A solemn sigh burst through Shujinkou's lips as he looked over what he had previously written. "Selfish… Maybe that's all I've been this whole time. I felt like I was being selfish ignoring the effect shutting myself away had on those I cared about. But even if I apologize… Does that even make it anywhere close to right? A good friend… All the things nice things that have been said to me… Can I really believe them?"

"Believe what?" Shujinkou glanced up from his sketchbook , his eyes widening with surprise when he realized Monika was standing next to him. "Monika?!"

He instinctively closed his sketchbook as she sat down next to him.

"Were you drawing something?" she asked, her curious eyes drawing to his book.

"No, I was just writing..." Shujinkou's cheeks slightly grew red as he stopped himself from saying anymore. "…about stuff… in my sketchbook… because I didn't have a regular book to write in… Please stop me…"

"I don't know, Shujinkou, I'm kinda enjoying watching you like this," Monika giggled. "But I'll change the subject for you."

"Thank you…"

"So, are you excited for the big festival tomorrow?"

"Mm-hmm," Shujinkou glanced out of the front entrance and briefly watched the storm he previously wrote about. It was so bad he could hardly see past it; like it was curtain blocking the outside world. "It's a good thing these kinds of things take place in the evening or else the whole thing would be ruined and that's the last thing we need."

"What do you mean by that?" Monika queried.

"It's just that we kind of had a little bad luck this so far on this trip," Shujinkou answered. "First we miss the entire first day due to trying to find a way here, then Natsuki was forced into the Royal Rumble which kept her from doing what she wanted to do and now we're trapped in here due to severe weather."

"I guess. But there are positives to go along with it. You still got to go back to an anime convention, we got to see a little of Fuyu's non-serious side, I got some insight thanks to Kiyoko, We learned that Rei is extremely good in a mob fight, Natsuki became queen of the convention and reconciled with Yuri…"

A surprise look crossed Shujinkou's face.

"We talked," Monika explained. "So, you shouldn't begin to think that things were bad for the most part."

Silence inserted itself in their conversation as Shujinkou glanced at his sketchbook. "Hey, Monika… Do you think I've been a good friend?"

"No, I don't think that at all," a smile crossed her face after saying that. "I know that. Been knew that."

"Been knew?" Shujinkou questioned.

"I just always had a feeling about that since last year."

"You thought that since last year?" the young man was unable to hide his surprise hearing such a thing. "From last year's me? Constantly daydreaming in class me?"

"Mm-hmm and it looks like I was right," Monika continued with a smile.

"Wow. That's really surprising you could think that from how I was last year." Shujinkou sighed and took another brief glance at his sketchbook. "Everyone keeps saying how I'm a little different from earlier this year and that I'm a good friend, but no matter how many times that's aid to me, I don't really feel that way. I mean, I know I'm not a sad sack anymore but… maybe everyone is just exaggerating."

"Hmm…" Monika remained silent as she turned her gaze away from Shujinkou. "Hey, Shujinkou… What are your happiest moments?"

"Huh? My happiest moments?"

"You know; moments where you're so happy you can't help but beam with joy. Moments like those are often given to a person by someone else," Monika's gaze, now filled with curiosity, returned to Shujinkou. "How do you feel when someone is feeling troubled?"

"I feel…" Shujinkou closed his eyes as he pondered Monika's question. "I feel uncomfortable."

"Which makes you want to…?"

"Cheer them up?"

"Mm-hmm. Doing such things is creating happy moments for those you do that for which, to that person, is very special to them."

"But, wouldn't that just mean that I'm doing it just so I feel better?"

"Hmm…" Monika completely turned away from the questioner for 2 minutes before turning back to say, "Let me ask you another question. How did you feel when Sayori asked you to join the club?"

"I felt disbelief that she even asked me in the first place, I felt uncomfortable being there and I had to leav- No, I wanted to leave, but…" Memories of what occurred the moment he tried to leave flashed through Shujinkou's mind, reminding him of one of his many regrets. "Sayori wanted me to join."

"And did you think that you needed to join just to clear your own guilty conscious?" Monika questioned.

"No, I… I just didn't want to imagine Sayori having such a face ever again."

"What about whenever Yuri and Natsuki were ever upset? Did you just try and make them feel better for selfish reasons or because you hate seeing them like that?"

"I guess the second one…"

"What about me?"

"Monika, I don't think I've really seen you upset."

"I guess I'm just good at hiding it. But I asked that to get to this; when you first joined the club, you made it clear that you held no value for yourself. You made remarks about how you had to do something to justify you being there even though I think being there for your friend is more than enough to justify that. And even though you initially came off as a little distant, you've always been respectful to us and considered our feeling. Whenever something came up, you never really hesitated to act even if it felt awkward on your part.

Going off what you said earlier, you were probably told something similar to that already. But let me add something to it." Monika's expression subtly changed as her cheeks slightly grew red. "You know, even though I'm supposed to be the president of the club, I'm not the one who brought us together."

"What do you mean?" Shujinkou asked.

"Sure, I may have created the club and may have had a hand in gathering us together, but truthfully, club relationships weren't that good. Maybe it was asking too much for us to be the best of friends at first, but things still weren't as good as they could have been back then. Natsuki and Yuri were at odds and somewhat isolated, Sayori's mind was only on one thing and I had no idea what I was doing. Then you came along and things started to change. Sayori's happiness knew no bounds now that she could hang out with her best friend and you slowly but surely befriended the rest of us too. It was through you, but the club seemed to be a little more connected than before all because you were being the very person you yourself doubted.

It was also nice for me personally because, I always did want to befriend you last year, but I really couldn't get anywhere beyond a couple of greetings. I really didn't know how to genuinely make friends with people. So you being around in the club gave me a chance to achieve that goal and it always astounded me that you looked down on yourself so much. Hanging out together, it was clear that not only you were kind and respectful, but you also knew how to have fun and are really creative. You're a great artist, a good listener and you just seem to have a knack for connecting to others. That last part is something I really respect about you.

It eventually got to the point that I started to think of you as the heart of the group, because without you, the rest of us wouldn't have begun to become friends with each other. Big things like slumber parties and small things like helping carrying manga from point A to point B wouldn't have been possible without your influence."

"She's right, Shujinkou!" Sayori's sudden appearance was enough to cause Shujinkou to jump back. "How can you still doubt yourself when you only joined the club to be a good friend?"

"That reason does make me feel like I was just trying to ease my own guilty conscious…" Shujinkou sorrowfully sighed.

"What about you promising me that you would try to be happier? Would you really go that far to keep such a promise just so you wouldn't feel guilty?"

"Um…"

"And then there was the fact that you spent an entire night planning a scavenger hunt like we always wanted to do as a surprise for me despite already cheering me up by that point. Was that only because you felt guilty?"

"I don't know, I think what I said after the adventure kind of lends to the guilty option."

"Geez, how stubborn can you be?" Shujinkou turned around and was surprised to Natsuki and Yuri standing behind him. The annoyed expression on the former's face was something he hasn't seen from her for awhile. "Monika's text said that you needed cheering up, but I didn't know it was for something like this.

She then crossed her arms in a huff as her cheeks grew rosy red. "Even after everything I said to you last night, you still don't get it?"

"I knew you had your own moments, but I never realize your self-depreciation reached such bounds," Yuri lamented.

"That may be a bit of an exaggeration…" Shujinkou replied.

"Not really, it's just not the only thing. It seems like your stubbornness also knows no bounds," Natsuki interjected. "Seriously, there's being humble and just being annoyingly stubborn. Why is it so hard for you to accept your good points despite you constantly pointing out others?"

"It's just that… I think you guys are making some of the stuff I did seem bigger than they are," Shujinkou solemnly answered. "Especially since I was never the one to do special things. I just… do things…"

An awkward silence inserted itself into the conversation until Sayori finally spoke up, "Shujinkou, you think you may just have joined the club to ease your own guilty conscience. Is that really all there is to it? Is that what our friendship really means to you? You said that you wanted to be best friends again but was that only just so you didn't want to feel guilty?"

"When you first left, I realized that I was being selfish by pressuring you into doing something you didn't want to do. I admitted that much to you."

"But you were just trying to be a good friend," Shujinkou argued.

"So, if what I did was me being a good friend, then how is what you've done any different?"

Shocked by such a point, Shujinkou could only silently scratch his right cheek.

"And what about everything else you've done since then?" Sayori continued. "Was that you being selfish too? Because if you say it's not, then there's only one other thing that could possibly mean."

"But…"

"For the love of-!" Suddenly, Natsuki firmly gripped Shujinkou's shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes. "Just admit it already, Shujinkou. We've all said it, so why can't you? Stop acting like your something you're not and just admit that you're a good friend already!"

Once again stricken with silence, Shujinkou could do nothing but have every moment he's been through for his first semester flash in his head. Remembering such things in the face of his friends trying to get him to admit something he struggled to admit…

At that moment, he was finally able to respond, but not in the way anyone expected him to. Natsuki slowly released her grip on Shujinkou as she watched tears flow out of his eyes.

"Thank you…" he sniffled.

"Come on… You're a boy. Boys don't cry," Natsuki reminded him.

Shujinkou nodded his head; the moment he finished he noticed a handkerchief enter his field of view.

"You can use this, if you want," Yuri offered with a gentle smile.

"Thanks…" Accepting the gift, the young man began to wipe his tears.

"You know what this moment calls for…" an excited grin crossed Sayori's face ash she wrapped her arms around her best friend. "Group hug!"

"Eh?! Natsuki exclaimed.

"Seconded," Monika smiled as she joined in the hug.

"Ah…" Yuri nervously glanced away from the group for a moment and then turned back with a small smile on her face. She then slowly moved closer to the others and joined their group embrace.

"Come on, Natsuki," Sayori insisted.

"Uh…" Natsuki's crossed her arms in a huff with an unsure expression resting on her face. In no time at all she sighed and relented. "…Fine."

With rosy cheeks, she awkwardly moved towards the others and just as awkwardly joined in. "Just don't make this a regular thing…"

"We can make this a regular thing?" Sayori's already excited grin grew even bigger as she pondered that idea.

"Dang it!" she regretfully thought.

As the hug continued, Shujinkou realized something. He felt no awkwardness, no embarrassment nor conflict. There was only one thing he felt at that moment.

"I always considered myself lucky to have Sayori in my life and now I have even more friends," he thought. His lips trembled as he thought about that. But that only lasted for a moment. Before long, he found himself smiling. "I'm… I'm happy."

A/N: Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm planning on making another afterword chapter and I wanted to know if anyone had any questions they specifically wanted an answer to. I plan on it being a bit of a retrospective on the chapters so far so it could be about anything. It could be about, just off the top of my head, Shujinkou's family dynamic, could be about who I matched up with on the various quizzes, could be about how it took me 2 years to realize I misspelled the Couples' Dessert chapter as "Couples' Desert" (I have to remember that if I make a romance novel that takes place in a desert). Keep in mind that there will of course be questions that cannot be answered at the time being. That said, if no one cares for this note or the afterword chapters, that's fine. I just thought I should ask.