DDLC Ex: Jasmine Green Tea

It’s late at night, about two in the morning, to be more specific. Yuri sits alone in her room, bathed in the dim light coming from a vanilla scented candle on her desk. Littering the desk are crumpled sheets of paper, each a poem she deemed insufficient. However one is set aside atop her school note books.

Yet she continues writing in silence, her only companion the flicker of the candle and the cool autumn breeze coming through the window she left slightly ajar. The fall air envelops her body in place of sleepwear. But despite this beads of sweat still occasionally run down her back, a sign of the effort and emotion she’s been putting into her tireless writing.

Finally around four in the morning she finishes a poem she deems worth bringing with her. She clicks the pen she was using as she brings the poem close to her body. Her breathing slows and becomes deeper.

“Yes, this will do” she utters into the wind before closing the window.

She prepares a cup of chamomile tea and goes to bed.

*****

Natsuki lays on the couch, already having put on her school uniform, minus the jacket. She watches TV as she waits for Sayori to finish changing. Sayori finally emerges from her room, still glowing from her morning shower.

“Ready to go Natsuki?”

“Sure am!”

Natsuki sits up, grabbing her jacket and slipping it on.

“You know, it’s weird, usually Anon is here to greet us before I finish showering” Sayori notes.

“Maybe he forgot to set an alarm?”

“I don’t think so, he’s usually pretty good with that kinda stuff.”

Sayori and Natsuki stand still, awkwardly thinking of what to do. Natsuki swings her legs off the edge of the couch, still half watching TV.

Suddenly a low growl comes from Sayori.

“Hey, Natsuki, you know I think we forgot something…”

Natsuki looks to Sayori, then to the TV. Then a growl comes from her.

“Dangit! We forgot to make breakfast! No wonder he’s not here, we’re running ahead of schedule!” Natsuki shouts, shedding her school jacket as she runs to the kitchen to get something to eat.

Sayori follows suit as the two girls decide to forego their usual ritual of cooking and eat whatever catches their eyes.

“Maybe a bigger dinner would’ve been a good idea.” Sayori says, laughing to herself.

Soon enough Sayori and Natsuki hear the brief knock they’ve become accustomed to in the mornings.

“Good morning, Sayori, Natsuki!”

“Good morning Anon!” Sayori says, perking up out of her chair as she walks over to greet you with a hug.

“I see you girls are ready early this morning.”

“Ehehe….” Sayori giggles to herself, twiddling her fingers. “Funny story….”

“Nothing funny about it Sayori, it’s just embarrassing!”

You chuckle lightly.

“Well, anyways, you two ready to head out?”

“Mhm! Let’s go, Natsuki!”

*****

The three of you reach school, getting there about ten minutes earlier than usual.

On your way to class you run into Yuri.

“Hey Yuri!” Sayori shouts, getting her attention.

“Good morning Anon, Sayori.”

“Morning, Yuri. You write your poem for literature club today?” you inquire.

“I did. I spent a good amount of time last night writing. I think I might have put too much of myself into the creative process, but I think it was worth it.”

“That’s wonderful Yuri!” Sayori beams. “I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what you wrote.”

Yuri smiles warmly.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you both will be happy with what I wrote.”

“Well, see ya around, Yuri!” you say as you and Sayori walk to class.

Out of the corner of your eye you notice a glint off Yuri’s breast pocket. No doubt about it. She’s still carrying your pen with her.

*****

The day passes by, average as any other. You and Sayori have lunch in the classroom as the two of you take the time to go over some notes.

Finally the afternoon bell rings. You and Sayori pack up and head to the Literature Club class room.

*****

Entering the room you see Yuri has arrived early and is preparing a pot of tea. The closet door is noticeably ajar, indicating Natsuki’s presence as well.

“Oh, Sayori, Anon, I was hoping you’d come by a bit sooner. I was wanting to make sure you were both ok with the new tea I was trying. Unfortunately Natsuki was wanting some, so I already started making a pot.”

“It’s ok, Yuri. You’re basically the Vice President, so I can leave tea duty up to you!” Sayori assures Yuri with confidence.

Yuri smiles.

“Well, thank you. Anyways, today I’m trying out a green tea with jasmine. I had some yesterday and thought the three of you might like to try some.”

By now Natsuki has come out of the closet and is a few feet away.

“Ah, Yuri, don’t doubt yourself so much! I’ve yet to have you make me a bad cup of tea. If they don’t like it, then something’s probably wrong with them!”

Sayori laughs.

“Don’t worry, Yuri. I actually really like green tea, and jasmine smells nice, so it must go well with tea, right?”

Yuri turns to you, her violet eyes meeting yours. For a moment it feels awkward, but something about her gaze quickly calms you.

“What about you? You like jasmine, right?”

“Y-Yeah… Why wouldn’t I?”

Yuri smiles, her gaze breaking soon after as she begins pouring the near boiling water over the tea leaves.

You’ve never had jasmine green tea before, but you’re confident Yuri can’t serve a bad cup of tea, especially after Natsuki’s reassurance.

Sayori blows on her cup and takes a sip.

“Woah! That’s nice!”

She takes another sip before closing her eyes and breathing deeply for a few moments.

“This makes me feel really relaxed. Thanks, Yuri. I really think I needed something like this after the past couple days.”

Natsuki takes a few sips as well.

“See, I told you guys Yuri knows her teas. This is sure gonna help take away the worry of that math test earlier!”

Yuri again looks to you.

“Do you like the tea, Anon?”

Your eyes are affixed to Yuri’s. Nervously you break your gaze and stare into the cup of tea in your hands. You raise it to your lips, slowly taking the first sip.

A warm wave spreads slowly across your body, washing away any tenseness you had.

“Hey, yeah, I think I see what Sayori’s talking about. Thanks, Yuri.”

“Any time for my friends.”

“Alright! Now onto sharing poems! Me and Natsuki kinda cheated and read each other’s already… So! Yuri, I’ll read yours first, and Anon can read Natsuki’s. Then, I guess I’ll read Anon’s after, and so on!”

Everyone seems to be in agreement with this proposal. Natsuki and Sayori’s poems are as good as you’ve come to expect. Finally Yuri comes to you, poem in hand.

“By the way, Anon. I wanted to thank you for your gift yesterday.”

“The pen? It’s no big deal. I kept losing it anyways. Better you have it than someone else.”

“Well, I wanted to thank you, so I wrote a poem especially for you.”

“Huh? Really?”

Yuri smiles.

“And I wrote it with the pen you gave me. Think of it as a connection to you.”

“O-Ok... “ you mutter.

You’re not sure where she’s going, but Yuri discreetly reaches into her inner jacket pocket, pulling out a lavender colored piece of paper, folded perfectly along every edge. She reaches her hand out to give it to you. Bringing it closer to unfold it you notice the paper emanates a scent. It smells both sweet and flowery, but not of any fruit or flower you recognize. Almost like a perfume, but not one you recall ever smelling.

“Yuri, did you spray this with perfume?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, maybe it just picked up a scent while I worked on it. I put a lot of thought and feeling into this last night.”

Great, Yuri’s about to give you a love poem confession. Not that it’d be a bad thing, but you’re not sure how you’d handle that. How would it affect the group’s dynamic? How would Yuri react if you rejected her? How would Sayori react if you accepted the confession. Your head races as you slowly undo the folds of the poem. Yuri’s handwriting is even more precise than usual. The characters flow together, looking almost like a piece of art, yet still distinct enough to be readable.

Surprisingly enough, however, Yuri’s special poem doesn’t seem to be a blatant confession of love as you expect it was going to be. Reading the poem it’s clear Yuri has very strong feelings about you, but it’s clear as well that she feels this way about Natsuki and Sayori as well.

Yuri stares at you intently the whole time you’re reading her poem. Her feet stay together, tucked under the chair, her arms down to her sides. Her breathing is jagged and excited. She bites her lower lip ever so slightly, anticipating your response.

“It’s a nice poem, Yuri, thank you.”

“Y-You really liked it?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I? Your poems are always top notch.”

“S-So you didn’t think it was too overbearing did you?”

“I can tell you have a lot of strong emotions. Honestly I started to worry you were going to confess some sort of deep love for me just because I gave you a pen.”

Yuri looks confused before she lightly laughs, covering her mouth with her fingers.

“Oh no! That would just be silly, wouldn’t it! No, no… I was just grateful. You’re right though, sometimes I feel like my emotions can get to be too much for other people. Sometimes they’d be too much for me. But I think since this club started and I’ve met all of you I’ve been learning to accept my feelings more.”

“Well I’m glad we all can help!” Sayori beams, having snuck up behind you.

Natsuki sneaks up on Yuri, giving her a hug from behind, resting her head on top of Yuri’s.

“Yeah, don’t be silly! We all love you here, and there’s no reason to feel ashamed of that!”

Sayori and Natsuki are both smiling brightly as Yuri looks around, her eyes finally falling upon your smile. She begins to smile as tears well up in her eyes.

“Thanks guys… It really means a lot to me to hear that…”

Sayori goes over to join Natsuki’s hug with Yuri. Her eyes give you the signal to join in as well. The three of you keep your hold on Yuri for about half a minute before breaking away.

“Now I want a special poem too!” Natsuki says with a grin.

“Natsuki!” Sayori says, scolding her.

You fold the poem back up, starting to hand it to Yuri. Both her hands clasp around yours, stopping your movement.

“Keep it. I spent a lot of time on it with you in mind. I don’t think I’d have a use for it.”

You slip the paper into your jacket pocket. Yuri begins to put up the tea set as everyone else tidies up the rest of the room. After finishing up with the tea set Yuri and Sayori have a conversation just out of earshot.

“I see. I mean… Well… Uh-huh… Hmm…”

Finally Sayori claps her hands together, almost as if to get yours and Natsuki’s attention. Natsuki withdraws from her manga closet to listen in to the imminent announcement.

“Ok you two! So me and Vice President Yuri have come to a decision. From now on poems will only be brought in once every other week!”

“Right. While Sayori and I respect the traditional format of Literature Club Monika set, we feel as if there’s been too much of a focus on poems.”

“So! Yuri and I will be talking the next few days and brainstorming some activities that we might do in the future. For now, however, I suggest we all finish reading whatever books we’ve all started and try to have a clean slate for next week.”

“Wait, so does this mean there won’t be a meeting on Thursday?” you inquire.

“Hmm…” Sayori mutters in contemplation.

“Well, to be honest I’m not sure Sayori and I will come up with an activity on such short notice.”

“Yeah, but Yuri has offered me to stay the weekend at her place, so I’m sure we’ll come up with tons of ideas!”

“I mean, having the house to myself for a couple days will be nice, but I think you two should keep me and Anon in the loop for activities!” Natsuki protests.

“Don’t worry, Natsuki, you and Anon can suggest ideas too! I just figured maybe me and Yuri can come up with something creative!”

“Well, Sayori, speaking of creative I was thinking we try doing more writing and maybe even practice narrative building.”

“That’s a good idea, Yuri! See, there’s a reason I made you Vice President! Anyways! I suppose this means that, yes, Thursday’s meeting will be cancelled.”

“So until then, I guess we’ll see each other around school until next Tuesday.”

No more bi-weekly poems, huh? Sure you’ve gotten used to it, but it’s definitely a relief to not have to be bogged down with something that was starting to become so monotonous. Creative writing is more your forte, especially after playing so many Role Playing Games. Maybe the girls would be into Dungeons and Dragons? It’s definitely an exercise in narrative and world building. You ponder bringing it up, but decide you’ll wait a few weeks to see how new club activities go. Deep down you really do want to play a campaign with your three closest friends, knowing that they’ll probably be accepting of the idea.

At the gates everyone gives Yuri a final hug goodbye, parting ways to head home with Sayori and Natsuki.

*****


“See you tomorrow, Anon!” Sayori shouts from her from doorstep, waving you goodbye. She closes the door behind her. Natsuki is already sitting on the couch, legs crossed under her having shed her uniform jacket and vest and undoing her necktie and the top three or four buttons. She grabs the TV remote and looks for something to watch.

Sayori walks by, patting Natsuki on the head as she goes to her room. She grabs a pair of cotton light pink pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt. She takes her clothes off in her room before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. It’s obvious she’s become comfortable with Natsuki living with her, enough that she’s no longer worried about the few seconds between her room and the bathroom.

Sayori’s after school showers are usually quicker than her morning showers since she’s not getting ready to go anywhere. After just a few minutes she emerges from the bathroom. Natsuki turns her head to see Sayori as she opens the bathroom door. Sayori sits to Natsuki. Suddenly a wave of thought comes over her head.

“Say, Natsuki, what do you think that poem Yuri gave to Anon was about?”

“Heck if I know. Looked like he was scared it was a love confession or something.”

“Y-Yeah… I guess he did look worried when he got it.”

“Come on, Sayori, Yuri’s not out to steal him from you. Trust me. She just wasn’t expecting him to let her keep the pen she kept stea-... err… finding of his, so she felt like she had to write a poem for him. Yuri’s emotions can be weird sometimes. I don’t think she’s like bipolar or anything like that, she’s just a very caring and emotional person. Sometimes she can’t handle affection. She used to react the same way she’d react to insults or bullying… But thankfully I think us getting closer to her has stopped that.”

“So you’re saying she’s going to start writing poems for us too?”

“Eh, maybe. Who knows, really. The idea probably just came to her since she was gifted a pen. Seems logical, I guess.”

“I suppose so.”

Sayori breathes a sigh of relief. Sure, things have been getting better for Sayori too, but with her episode the other day she’s worried how she’d handle it if Yuri confessed her love and the confession was accepted. Likewise she worried how it would affect the group dynamic if it was rejected. Thankfully Yuri’s poem didn’t seem to contain any confession like that.

As Sayori contemplates this and her worries leave her, Natsuki lays her head on Sayori’s lap, looking up at her confused face.

“So, you’re gonna be gone for a few days this weekend, huh? Does that mean I can eat whatever I want?”

Sayori smiles a worried smile.

“Y-Yeah, sure… I guess. Is that all you’re worried about?”

“Hmm, well I might get a bit lonely, but I can keep myself occupied for a few days.”

Sayori frowns slightly at this thought. She doesn’t like the idea of Natsuki being alone. Worse yet it seems to her that Natsuki isn’t even entertaining the idea of hanging out with Anon.

“Do you want to come with me to Yuri’s? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

“Nah, you and her need some time together to bond, or whatever. Besides, I went to that book fair with her once. Not really my thing. Besides, there wasn’t even any manga!”

Sayori giggles.

“Well, if you ever get bored I’m sure Anon would be happy to hang out with you.”

“Heh, I guess so... Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad…”

“In any case, we’ll pick up some more food before the weekend, just to make sure you won’t starve.”

“Yay!”

Natsuki shouts, throwing her arms up before turning on to her stomach and hugging Sayori’s waist. Sayori places her hand on Natsuki’s head, running her fingers through Natsuki’s hair. Natsuki releases her grip on Sayori before turning over on her side as the girls continue watching TV. As time passes the two eventually get tired and head off to bed.

*****

Around the same time Yuri is preparing for bed as well. She finishes off her cup of chamomile tea and removes her bathrobe before crawling under the sheets of her bed and snuggling up against the comforter. She turns over to the nightstand, a candle flickering a dim light over the pen she had just placed there. She blows out the flame and closes her eyes.