DDLC Ex: Day 2, Part 1

Sunday morning. You’re woken up by both your alarm clock and the alarm you set on your phone going off in perfect synchronization. Seven in the morning, plenty of time to get ready for a day of baking.

After taking a shower and getting yourself dressed for the day, you check your phone. You see a text from Natsuki.

“I hope you got up on time, because I’m going to be heading over at 8:30!”

It’s about a quarter to eight. You don’t see any missed texts from Sayori, even after you texted her when you woke up. This isn’t like her. You figured maybe she had a bad day on Friday, maybe a less than adequate test grade, but she spent all day Saturday like this too. You’ve known her long enough to know for sure it’s gotta be something.

You finish getting the kitchen more or less set up and ready to bake. All the ingredients are out of the cabinets, everything is at the front of the fridge and the pans, trays and bowls are all clean. No use trying to put it in too much of an order, though, since you figure Natsuki will have her own method she’ll insist on.

About a quarter past eight and you’re still thinking about Sayori.

“She’s never been like this before” you think to yourself. And in all the years you’ve known her she’s always been bright and happy, and eager to talk to you.

The worry gets to be too much so you decide to go over to her house to see how she is.

It’s been a while, but you’re so used to letting yourself in, you open her front door. No one appears to be home.

“Guess her parents are still gone” you think to yourself. That’s part of how you and Sayori had become so close, besides being neighbors both your parents and hers were usually away and busy with work, so you took care of each other.

It’s obvious she must be in her room, she might even still be asleep, knowing her.

You go upstairs and get to her door.

“Sayori! It’s me!” you say as you knock.

“Come in…” you can hear her say in a soft tone, sounding almost sad, definitely nothing like her normal, cheery self.

As you open her door you can see she’s still in bed, but sitting up, her covers wrapped around her. It’s obvious she was awake before you came, but she hadn’t left bed.

Her room looks the same as ever. Stuffed animals adorn her bed, thrown around haphazardly, much like the rest of her room. You used to clean it for her all the time, but somehow it seems worse than it’s ever been. Sure, it’s been awhile since you were over, but it’s never been quite this bad.

“Hi…” she says after a few moments of silence. “It’s been awhile since you’ve come over, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess it has been some time, hasn’t it? I see you’ve kept your room the way you like it” you say, trying to lighten the mood.

“Honestly, I prefered how you it was when you’d clean it” she says, smiling. But the smile fades as quickly as it came.

“So what made you decide to come over today?” Sayori asks, with an inquisitive look on her face. “I thought you were baking with Natsuki today.”

“Yeah, but she won’t be over for about another half an hour, and I was starting to worry about you. You haven’t really seemed yourself the past few days.”

Suddenly Sayori seems distant. She looks around for a few seconds, like she’s gathering her thoughts. Finally she smiles.

“I’m sorry, this is my fault” she says “It’s my fault for letting you see how weak I am”

“Sayori, what are you talking about?”

“I was being selfish, wasn’t I? I just want things to be how they’ve always been, but I just had to let my emotions get out of control…” Despite her smile, Sayori looks sadder with every word.

“I-I don’t understand, you didn’t do anything wrong…” you tell her.

Sayori gives off a broken laugh and smiles. “I guess this is my punishment for being so selfish, isn’t it, having you worry about me so much…”

You put your hand over Sayori’s shoulder and look her in the eyes. “Sayori, what are you talking about? Did something happen to you? You’ve never been like this before”

Sayori gives off the same sad laugh. She puts her hand on yours. “No, no. Nothing happened, I’ve always been like this, I’ve just kept it hidden from you. I didn’t want you to worry about me.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” you barely manage to say. “Always been like this?”

Sayori closes her eyes and sighs before looking back up at you and smiling.

“Well, you see I’ve had really bad depression pretty much my whole life… Why do you think I’m always late, always sleeping in? Sometimes I can barely find a reason to get out of bed, a reason to eat…”

“Sayori…” you say, dejected.

“I just don’t want people to waste their time worrying about me, that’s why I have to be so cheery, so that I can feel useful making everyone happy…. Especially you…”

You can see her smile is barely there, her whole face is turning red. Her eyes look like they’re about to tear up.

You’re in utter shock. How do you respond to finding out your best friend has been dealing with this for so long and never told you?

After a few moments of silence, you finally ask; “Why, Sayori? Why did you never tell me this?”

She looks up, almost shocked by what you said.

“I-I’m sorry” she stutters “I just didn’t want you thinking any less of me, or worrying about me.”

“Why would I think less of you? Sayori, I wish you told me this sooner, because…” you start choking up, you can see Sayori pouting, her face getting redder, as if she’s on the verge of tears. “Because if you told me I would have done everything I could to help!”

“You don’t understand, do you? I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you worrying like this…”

“What do you mean? We’ve been best friends our whole lives, it’s my job to worry about you!”

Sayori looks hurt by these words. “I know you care about me, and it can feel nice, but most of the time I don’t feel like I’m worth being cared about… And seeing you make new friends, I feel happy for you, but it still hurts….” Tears finally start to run down Sayori’s face. “It’s my fault for being so selfish. I wanted you to join the Literature Club, and now I’m being punished for being so selfish.”

Sayori starts sobbing and crying into her sleeve.

“You’re wrong.” you finally say.

Sayori stops crying and looks up at you.

“Sayori, you are worth caring about. I know it might not seem like it, but you mean a lot to a lot of people, especially me.”

“But, I…” she mutters out before you continue.

“And you mean a lot to everyone in the Literature Club. Natsuki, Yuri, and even Monika. When you left the other day none of us knew what to do. We could all feel something missing…”

Sayori starts to cry again. “No, please…”

“Sayori” you say as you grab her shoulders and look into her eyes “we all care about you. We’re all your friends.”

“I don’t…” she mutters again.

Finally you embrace her. “Sayori, I know none of us can understand what you’re going through.” You move from the embrace and look her in the eyes. “But I can promise you that all of us are going to help you through this as best we can.”

Sayori is still crying, but after a few seconds, she stops sobbing.

You smile back at her. “But if you get to be selfish, then it’s only fair I get to be selfish too.”

Sayori jumps slightly, and looks surprised. “Wh-what do you mean?” she says, nervously.

“I’m going to spend the day with you.” you say back, warmly.

“But” she interjects “what about Natsuki? Don’t you have to bake with her?”

Crap, you forgot all about that.

“I could always…” but Sayori interrupts you before you can finish.

“No, no! Don’t cancel because of me!”

You sit there for a minute at the end of Sayori’s bed, wondering what to do. After another few moments of silence, your phone goes off.

“Hey! Are you even home! >:(“

A text from Natsuki. Crap. You completely lost track of time. But then an idea crosses your mind.
“Sayori!” you finally say, breaking the silence “I’ll be right back!”

“A-are you sure? I really don’t want to mess up your plans with Natsuki. Just go over and...:”

But before she can finish, you interrupt; “Just stay here for a couple minutes, I promise, I’ll make sure no one loses out.”

Sayori looks disheartened at first, but eventually nods back. “Ok, I’ll let you be selfish too.”

You both smile at each other before you leave her room and go downstairs.

As you walk out of Sayori’s door, Natsuki turns to see you. She looks less than happy.

“Hey!” she shouts as she walks over to you.

Not only does she have a very full backpack, but her arms are carrying plenty of supplies too. You almost wonder if she has some kind of superhuman strength.

“What’s the big idea giving me the wrong address!” she asks in her trademark angry but cute way.

“I didn’t give you the wrong address, I was just over at Sayori’s and I lost track of time”

The anger starts to fade from her face, she looks like she’s about to say something, but you start talking before she can.

“Actually, that’s something I want to talk to you about” you say to her

“Oh great, you’re flaking on me to be with her and you didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me before I made it all the way over!” she says as she pouts and her face turns red.

“No, no, not at all, Natsuki!”

She opens her eyes and looks back at you, surprised.

“Listen, Sayori hasn’t been doing so well and she really needs all the support she can get, so if you don’t mind, we’re going to be baking at her place.”

Natsuki looks even more surprised at this point.

“Is that ok with her parents?”

“Don’t worry, her parents aren’t home much, just like mine. That’s kinda how we ended up being such close friends.”

“Well, Chef Natsuki can always use more help!” she beams back with a smile. “Besides, I’m sure Sayori will be a much better baker than you” she says back, grinning even bigger.

“Then it’s settled, I’ll go and grab the stuff you asked me to get from my place. Wait right here.”

Having gathered everything, you can see Natsuki has about as much as you do. But how? You barely managed to carry what you have, but to her it looks like nothing. Is she powered by cupcakes or something?

You open Sayori’s door. The lights are on and you see she’s sitting on the couch, waiting for you.

“What’s all that?” Sayori asks.

“Ta-da!” Natsuki says as she pops out behind you. “Chef Natsuki has arrived!”

Sayori is surprised and you can’t tell if she’s more sad or happy that you brought Natsuki.

“I hope you don’t mind” you say “but Natsuki said she could use some extra help, and you said I shouldn’t cancel on her, but I didn’t want to leave you either.”

“So now you won’t be stuck with him all day!” Natsuki interjects.

Sayori looks confused as she gathers her thoughts. After a brief moment, she looks at you and Natsuki and smiles. “Ok! If you think this will be the best thing, then let’s do it!”

“Yay!” Natsuki beams as she takes off her backpack and throws her arms in the air. She runs over to Sayori, jumps on the couch and hugs her.

As if she couldn’t get any more cute. First she shows up in a cat shirt and pink skirt, and now this. You tell yourself she has to be doing this on purpose.

You chuckle to yourself. “I guess it’s settled then, we’ll all be baking together.”