

"Alright! Have fun, you two!"

We wave and walk off together toward school. Sayori glances back a couple of times, then gives me a tight hug as soon as we're out of viewing distance from her house.

"Oh, Anon," she sighs. "... Thanks for helping with... my arm and everything..."

"Of course," I say, rubbing her head with my hand. "Oh, your bow is a little crooked. One second, let me just..."

We stop for a moment, and I grab the fabric on either end and rotate it, careful to avoid untying it. Once I straighten it, I give Sayori a tap on the nose.

"Boop," I say, laughing a little bit.

"Anon..." Sayori sighs, averting her eyes and blushing.

"Come on, let's keep walking." I take Sayori's hand in my own, and we resume the walk.

We're both silent for a moment, before Sayori asks, "What did you talk about with my mom?"

At her question, I chuckle. "I doubt you'd believe me."

"What is it? Just tell me."

"Alright. Well, I was telling her about your arm and she started freaking out. So, I tried to say something to reassure her. I forgot what it was, but she was able to guess that I like you more than as a friend."

"Did you... tell her that we're a couple?"

"No, but she pretty much said that I have her full support if I do ask you out."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah. She even told me that she has been shipping us together! Can you believe that?"

"M-My mom... said she ships us?!" Sayori looks at me in disbelief.

"Yeah. She said that I'm pretty much part of the family already, and that she'd trust me more than other boys."

"W-Well, I guess that makes sense. It's still surprising, though."

"Yeah. Do you still want to tell her during dinner?"

"Yuh-huh," Sayori nods her head and tightens her grip on me. "For now, let's just get the festival."

"Alright. Hopefully we can make it with enough time to catch our clubmates before they're done cleaning up."

"Ehehe~ We should probably hurry so that we can help them."

'Jeez, she's being so nonchalant after everything that happened this morning. I suppose she's right, and we should just focus on the festival for now, but I'm still super stressed by the entire situation.' I scratch my neck in thought.

"Anon? Ano~n?" Sayori snaps her fingers in front of my face. "Stop spacing out."

"Uh-? Oh!" I suddenly realize that we've already reached the school. "S-Sorry!"

"Were you thinking about this morning?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess so."

"Don't," she sighs. "Just keep going forward, you know?"

"U-Um, okay..." Looking at Sayori, I see her face is blank again, like this morning. "L-Let's go to the clubroom, then."

"Yeah."

We then start walking toward the stairs silently, to head to the literature club. I can already tell, this festival probably won't be as enjoyable for me as I'd like.

_

(Notes: Not gonna lie. I think this came out pretty well, considering I had no idea what to write as I went into this. Introducing: Sayori's mom, mega-shipper! I was debating whether to make Mrs. Saitō really over-protective or not, but in the end I decided that MC's long-time friendship with Sayori would make him somewhat bonded with her mom. Also, there's the airheaded nature which really blended well with it. I'm going to need some help, though! Ideas and the like for the festival. i.e., the kinds of food that'll be there, different events, etc. Input and feedback are greatly appreciated, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!)