Rewrite Note: (24/01/2025) 6k to 7k
Wow, I never realized I had so many freaking problems with using I instead of He/Issei.
A bit of feedback from a while ago made me change how this chapter went out, instead of issei immediately moving on from Sayori, and also trying to help Natsuki, I made it so that there is a bit of doubt, similar to him with love, Raynare and such in the original DxD.
I genuinely look forward to the few small bits I added here that will expand a bit the background of a few of these relationships.
Issei couldn't sleep.
He found himself unable to rest, as he got up from the bed, he looked at the clock, it was almost midnight, just when it was about to become Tuesday.
He spent the whole time in his room, not going out to eat, nor drink or do anything, he felt like he didn't need to nor found the point to do so.
Monday was spent in his bed rotting away.
That image was impossible to forget, it was a hanging body after all, there was no way for him to erase such an impactful image from his brain.
He blamed himself for what had happened. If he could go back in time, like he tried, then he would have tried to say something else.
Yet... would telling her that he loved her have changed anything? Sayori loved Cordis, so there was no chance for her to accept his feelings, making her feel even guiltier.
"If I could be reborn... I would wish to never feel such heartbreaks." He whispered.
That reality would forever be impossible, even if reincarnation did exist, he was bound to this world by the Writer's System.
A curse he believed, up to this point, all those fantasies he had about this system perished as nothing went how he wanted.
This wasn't here to help him, it was here to make him fit into this so-called story.
But... perhaps he still held onto the hope that maybe he could revive again. It was the only thing keeping him from truly shutting down and giving up.
He looked at the clock he saw as it went to 00:00. A week has now passed since the day he joined the Literature Club.
Just then, the Writer's System gave him yet another message, it seemed like it was the next quest.
Quest #6
Resuscitated Heart
Condition: Join the Literature Club
Failure: You don't join the Literature Club
Accept
What? But wasn't he already a member there?
Issei looked confused over the new quest, he expected it to be something else, but now it simply intrigued him. Did something happen on the day of the festival?
His intrigue turned into fearful confusion. Did he get kicked out for not being there the day of the festival?
He was unsure as to whether he wanted to follow or not, but he had no choice either way.
Begrudgingly, he waited until it was morning. Not sleeping at all during that time.
Each time he closed his eyes, yet again, that haunting image appeared. He dreaded what would happen should he dream during his sleep.
A knock on his door made him snap out of his thoughts.
It was his mother, telling him to get ready for school.
He got up and tried to be as natural as possible, he knew there was something going on.
This change in her attitude compared to these past few days was too sudden.
Gone was that sad look and sympathetic care that had helped him to try and recover from that haunting event.
Instead, her usual attitude towards him was back.
There was something going on, he just knew it.
"Ise, is there anything wrong?" His father asked as he looked at his son's sudden change of mood.
"... No, it's alright, I'm just still a bit sleepy." He sighed with a chuckle.
He needed to find out what was going on.
At the entrance of Kuoh Academy, he simply sighed as he went inside, not looking forward to today.
He went straight into his classroom. But something, yet again, was weird, the stuff that was being taught there was something they had learned before.
All Issei could think of is that he went back in time, this time successfully.
But why? What happened for him to go back to the start of where everything began?
He clenched his fists at the possibility of Sayori being back alive.
Perhaps... no... there was no use confessing to her, she would never accept him.
He should be focusing on helping her alongside Cordis and the others, that way, they could avoid her suicide this time.
As the class ended, he quickly left the classroom, ignoring his friends as they were going to ask him something. He went straight to where the club was and slowly made his entrance.
He knocked on the door, peeked inside and asked if this was the right place. But this time, someone was missing.
Sayori was missing.
He stayed quiet as he simply presented himself again, Cordis was there, Monika was there, Yuri was there, Natsuki yet again recognized him.
But Sayori wasn't there.
Yuri apparently was the Vice President of the club this time, yet this time they needed 4 members to be recognized as a proper club instead of 5.
What happened? What changed? Why wasn't she here? He asked himself so many questions, yet he could not get answers.
He simply stayed there, this time there were no cupcakes, just tea, and the talk seemed much more awkward. Sayori's upbeat personality was the joy of this club, but now that she was gone, it turned into a more introverted group.
Issei spent the whole time quiet until he got the chance to talk to Cordis.
"Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Issei Hyoudou, it appears we'll be the only new members this time" Issei gave his hand awaiting a hand shake, of which Cordis accepted
"Nice to meet you too, I guess." Cordis said nonchalantly.
"So what made you join the club?"Asked Issei. He needed to get information by any means possible, all while not coming off as creepy or suspicious.
"Oh well, Monika invited me to come since they needed one more member to become a recognized club" Cordis took a sip of the tea Yuri had brewed.
So Monika replaced Sayori in that situation... It seemed like the story could continue even without her, yet it felt wrong.
Without any trace of Sayori, there was no way to even see if he could bring her back.
He didn't want to give up on her... but the circumstances were far too much for him to handle.
... No, there was still one more place he could investigate.
Her house, perhaps it still existed, though it may possibly have a different resident or not even exist, it was still worth a shot.
Issei assumed that none of them knew Sayori. He could go ask them, but he still wanted to investigate for himself first.
As they all finally finished, it seemed like the ambience was more tense than before, despite that, Monika was still able to convince Cordis to stay in the club.
And again, they seemed to be ignoring him for the most part. He thought that maybe retracing his past actions would be the best action, he was in a great position compared to before to help Yuri, she seemed like the one to fall in love with Cordis first, and with the help of Natsuki they both could help her from avoiding self harm.
Even without Sayori, he would make sure to fulfil her duties as the peacemaker of the club.
As they all finally went back home, Issei waited a few minutes to then go to where Sayori's home was supposed to be.
As he got closer, the place seemed completely empty, he looked around to see if there was any sign of there ever being a person living there. Unable to see better, he got closer as he now got to the doorstep.
On top of that, he got notified that the quest was completed, and that there was a new quest in progress.
Though he frowned seeing what the next quest was about.
Quest #6
Resuscitated Heart
Condition: Join the Literature Club
Failure: You don't join the Literature Club
Completed!
Rewards: 1 Fortitude
Quest #7
Heated Argument
Condition: Help out a side of the Argument
Failure: You don't help a side in the Argument
Not only was this different, but he was unsure as to who to side with.
Alienating himself from Yuri would mean that he wouldn't be able to help her, but with Natsuki his already deteriorating relation with her would become even worse.
He decided to ignore it right now, that was a problem he'd have to deal with in the near future, but right now, he just needed to investigate Sayori's old house.
... Yeah, that didn't sound creepy at all.
"What am I doing, I look like a fucking stalker." Issei thought as he cringed at himself.
He knew that he was doing something incredibly questionable, to the point that he might as well be the worst person out of the group of his friends.
He then noticed that the door was actually open, yet after entering, the place felt the same.
He made his way up the stairs as he got closer to where it was supposed to be Sayori's bedroom. He debated on whether or not to open the door.
But he closed his eyes as he braced himself to what may be on the other side.
He gently opened the door.
And slowly opened his eyes...
To see nothing, literally, there was nothing inside, it was a complete white space... similar to the dream he had.
He slowly walked in but the moment he stepped inside the room, the place turned into a black void, instead of the blue that adorned it, it was replaced by red.
He made his way through, looking around, there was still reflection on the floor.
It was eerie, but he still decided to continue, he ended up in the same church, but instead of it being white, it was completely black, entering like last time, yet again there was no one inside.
He went towards the altar, where he found a different book, this one was red with black gems, it was like a true inversion of the white book with blue gems, he took it, this time without hesitating.
And just like last time, it started to tremble.
He saw himself on the street of the neighborhood.
He looked back, only to see an empty plot that said "For Sale", yet he still had the book in hand, he silently opened Mystery Storage and took out the other book.
Whatever this may have been... either the Writer's System wanted to hide it, or lured him to this place.
The Writer's System had something in store for him, and he feared what that may be.
He now had two books that he could not use his appraisal skill on, yet he still had no use for them.
He then made his way to his own house. It seemed like Sayori ceased to exist, and only he knew of her existence.
If that was the case... was there even the possibility of having her come back?
It was the next day now and Issei simply did the same thing over again, despite trying to act like everything was fine, his friends immediately noticed.
He wondered how Sayori could do it so easily. But in the end he just told them that they shouldn't really worry.
"So Issei, how about we go check the bookstore to see if there is anything new we could buy?" It was the same sentence as last time, it seemed like everyone got reset to 6 days ago.
"Sorry, but I am going to the Literature Club." This time, Issei wanted this to be done quickly.
"Wait there's a Literature Club?" Motohama, yet again, asked as before.
"Yeah it does exist, it's situated in the third year's hall, pretty far away from the other clubs since it needs more quiet to read and write." Issei responded.
He thought that this was the system's excuse to make it come into existence.
"Yup, it does exist, but it wouldn't have become an actual club had Issei and Cordis joined."
He was expecting Kiryuu to enter the conversation, but it was a surprise to him to hear Monika. He looked at where the voice was coming from and saw that Monika was on the entrance door of the class.
"Holy shit a hottie!" Matsuda instinctively yelled out, making everyone pay attention to where Matsuda was pointing at.
"Hey there Issei! I came here since I needed to talk to you about something" Monika didn't know that this was the last thing Issei wanted, now both of his friends were looking at him intensively, but he just stood up annoyed as he went out of the door to accompany her.
"So what is it that you..." His voice started to quiet down as he got farther from the class, leaving everyone with their mouth opened.
Issei Hyoudou, the most perverted student in the Academy, was talking so casually to a girl they've never seen before but was incredibly beautiful.
This made waves of newly created rumors on their relationship in the class, whispering who she was and how Issei knew her.
But in the end Kiryuu stepped up just to explain who she was and add more fuel to the fire.
"Hyoudou seems to have entered the Literature Club, which is composed of 3 beautiful women." She then took out her phone and showed to her classmates the photos of each member.
This time his reputation took an incredibly strange turn as people wondered how he got into the Literature Club.
Back with Issei and Monika, the boy asked. "So what is it that you want?"
Issei noticed that there was a lot of noise in the background, it was probably his class as he went out of the class with someone extremely beautiful.
"Well, you see, I need you to help Cordis feel comfortable, since you're the only other boy in our club I want you to make sure that Cordis doesn't end up having a bad time in there." Monika asked him while having her hands together as in a motion of praying.
"Uh, sure, I can do that, you don't really need to ask me that, I'm sure he'll be fine either way" Issei accepted, but was wondering what changed for Monika to ask him for a favor.
"Thank you, let's go to the club then shall we?" They both continued as they finally got inside.
In there he found Yuri and Natsuki doing the same things as they did last time. They were waiting for them but also Cordis, who was nowhere to be seen.
Yuri was, as usual, introverted and not really willing to talk to him. As such, he only had one choice left to try and interact with the club members...
Well, Monika was there as well, but this sudden change from what would have actually happened did make him a bit wary of her.
He decided to get closer to Natsuki, as much as he didn't like her attitude, she was the only one who knew of Yuri's situation.
When he got closer to her, he started by asking her something. Like last time, it seemed as if she was looking for something inside the closet.
He took a deep breath as he put on his happiest smile, or at least as believable as it could get. "Natsuki? What are you looking for?"
Upon hearing him, Natsuki jolted and hit her head with the closet. "Ow! Hey! Don't come up to me only to surprise me, god... that hurt..."
She started rubbing her head as she looked angry towards Issei.
"Sorry about that! I wanted to know if you needed anything since you've been looking there for a while now." Issei asked in what seemed to be his attempt at a happy voice, he really needed to practice his acting skills.
Being gloomy would be suspicious after all, he was known as a happy go lucky pervert.
Though he easily slipped from that facade from time to time if talking to his friends gave any idea, it was hard for him to stay in character.
"Well, if you're gonna help me, what's the point of having stuff organized if others are gonna mess with it?! Also what's with that gloomy look on your face?!" She yelled at him with annoyance.
This was actually starting to annoy Issei, he didn't expect Tsundere characters to be this annoying in real life.
They both spent a bit of time silent until Natsuki finally replied with a red face. "I'm looking for manga"
This surprised Issei. "Wait, you read manga?"
"So what if I do?" Natsuki didn't seem embarrassed but rather said it in a more confrontational way. He guessed that the red face was from anger rather than embarrassment. "You should never judge a book for its cover!"
"Then you shouldn't call me a pervert if you haven't met me yet." Issei retorted back using her own words
"Well... I me- I-" She was having a hard time trying to find the right words but in the end was saved from getting cornered by finally finding the manga she was looking for. "Ah there it is!"
"Parfait Girls?" Issei had never heard of it, it must have been created by the system. All because he knew he'd be owning something like that just because he saw four beautiful girls on the cover.
Issei looked as she sat down on the floor, he looked around, only to notice Cordis and Yuri together, he sighed and decided to sit beside her. " So what is it about?"
"Well, it starts off pretty simple, it's mostly a slice of life with these 4 girls hanging around, but once you get into later volumes you start getting deeper themes with drama, such as the backstories of each romantic interest, which is what makes it quite interesting!" Natsuki kept reading while explaining to him everything about it.
Truthfully, he could only feel as if it was similar to something, but he couldn't really point out what exactly.
He silently read along with her, it was quite soothing, this was what the Literature Club was about, yet he didn't know if it would end up like last time, but right now, he wanted to live in the present and not care about the past nor future.
In the end they ended up talking about manga, he would have never guessed that the person who would talk about manga outside his two friends would be a Tsundere.
The manga was good, yet it felt off in some way, so he ended up telling her that he wouldn't be ready for whatever turn it would have and stopped there for today.
She did suggest he take a volume with him to read it, but he assured her he could buy one for himself.
Natsuki insisted continuously until he finally accepted it, so now he had to make sure neither Motohama or Matsuda noticed the volume.
Monika decided this was the right time to start sharing poems once Cordis arrived.
Issei took out Poem of the Black Swan yet again, he went with the same order that he did last time.
With Yuri first, all he could hear was her saying the same stuff, but when it came to that question...
"This isn't your first time writing right?"
He responded with. "No, I've been writing for a while now, in fact I've actually gained a collection of various poems I've made."
"Oooh, so are you perhaps trying to make this a career?" Yuri seemed interested this time instead of looking sad.
This felt better, yet he was unsure if he would really make this his job.
He decided to lie. "Yeah, I'm thinking of doing this for a living, I don't really have anything else that I am good at, so I've been trying for many hours each day to make sure that my poems are good."
Yuri seemed satisfied with his answer this time, in fact, it seemed like she was more determined now.
Issei quickly read through Yuri's poem, mentioning the same criticism about her calligraphy again. Oddly enough the mention of Sayori was still present, perhaps the system overlooked it...
If that was the case... Did that mean that the system wasn't perfect?
Truth be told, the stats, the explanations and everything about it felt bareboned, perhaps the Writer's System was far more incomplete that he thought.
And so, did that mean that it would evolve as he continued on?
That being said, he decided to put an end to those questions, as he needed to continue his activities in the club.
Next was Natsuki, it was as he expected the same words, the same faces, everything.
"Is there by any chance something you want to talk about?" She asked once again.
Her soft and concerned look made him want to try and speak a bit about it, but he decided against it. "No, this isn't really something based on my life." he chuckled.
Natsuki sighed with relief, then she realized how she was acting and put on her Tsundere persona once again. "N-Not that I care much, but there has to be somewhere where you gained this kind of expression from." She insisted
He listened to her say the same thing again, but this time, he wanted to know more about her.
Yuri seemed to have trouble with self harm, Monika seemed a bit off, perhaps she appeared too perfect.
But Natsuki? Aside from being a Tsundere? He didn't know much other than her knowing Yuri's problem.
He refuted her question with one of his own. "No, what about you?"
He saw her hesitate a bit.
Just how fucked up was everyone in this club? He was now wondering what her issue was while reading through her poem once again.
He simply let that go, deciding not to push it unlike how he did with Sayori.
The thought of meddling with the issues of others made him quite unsure of himself. What if he ended up screwing things up like he did with Sayori?
He went to Monika as they exchanged their poems, but to his surprise something was different about it, he used Artistic Appraisal to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Item
Poem Hole in Wall (2)
Grade: Great
Description: Where does light go? When we turn off the lights, what happens to it? Truthfully it simply gets absorbed with the things around it. But what does it see? Does it see us turning the switch as it unknowingly is being watched? Or does the light panic, until it is absorbed by the items and keeps watching?
He didn't expect to see the same named poem with something different written in it, he simply told her he didn't understand like last time.
The poem sharing this time was much faster than when they had 6 members.
One thing was for sure, Monika was far more mysterious than he expected, and that mystery made him curious of her.
Just like before, both Yuri and Natsuki seemed to be acting the same way as they did, arguing with one another, and this time, Sayori was not here to stop it, but it took a sudden turn as they both started to insult each other and say some incredibly bothersome statements.
The argument escalated to the point that both Monika and Cordis went outside of the room, completely forgetting that he was also there.
Issei then thought that this was enough, part of it being his annoyance of being put onto the side by the two spectators of this debacle, but also his wish to vent a bit with his ever-growing anxiety originated from Sayori's 'deletion'.
"Ok both of you stop!" He screamed loudly as they both seemed to look at him.
He sighed as he proceeded to continue. "Look, I don't care what the reason for this was but I think you've done enough, both Cordis and Monika left the room because you two went too far."
They both still didn't seem to have any regrets. Sayori really helped defuse the situation, but now, without her, he needed to take care of it.
"Ok, so I heard some stuff that I really did not want to hear, a lot of accusations that I am pretty sure could be proven wrong right now, for example, Yuri" He called.
She flinched when he called her name "Could you roll up your sleeves?"
She didn't, Issei pretended to be shocked and then said. "You can't be serious"
Yuri tried defending herself but in the end the argument continued.
Natsuki's insults were uncharacteristic of her, he felt like something was off with both of them.
But when Yuri decided to say something else, this caught Issei's attention.
Was... Was Natsuki living in an abusive household? Natsuki didn't know how to respond, she simply ran out of the room.
Issei went after her, a sensation he felt was familiar to him, he knew that he had screwed up as he didn't end up siding with one or the other, thinking that he could find a middle ground.
He failed again, he was not meant to take Sayori's duty of calming things down. He clenched his fists, wondering why he was so useless.
Unfortunately, he had already made and said a few things that would sour his relationship with Yuri, right now, Natsuki seemed as his only option.
He found himself at the same place as when he first made Sayori cry, this felt incredibly scripted, yet he continued to walk down until he saw Natsuki.
She looked like she was deep in thought, as he got closer, Natsuki finally realized that he was in front of her. He slowly got to her side and sat down next to her on the bench.
He attempted to try the same approach as he did with Sayori, but this time he would simply wait to see if she wanted to talk or not. "Are you ok? Don't let what Yuri says bring you down, do you need to talk about it?"
Natsuki denied with her head, she didn't seem to be willing to open up. "No, I don't need anyone's help, I can deal with it myself."
She wasn't crying but Issei could tell that she was holding her tears back.
"She just exaggerated things, it's not as bad as she said." She argued.
"If you say so... Just know that you can talk to me if you need to." He left her alone as he needed to make sure he didn't rush things through.
He'd wait a bit and let his words sink in until she's able to open up. Natsuki seemed like she was less self destructive, so he didn't have to worry about her doing anything that could kill her.
As he walked, the quest notification came into his view as it showed that, apparently, it counted as a completion, it appears that he didn't need to take a side of the argument, but rather choose one of the members to help out.
Quest #7
Heated Argument
Condition: Help out a side of the Argument
Failure: You don't help a side in the Argument
Completed!
Reward: Increases Relationship with Character helped
Issei realized that it has been awhile since he last saw the Relationship menu, he decided to take a look to see if his relationships decreased due to what seemed to be reset.
Relationships
Story 1
Cordis 10/100 - 0/100
Monika 21/100 - 0/100
Natsuki 36/100 - 0/100
Sayori 70/100 - 20/100 (Unavailable)
Yuri 14/100 - 0/100
Looking at Natsuki's relationship progress, it seemed like it increased quite a bit compared to last time, but the relationships with the other characters are lower than before, especially Yuri, it seemed like him telling her to prove she didn't cut herself decreased the friendship progress.
But in the end he simply looked at what was connected to Sayori's information.
He waited to see if a new quest would appear but this time it didn't, which made him wonder if something bad would happen just like last time.
A day passed and Issei found himself back inside the Literature Club, he took the manga that Natsuki gave him out before he entered the room, and went towards Natsuki to give it back to her.
But he found that Yuri was there with Cordis, before he could say anything, Natsuki showed up asking if they had seen Monika.
The three of them said that they didn't, Issei immediately gave her the manga
At this point, things got weird.
"Uh? Wait, where did you get that from?!" Natsuki was surprised by the fact that Issei had the first volume of Parfait Girls in hand. "Give it back, did you take this without permission?!"
Natsuki seemed angry, but then Cordis intercepted. "Wait, what do you mean? Didn't you insist on giving it to him?"
This confused her, as she then replied "What do you mean by that?"
Yuri however, decided to intervene to do what she wanted to do. "Uhm, excuse me, before you continue with the matter of the manga, I should say that I want to apologize to you, Natsuki, I've said things that I regret and I hope we can reconcile."
"I promise I will control myself from now on." It took all of her might to finally intervene and say what she wanted
But Natsuki was still surprised and even more dumbfounded by the situation "Yuri, what the heck are you talking about?"
This was weird, Issei then proceeded to explain the situation, Natsuki indeed didn't remember anything that happened.
As both Cordis and Yuri left the scene, Issei was left alone with Natsuki, she seemed wary yet again.
Noticing that she was having trouble putting back the manga, Issei saw as the box was higher than usual, he then offered his help "Hey, Natsuki, do you need help getting up there?"
She looked at him and completely rejected it. "I don't, I can do it myself, are you saying that because I'm short?"
Issei proceeded to deny it. "No, it's because you're unable to put it in, since you need to take out the box."
"Ah? Ugh, give me a second, I'll get a chair to get there." She then left the manga on top of a table
But before she went for a chair, Issei then suggested. "Wouldn't a table be better? it's much more stable than a chair."
Natsuki started to blush as he kept giving better options, in the end she took a table and was able to put the manga back.
For the next few minutes Issei kept wondering why she didn't remember anything from yesterday, while the other members could remember.
Issei felt as his mind went back to thinking of the worst possibilities.
Was she locking away her memories alongside her trauma? Is the abuse she suffers from her family so dangerous that the damage hurts her memory? Or is this related to the system?
Monika came back apologizing. She told everyone that she was distracted, taking piano lessons.
They all seemed to continue their activities, it wasn't the time to share their poems yet, but he knew that during that time, it was his chance to get Natsuki's help to attend to Yuri's troubling hobby.
Before that, he noticed that Yuri went to go for some hot water to make more tea, Issei then excused himself to the bathroom, following the script of what he did the first time around, this time Issei watched Yuri for a bit.
And just as he expected it, she didn't go out to get the water, but rather to start cutting herself.
He immediately stopped her from doing that as he barged into where she was. "Yuri? Are you there?" Issei saw as she had pulled up her sleeve and had a knife on hand.
"Hy-Hyoudou?" Yuri was surprised to see him there, trying to hide the knife she tried to run away, but before she could, Issei closed the door as he took her by both arms, making the knife fall to the floor making a loud noise.
"Why the hell are you doing this?" Issei interrogated her, this was one of the few chances he had to be confrontational about it.
"Y-you wouldn't understand." Yuri was stuttering as the position they were in was pretty bad in the eyes of anyone who dared come in.
"Please, please don't tell Cordis about th-this." Yuri seemed like she was about to cry, or she wanted to hide and never come out again.
"I won't, I promise that, just tell me why you're doing this." Issei felt concerned as he may be too pushy about it, but there was no other way he thought that would work.
"You wouldn't believe me." Yuri seemed to be much more confident about herself for some reason, which was weird yet again, the sudden change of personalities was something that was starting to freak him out.
"Try me, I've seen and heard worse stuff." Issei taunted her as it seemed like she was about to tell him everything. There was no way it could be any more fucked than the last two gir-
"It's because it excites me." She said as her face was starting to blush a bit.
Ok that was far more fucked up that what the other two were going through. Issei gave her a judging look, sure he heard of masochists, but he wasn't sure she fit the description.
"Oooook... Yeah that's incredibly fucked." He let her go as she started to put her sleeves down.
"You should seriously try to stop that, think of it as a drug, it harms you yet you can't stop." Issei suggested to her. He had no idea what to do, this was so different to Sayori and Natsuki's problems.
"Easier said than done. And you don't get to choose what I do." She reminded.
She was right on that, but Issei then continued. "You should go get hot water, you do realize that Cordis could have come at any moment to check on you right?"
"Yeah you're right, I'll get the water ready, just go back to the club to tell him that." Yuri seemed a bit more aggressive with her words, which was incredibly weird, it was out of character
He, however, refused. "Sorry but I'm gonna say no, I need to accompany you in case you decide to try that again."
The next few minutes were spent in total silence as they got the hot water back to the club room.
As they entered Yuri apologized to Cordis for taking too long, Issei spent the rest of the time trying to plan out what he should do.
But at the same time, he sighed, he was not qualified to help others whatsoever.
Sure, what Yuri was doing was not good at all, but the way he handled it was not how he wanted it to go.
Maybe he should just let Cordis deal with everything, maybe that way these problems wouldn't be happening.
After all, back then, Sayori seemed to be doing better when Cordis talked to her unlike him.
As the time to share poems came, they were all the same.
Issei saw as Yuri took out two poems yet another difference, he didn't know the reason for this change, but he could only guess that one was meant for Cordis.
As soon as Issei got paired with Natsuki, the moment after reading the poem, he got close to her, which made her flinch back.
He whispered. "You've noticed it as well about Yuri, haven't you?"
Natsuki wanted to make sure that they were talking about the same thing. "Wha- what do you mean?"
She got closer and whispered. "You mean her obsession with harming herself?"
Issei then revealed to her. "Yeah, I went to check on her, she was about to start doing it, but I lied about not telling it to anybody, since I'm telling you."
Natsuki looked worried, she had no idea what to do about it, but then she suggested. "Maybe we should leave it to Cordis? He's the closest out of the members since... Well, I'm not sure what happened yesterday, but our friendship is quite tense."
"... I guess so... I know that he may be patient with such things, but he can be confrontational when he needs to." Issei admitted.
Natsuki nodded, liking the plan. "I'll just let Cordis know through a note disguised as a poem, since I've already given him mine, I'll give it tomorrow, that way he can help her."
Issei seemed a bit doubtful, this didn't seem like the Natsuki that Sayori talked about, perhaps another one of those strange changes.
But it was a good enough answer that he could be satisfied.
As they all finished, Issei didn't really notice much change in Monika's poem this time around, so he simply ignored it. The last part was weird, yet again.
At the end of the poem sharing, Monika then announced what they would do in preparation of the festival, however, this time Natsuki was incredibly against the idea.
As soon as she got up, packed her stuff and left, Issei decided to follow her, but before that he gave his two cents to the idea. "I'm not sure as to how we could get more members, but you have to make sure that the old members are okay with the idea, I'll see if she changes her mind, but if she doesn't just make it so that we have fun. Who knows, maybe someone might be interested and also join us."
Once he finished giving his opinion, he ran towards where Natsuki was going.
He then got her attention. "Natsuki! Wait!"
As soon as Issei yelled to call her attention, Natsuki looked around to see him, he then started to pant as he had to catch his breath.
He continued to say. "Please rethink the whole thing about the festival."
Natsuki seemed taken back by this and said. "Why should I? If Monika is thinking about taking the last safe haven I have then I would rather not even show up to the club anymore." She crossed her arms as she was waiting for Issei to respond.
To which he said. "I am not saying that you should help to get more members, but to have a good time, have fun, and maybe even rekindle your friendship with Yuri."
Issei didn't want to have people absent for Monday, as he didn't want anyone going out of their way to have something bad happen to them again.
Natsuki was quiet, she didn't really feel like she had any other option, it was either go to the festival or stay at home, and she knew what she would choose. "Ugh, fine if you insist so much, I'm not going because I want to, but because I have to, got it?"
Issei nodded and sighed in relief.
As he recovered he looked at Natsuki. "...Uhm, about what you said in the room..." Issei now wanted to hear more, he yet again was meddling at private matters, but he really needed to know if any of them were in danger of dying in front of him.
Monika seemed alright, Yuri was being taken care of by Cordis, and that left Natsuki, he didn't want to see anyone die again.
And if he had to guess, she was still in danger from her abusive household.
Natsuki sighed as she had no other choice. "Fine, since you're gonna continue asking, I'll tell you."
She took a moment to prepare herself. "...I live with my father, and... he's not the greatest one you could say, I got to the Literature Club because I liked it, I didn't have to live in fear for what my father would do, I could do what I really wanted, eat what I wanted without being yelled at, without being..."
"You can stop there, I understand, if it's too uncomfortable you don't need to continue, I'm... getting the idea." Issei said as he closed his eyes while sighing.
"Did this also explain why she was... so small?" He frowned as he thought about her horrible living conditions.
"Oh, if you were gonna make me say it, why did you stop me now?!" Natsuki felt annoyed that he would make her say stuff she didn't like but make her stop immediately, but at the same time, she felt relieved as she was able to tell another person her problems.
"Anyway if that is all you wanted to know, then I'll be on my way then." Natsuki seemed a bit nervous over saying this, as she was about to return to her house.
Taking a step forward, Issei saw as she slowly walked back home, one that didn't really feel like it fit the definition.
He impulsively then said. "You can stay in my house if you want."
He really cringed on what he said, but there was no point in going back.
"Urk, don't say that!" Natsuki was blushing like crazy, but thought of it a bit.
"L-listen! I know your opinion of me isn't that great... but I wouldn't take advantage of a girl in your situation..." He clarified.
"And... I invited you because I knew that the Literature Club no longer felt like that safe haven you had..."
"You said that you would let Cordis help Yuri instead of letting us help her... so at the very least, let me help you." He requested.
Natsuki felt a bit taken aback by such a declaration. She looked away for a moment as she thought about the possibilities, the pros and cons.
"But, you're not joking right?" She questioned.
Issei simply nodded. "I'm not joking, I genuinely mean it if you need to, you can stay at my house."
"W-well either way I would never ask you, since you would then do whatever you wanted with me like the pervert you are!" She quickly ran away as she was still blushing.
"Again! I said that I wouldn't be doing anything like that!" He yelled back.
Issei was now red as he really let his intrusive thoughts win, but at the same time, it meant that he was trusted enough that she would willingly ask him for help.
He wondered... would he be able to truly help this time?
(A/N)
Man I put 3 days of DDLC inside a single chapter, well as you can see I am picking up the pace. There really isn't much to talk about in here, aside the fact that the next girl that has the lightspot is Natsuki!
Fun fact, creating this fic made her go from my least favorite to my second favorite as I discovered more things of DDLC, I also realized taht I missed a shit ton too.
Unfortunately this means that Yuri won't be getting much screentime, but she had a decent amount in the actual game, I had no way to fit her into more interactions with Issei. Speaking of him, you can also notice a slight shift in personality, you'll also see how he starts acting more questionably.
As you can see , there isn't much of the System in this chapter. This is off topic, but I find it funny that the thought of NTR came into my mind many times now, not because I want to add it... but because I scrapped a story where Issei was an NTR protagonist, basically he was gonna get cucked, but then I realized, I already made him suffer enough, so I cut him some slack (know that a scrapped idea can come back at any time, so live in fear that Issei gets NTRd)
This is also an advancement for next chapter but I'm thinking of doing Day 4, Sunday and day of the Festival together, after that there should be a few more chapters to wrap this arc up. I want to know if you guys think that I'm going too fast or if I am going too slow. Just as well how much I think the relationship building is going, I feel like I am going fast on these love interests, but you then realize that this is an arc of the story where I don't really want to extend it more than what already has, since I would simply be starting to try get more ideas from the actual game instead of putting more effort myself.
For example, the first few chapters followed the game pretty closely, here I want to add more that connects Issei and DDLC, in this case, Natsuki would be the bridge for them.
You can also notice how Natsuki hasn't show much affection for Cordis, well , it's because I really don't think its relevant, since even in the actual game at the fourth day of the second time you see that she's simply worried about how the others act (or thats how I undertand it)
The Red book with black gems... I wonder what it could be in reference to? Well of course its Red Eyes black dragon! Again, I'm joking, but I think you may have an idea of what it may be and I can tell you, you're either know what you're expecting it, or you're completely off.
The whole For Sale house thing is a reference to the Doom map , a pretty random reference, but I think it fit with how sureal it was starting to get.
Scrapped Ideas!
I was thinking of making Issei confess his love to Sayori, but then I thought, this relationship is going too fast, I wanted to make Issei doubt if he truly loved her or if he was just being his normal self.
I was thinking of making it so that Issei made Cordis go with Yuri, but after taking a liking to Natsuki, I decided against it and made both go with Cordis.
My soul told me to make Issei either be able to save Sayori by going there on time or make Second Take work, but my brain said that it would make the whole story end there.
The White book with blue gems was supposed to be obtained much farther into the story, but I realized that there really wasn't any place to get them where it would feel much more out of place.
And I think thats it for now, I'll see y'all when I next update.