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

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Sayori is silent the whole time while I explain everything to Yashiro. Her depression, the events of yesterday, the living situation, and the meaning of the conversation he had walked in on. Yashiro's expression grows more sour as he hears more of the story, until the telling is over. Once we reach the turn for his walk, we just stand in silence on the street corner. The only sound that breaks the silence is Sayori's occasional sniff.

"I-I uh," Yashiro finally stutters. "I'm sorry for being such an ass all the time."

"Language," Sayori mutters, looking up at Yashiro from my shoulder.

"R-Right, sorry," Yashiro apologizes with an uncomfortable chuckle. "I just... I had no idea... A-And I'm sorry for what I said yesterday too! A-About you two being late!"

"You better be," Sayori says with a huff.

"We should go," I sigh. "Her mom should have gotten the depression medication by now."

"Yeah... I hope you feel better Sayori." Yashiro gives us a thumbs up and maybe the most genuinely kind smile I've ever seen from him."If you guys ever need anything, I really don't live that far away."

"Alright, I'll let you know," I say, smiling in return. "See you tomorrow, Yashiro."

"See you guys."

Yashiro waves as he walks off down his street. This is what I meant when I said that he's a good guy if you get to know him. Behind all of the dirty jokes and rough demeanor, he really cares about his friends, and he's pretty dependable if you need him to be. I think that he's talking to himself as he walks home, though.

"Sayori, I'm... I'm sorry I let it get that bad," I say quietly.

"It wasn't your fault Anon," Sayori whispers, moving her arms from around my arm to around my torso.

"I know," I sigh, hugging her around her shoulders. "I just wish I did more."

"I-If we didn't... If we didn't do those things over the weekend, then... I don't think I could have stopped myself... I only held on because I knew you'd hurt if I didn't. Y-You saved my life, Anon!"

"You shouldn't need to be saved at all. Sayori..." I bring my hand up to her cheek and move her head to look at me. "Promise me that you'll never do anything like that."

"I-I won't! I'll be with you forever!" Sayori sniffles and a tear falls which I quickly wipe away.

"Did you tell the psychologist about it?"

"N-No, but I think he knows that I've thought about it..."

"... We should let you take your medicine," I say, pulling her with me in the direction of her house. "Let's go."

"Mhm," she agrees, walking next to me and holding me.

It isn't too long before we reach her house, since we do live near Yashiro. Mrs. Saitō's car is in the driveway when we arrive, giving me hope that she has the medicine already. We walk up through the gate and to the door, Sayori holding me the whole time. Sayori opens the perpetually unlocked door and we walk in.

"Mom, we're home!" Sayori calls out as we take off our shoes.

Mrs. Saitō peeks her head out from the kitchen and waves, replying with, "Welcome back you two!"

We make our way to the kitchen, where Mrs. Saitō is unloading groceries.

"Hey Mom," Sayori says, "did you already get my medicine?"

Mrs. Saitō gestures to a paper bag on the counter. "Oh, yeah. It's right there in that bag."

"Should I take it now, or...?"

"Yeah, go ahead. It's one pill per day, so you can take it every day after school."

We both set down our backpacks outside the kitchen. Sayori walks over to the fridge and grabs a water bottle, then takes the pill bottle out of the bag.

"How long until she feels any better?" I ask Mrs. Saitō, watching Sayori swallow the medicine.

"Supposedly, it usually takes about 6 weeks to start working," Mrs. Saitō sighs.

"6 weeks?!" I exclaim. "That's way too long!"

"It could be faster with the therapy added on," she says, standing up from the pantry. "Do you mind helping me put this stuff away?"

"Oh, uh, sure," I say, grabbing groceries from the counter. "Where do you want the pickles?"

Sayori joins us, and the groceries are all put away fairly quickly. Once that's done, Mrs. Saitō shoos us away to start on our homework while she watches TV. First we take off our school uniforms and change into more comfortable day wear, then we take our homework into Sayori's bedroom to work together.

"6 weeks, huh?" Sayori huffs, taking out her math book and sitting on the floor.

"It's too long," I agree, opening up my binder. "You shouldn't need to wait that long."

"It's alright," Sayori says, looking up at me. "As long as I'm with you."

"Yeah, yeah," I sigh, scooting to sit next to her. "Same here babe."

"Ehehe~" Sayori giggles as she leans in to kiss my lips. "Hmm, it's still so hard to believe. T-That we're dating, I mean."

"This is just the 5th day," I say, running a hand through her hair. "We haven't even been going out for a week yet."

"It feels like so much has happened so fast..."

"We've definitely been pretty busy. Speaking of busy, how much homework do you have?"

"Oh, just math and science... and history. I have to study for an English test, too."

"I don't have to study for a test, so I'll help you once I'm done with my homework."

"Sounds good to me," Sayori sighs, laying on the floor and starting on her first math problem.

I get started on my homework too. We both go between different assignments, and even help each other out on our papers. Between, there are a few times where we end up getting tangled on the floor, laughing, and start kissing and cuddling. I've never had this much fun doing my homework in my life. Sure it isn't very time efficient, but we end up getting most of it done before Mrs. Saitō calls us to eat dinner.

"It's just a beef bowl tonight," Mrs. Saitō sighs apologetically. "I got too caught up in a TV show and didn't have time to make anything better."

"It's fine with me," I say with a light chuckle. "This is still way fancier than I usually manage for myself."

"Besides, everything you make tastes great, Mom!" Sayori says with a wide smile.

"Thanks, but this really isn't my best effort," Mrs. Saitō sighs again.

After swallowing a piece of beef, I speak up, "I think it tastes great! Thanks a lot, Mrs. Saitō!"

"Mhm!" Sayori hums in agreement with her mouth full.

"Aha, well I'm glad you like it. How are you two doing on your homework?"

"Moshtly done!" Sayori says with another mouthful.

"Yeah, then she needs to study for an English test," I add.

"Boo!" Sayori exclaims.

"I'll leave if you don't study."

"N-No! Y-You wouldn't do that!"

"No I wouldn't, but you're going to study anyway."

"Eeeh, but Ano~n!"

Mrs. Saitō chuckles as she watches us go back and forth. "Are you sure you two aren't distracting each other by doing homework in the same room?"

"Eh, only a little bit," Sayori admits. "B-But it'd be way more distracting if he wasn't there!"

"How so?"

"Every time I start spacing out, he makes me keep working!" Sayori says, nodding her head. "He's a good influence!"

"And I don't think I'd be able to get anything done either," I say. "I'd be worrying too much."

"Y-Young love!" Mrs. Saitō squeaks and chokes back tears.

"Mooooom!" Sayori groans and I chuckle at her exasperated face.

The three of us finish the food soon enough and clean up, and then Sayori and I make our way back to our homework. I finish mine first and lay down next to Sayori on the floor, who has herself covered with a blanket that looks suspiciously comfy.

"Coming along well?" I inquire, looking at the field of physics equations on her paper.

"Yeah, I just have to solve two more electromagnet circuits," she sighs, sounding somewhat content.

"Do you need any help?" I put my hands on her shoulders from behind.

"Nope! Just stay there and watch! Ehehe~"

Sure enough, Sayori demonstrates that she knows how circuits work, muttering about the relationships of current and voltage between resistors in series and parallel. Once she finishes, she slams her binder shut on the paper.

"Done!" she shouts, standing up then falling back into her bed. "Anon, what do you wanna do now?"

"Study for your English exam," I deadpan.

"Boo!"

"C'mon, get up," I say, grabbing her hands and pulling her up from the bed.

When Sayori gets up, she immediately grabs me around the waist. "I don't wanna!"

"At least the vocabulary part."

"Grrr," Sayori grumbles, holding me tighter. "Fine."

"I'll help," I say, rubbing her shoulders. "It won't be that bad."

Sayori sighs and opens up her binder to take out the vocabulary sheet. Really it's all memorization, so it isn't too difficult to get into a rhythm. We're at it for about half an hour before Sayori plops onto her bed again.

"Done!" she exclaims.

"There's more than just vocab babe."

"Don't call me that while you're trying to make me study!"

"Why not?" I laugh, laying down next to her on the bed.

"Because it doesn't make me want to do homework. It makes me want..." She looks over at me, smiling a bit, and puts her hands around my shoulders. "It makes me wanna kiss you..."

"If you insist–" I start before Sayori pulls me into her lips.

"Can we take a little break?" she whispers, pulling away so slightly that our lips are actually still brushing with each other.

"Yeah, I guess," I concede, pecking her lips slightly.

Sayori rolls over on top of me, giggling, before leaning down and kissing me again. I put one of my hands around her back, and with the other I cup her cheek and brush the waves of her hair from her face. I open my eyes for a moment, and all I can see is the red blush that's spread across her cheeks and her nose. Sayori lets my lips go for a second to breathe.

"Y-You're feeling better?" I ask, panting.

"A bit," Sayori huffs. "I just... feel so safe with you."

"Safe from what?" I ask, still breathing heavily.

"Myself," she says before coming right back down, and I surrender to the warmth as she grips my shoulders. We hold each other there, continuing to kiss for even longer than the first time. "Aaah," she exhales as she finally pulls herself back up. "I love you... so much Anon."

"I... love you too," I pant, trying to regain my own breath.

We stay there, looking at each other for a while. I memorize every detail of her face, from her soft eyes to her wide blush to her small smile. It's hard to believe that I didn't realize my feelings until just a few days ago. And we just had our first kiss yesterday, yet here we are now, comfortable like it's always been the case. Was I really just that dense before? I can't help but chuckle a little at my own stupidity.

"Ehehe~ What's so funny?" Sayori giggles along with me.

"Nothing, nothing. Just thinking."

"Thinking 'bout what?"

"We only had our first kiss yesterday, and now look at us."

"Ehehe, I guess so," Sayori says, leaning down and kissing my cheek. "I just thought that, since we already had our first kiss, we wouldn't need to worry about that."

"Are you mocking what I said yesterday?" I chuckle.

"A little bit, ehehe~... Yesterday... Oh the festival!" She suddenly jerks up with wide eyes.

"What about it?" I ask, growing a bit concerned and sitting up.

"We never saw each other's poems!" she exclaims, stumbling off of the bed to grab her backpack.

"O-Oh right, I forgot!" I say, getting up as well to grab my folder from my backpack.

_

(Notes: Next week, I'll finally get those poems out of the way. I mean it. Really. Also, Sayori is gonna be a happy girl for the next couple chapters! Don't worry though, she'll be sad again soon enough! I guess she's going to be in for some high highs and low lows. Also, I'm pretty certain that I'll do that less appropriate follow-up story that I mentioned a while back. It'll be a while before then, but just in case you were wondering. As always, feedback and input are greatly appreciated and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!)