September 20th, 2017

"Hi again, Jake! Glad to see you didn't run away on us. Hahaha!" said Monika, as Jake entered the classroom. There were slight bags under his eyes, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment; he was 89% sure he was gonna die once he showed the girls his 'poem'.

"Nah, don't worry. I'm not that big a coward," He replied half-jokingly. "This might be a little bit weird for me, but then again, I'm already a weird guy."

"Ehehe~" Monika giggled, and she let Jake pass through. He was the last member to arrive, so everyone else was already hanging around and chatting away. Yuri approached him, and Jake started to feel even more nervous.

"Thanks for keeping your promise, Jake." She said softly. "I hope this isn't too overwhelming of a commitment for you, making you dive headfirst into club activities when you're not accustomed to it..."

"Well, maybe just a bit..." Jake said to himself.

"Huh?" Yuri asked, not hearing what he said.

"Ah, nothing! I'm just a little, uh, drowsy. Hehe!"

"That's understandable."

"Oh, come on! Like he deserves any slack," Natsuki snapped. "Sayori told me you didn't even want to join any clubs this year. And last year too!"

(Oh boy. Here we go...) Jake thought, and he sighed.

"I don't know if you plan to just come here and hang out, or what... But if you don't take any of us seriously, you won't hear the end of it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah..." Jake mumbled rudely. He was too tired to give a damn about what she was saying. Natsuki looked like she was about to shout again when Monika stepped in.

"Natsuki, you certainly have a big mouth for someone who keeps their manga collection in the clubroom."

"M-M-M...!!" Natsuki found herself stuck between saying "Monika" and "Manga".

"Manga is literature!!" She shouted. Swiftly defeated, she plops back into her seat.

"Don't worry, guys~" Sayori spoke up. "Jakey always gives it his best as long as he's having fun. He helps me with busywork without me even asking, like cooking, cleaning my room..."

"How dependable." said Yuri.

"Sayori, that's because your room is so messy it's distracting. And that is coming from a messy slob like me." Jake groaned. "Plus, you almost set your house on fire once."

"Is that so? Ehehe..." Sayori muttered nervously, tapping her fingers together.

"You two are really good friends, aren't you?" Yuri asked Jake.

"It varies from moment to moment..." He responded with a deadpan tone. Sayori pulled an ugly face at him when he said that.

"I might be a little jealous..." Yuri continued.

"Eh?" Jake's eyes widened and he stood up straight, stiff as a board. Yuri was... jealous? Jealous of his friendship with Sayori. What does she mean by that?

"How come? You and Jake can become good friends too!" Sayori said happily.

"U-Um..." Yuri took a handful of her hair again and twirled it around, blushing.

"S-Sayori..." stuttered Jake, who looked down at his feet, trying to avoid the gaze of his rather dimwitted friend.

"Hmm?" answered Sayori. As usual, she seemed to be completely oblivious to the very awkward situation she has just placed them both into.

"Oh, oh!" She then said. "Yuri even brought you something today, you know~"

"W-What... Me?" Jake asked in surprise. Immediately, Yuri's face turned bright red like the lights on a Christmas tree, looking utterly embarrassed.

"W-Wait! Sayori!" Yuri stumbled over her own words.

"You... got me something?" Jake asked again.

"Um... Not really..." Yuri replied quietly.

"Don't be shy~" Sayori reassured both her friends.

"It's really nothing..." Yuri mumbled.

"C-Can I see it?" Jake asked, in the same soft tone Yuri had used with him before. But Yuri turned her head away again, blushing madly.

"N-Never mind! Sayori made it sound like a big deal when it's really not... Uuuuh, what do I do..."

"Eh? I'm sorry Yuri, I wasn't thinking..." Sayori apologised.

(Do something Jake! Don't stand there like an idiot, say something!)

Jake took a deep breath, "H-Hey, d-don't worry about it... I wasn't expecting you to get anything for me. But, i-it's really sweet that you were th-thinking about me... it makes me... kinda happy."

"I-Is that so...?"

Jake nodded his head and smiled nervously at Yuri. She started to calm down.

"Alright... Well, here." She said, smiling again. She reached into her bag and pulled out a medium sized book.

"I didn't want you to feel left out... So I picked out a book that I thought you might enjoy. And we could, you know... Discuss it... if you wanted..."

Jake was at a loss of words. He just stared at Yuri in complete and utter awe.

(How is this girl accidentally being so cute? She even picked out a book she thinks I would like, even though I forgot to tell her what kinds of horror I prefer... wow...)

"Th-thanks, Yuri. This really means a lot to me!" Jake said, grinning broadly. He enthusiastically took the book and examined it.

The book was titled "Portrait of Markov". There was an ominous-looking eye symbol on the front cover. It certainly peeked Jake's interest.

"Phew. Well, you can read at your own pace. I'll look forward to hearing what you think." said a very pink Yuri, who then walked off towards her desk.

Now that everybody was settled in, Jake expected Monika to kick off some scheduled activities for the club. But that didn't seem to be the case at all.

Monika and Sayori were having a cheery chat in the corner, Natsuki was rummaging through the closet, and Yuri's face was already buried in a book. Jake couldn't help but notice that she was wearing an intense expression, like she was waiting for this chance.

He really wanted to talk to Yuri more. But at the same time, he would feel bad if he distracted her while she was busy reading. Jake caught a glimpse of the cover on Yuri's book. It was exactly the same as the book she had just lent him. More than that, she seemed to be in the first few pages.

"Ah..." Yuri gasped quietly.

(Crap! She's caught me looking at her!)

Yuri sneaked another glance at Jake, there eyes meeting for a split second. But that only made her hide her face deeper into her book.

"S-Sorry! I-I was just... spacing out..."Jake muttered, sensing he made her uncomfortable.

"Oh... It's fine." Yuri replied. "If I was focused, then I probably wouldn't have noticed in the first place. But I'm just re-reading a bit of this, so..."

"That's the book you gave me, right?" Jake asked.

"Mhm. I wanted to re-read some of it. Not for any particular reason...!" She quickly added.

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking... how come you have two copies of the same book?"

"Ah... Well, when I stopped by the bookstore yesterday— Ah, that's not what I meant... I-I mean— I... just happened to buy two of them."

"Really? Why?"

"Uh, b-because, uh...!"

As Yuri stuttered while trying to respond, Jake realised that his constant pushing of the subject was starting to really stress her out. She looked completely terrified at this point.

"Hey, hey, hey, i-it's okay!" He whispered, desperately trying not to upset her. "I'm sorry! Y-You don't have to tell me i-if you don't want to. Forget about it..."

"O-O-Okay..." she replied.

Jake felt so awful for doing that. He remembered how stressed out he would get when someone kept pushing him to talk about something he didn't want to. He didn't want to act the same way towards other people. Especially Yuri...

"I'll definitely start reading this soon." He told her.

"I-I'm glad to hear... Once it starts to pick up, you might have a hard time putting it down. It's a very engaging and relatable story." She said with a smile.

"Is that so...?" Jake asked.  "Uh, what's it about?"

"Well... Mmm..." Yuri closed the book and scanned her eyes over the back. "Alright... I just didn't want to accidentally give anything away and spoil the whole story for you."

"I can handle spoilers. In fact, I really like knowing what's gonna happen so that I don't end up getting surprised." Jake assured her.

Yuri looked up at him and Jake was caught off-guard by her disapproving expression.

"But that's one of the most important aspects of a story. Not knowing what happens next is one of the best ways to become more immersed into the plot. It allows the readers to form a close connection with the characters and keep you rooting for them until you can put the pieces together yourself and truly experience the ending the same way the characters do."

Once again, Jake was astounded by Yuri's deep analogy of literature. She really was passionate about this stuff. He could see that now.

"I'm sorry," Jake muttered. "I just don't like getting surprised, that's all... And sometimes I can't put the pieces together unless I'm filled in on what's gonna happen so I can focus on the things leading up to it."

"It's okay." Yuri said, sounding a little sad.

"So, how about we talk about this book now in case we lose track of things again..." Jake told her. They had both been very distracted that day.

"Ah, yes," Yuri agreed. "Basically, it's about this girl in high school who moves in with her long-lost younger sister..."

Yuri proceeded to explain how the girl starts getting targeted by some escapees from a human experiment prison and the girl has to choose who she could trust. No matter what she did, she destroys most of her relationships and her whole life starts falling apart.

"Damn... that's some story, Yuri." said Jake, impressed by the dark ending.

"Ahaha." Yuri gently giggled. "I'm glad you think so. Most people aren't really fans of those sorts of things."

"Yeah, you can say that again." Jake replied. "But I'm not most people. And now I am very eager to check out this book."

Yuri gave him a small smile. She was so shy and reclusive on the outside, but her mind seem was completely different. The same could be said for Jake as well. He was often very quiet and vague when interacting with people, but in privacy he could talk in detail about some very complex subjects and sometimes even forgot his inside voice.

"The best thing for me about these kinds of stories... They challenge you to look at life from a strange new perspective," Yuri explained. "When horrible things happen not because someone just wants to be evil, but because they have their own goals, or their own philosophy that they believe in."

"The best kind of villain is one who thinks what they're doing is right. That all of the atrocities they commit will end up being for the greater good." said Jake.

"Exactly." Yuri replied. "Also, when you thought that you related to the protagonist... They're made out to be the naive one for letting their one-sided morals interfere with the villain's plans."

"I wouldn't quite describe it like that, but okay. That's really interesting."

Yuri turned away, blushing again and holding her hair. "Y-You really... think so..."

"Of course. This might just be the longest and deepest conversation I've ever had about horror than I have with any other person." Jake told her. "It's really nice."

"Yes, it is..." Yuri agreed, looking at him from the corner of her eye. "But I feel like I should let you know that I have this problem..."

"Eh? What's that?" asked Jake.

"When I let things like books and writing fill my thoughts... I kind of forget to pay attention to other people. So I'm sorry if I end up saying something strange! And please, stop me if I start talking too much!" She said loudly.

"I really don't think you need to worry about that..." Jake assured her, "It just means that you're passionate about reading. I can also be quite a chatterbox when it's about something I love. But this is a literature club, so this is kinda what we're supposed to be talking about..."

"Ah—That's... Well, that's true..." Yuri admitted.

"In fact, maybe we should start reading it. All this hype is driving me crazy." chuckled Jake.

"Y-You don't have to!" She said quickly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Jake asked, confused. "I thought you said you were looking forward to this a moment ago."

Yuri said nothing and stood frozen solid with a worried expression. Jake decided to take action at this point.

"Let me just get the book..." Jake quickly retrieved the book that he had put into his bag.

"Ah, I have some chocolate as well." He said to himself. It was a small bag of chocolate candies that he had kept hidden from Sayori's sugar radar.

Both of them loved chocolate. Maybe a little too much though. Jake was current on a very on-and-off diet for a while. He was mostly trying to eat healthy and exersise in order to avoid being overweight, but it had been really difficult. So occasionally, he would buy himself a small bag of these chocolate candies. Just as a little treat now and them.

Jake decided to take them just as something he could have while Yuri drank her tea. He returned to Yuri, who still hadn't moved an inch.

"Alright... is it okay if I sit here?" He asked her, as he slipped into the seat next to her.

"Ah...!" Yuri yelped in surprise. Once she registered what he just did, she calmed down. "Yeah..."

"Are you sure? You seem a little apprehensive..."

"That's... I'm sorry..." She apologised. "It's not that I don't want you to! It's just not something I'm not very used to... That is, reading in the company of someone."

Jake nodded, "I see... Well just tell me if I end up distracting you or anything."

"A-Alright..."

With that, Jake opened up the book and started on the prologue, placing the chocolate on the desk. He soon understood what Yuri meant by reading in company. It was like he could feel her presence over his shoulder as he read. Not that it was a particularly bad thing. It may be a little distracting, but the feeling was quite comforting for him.

Yuri was in the corner of his eye, and Jake realized that she wasn't actually looking at her own book. He glanced over at her. It looked like she was reading from his book instead—

"S-Sorry! I was just—!" stuttered Yuri.

"Yuri," said Jake calmly. "you really apologise a lot, don't you?"

"I...I do? I don't really mean to..." she replied, looking away. "Sorry... I mean—"

"Ahaha." Jake chuckled lightly. "Here, this should work, right?"

Jake slid his desk until it was up against Yuri's, then held his book between the two of them.

"Ah... I suppose so..." Yuri timidly closed her own copy.

Once they leaned in a bit, their shoulders were almost touching. Jake felt like his arm was in the way, so instead he used his right hand to hold the book open.

"Oh, I guess this'll make it hard to turn the page..." He muttered.

"Here..." Yuri takes her left arm and holds the left side of the book between her thumb and her forefinger.

Jake got the idea and did the same with his right arm, on the right side of the book. That way, he turned a page and Yuri would slide it under her thumb after it flipped to her side.

But in holding it like this... They were huddled even closer than before. It was actually kind of distracting for Jake. It was as if he could feel the warmth of Yuri's face. Plus, she was right in the corner of his vision...

"Jake, do you mind if we... sit on the floor to read?" Yuri asked suddenly.

Jake turned his head towards her, "Eh? Why's that?"

"It's a bit easier on my back..." She explained. "I can read with my back against the wall rather than bending over while sitting at my desk."

"Ah sorry, I didn't realize." he replied.

"No worries. I just have back pains fairly regularly, so I do my best to manage it."

"Is that so? I wonder why that is..."

"It's most likely because of my—" Yuri suddenly stopped what she was saying and once again she had a worried look on her face.

"Ah! M-My...!" She stuttered.

"Your posture, right?" Jake guessed. "Always hunched over while reading..."

"Yes! I-I have terrible reading posture! So that's why we should sit on the floor." She said quickly.

"Whatever makes you comfortable, I guess."

Yuri and Jake got up from their desks and found a clear spot on the floor. They sat up against the wall, a teacup at Yuri's side and chocolate at Jake's. As if in sync, they resumed the same reading position as before, each holding one half of the book.

Except this time... They're bodies were even closer to each other.

"I can't see too well..." muttered Yuri. She then slid closer until their shoulders touched. Jake felt his face turning bright pink. How was he supposed to focus on reading like this? Having a person as cute as Yuri pressed up against him like that... When she was being less apprehensive, it was almost more than he could handle!

Meanwhile, Yuri did not seem to have noticed anything. She was once again wearing her intense reading expression and Jake could only presume the world around her had faded away. He used all of his willpower to focus on reading...

**********

After a few minutes, he finally managed to relax a little. He fumbled with the chocolate wrapper in his free hand, which brought Yuri back to reality.

"Oh, sorry..." Jake apologised before letting go of the book to finish opening the wrapper. "Y-You can have as much as you want."

"Ah, that's... That's okay, I won't take any..." Yuri declined.

"Are you sure? I really don't mind sharing."

"Well... if I touch it, then it might get smudges on the pages..."

"Oh, right... I wasn't even thinking. Sorry about that." said Jake, feeling stupid.

"No need to apologise." Yuri reassured him. "I'll hold the book, okay?"

"Are you sure...?" He asked her.

"Of course." Yuri replied.

She opened the book with both hands and held it so that Jake didn't have a hard time reading from it. But as a result, her felt arm was practically resting on top of his leg.

"Well, in that case..."

But Yuri was already totally focused on reading again. Jake took a chocolate candy and popped it into his mouth. He then took another chocolate... and offered it to Yuri.

She didn't even look away from the book. She simply parted her lips, as though their situation was completely natural. Thinking she wanted the piece of chocolate, Jake casually placed it in her mouth. And just like that, Yuri closed her lips over it.

Yuri's expression suddenly broke.

"Eh...? Did... Did I just..." She looked at Jake like she needed to confirm what just happened.

"U-Um... Jake...."

"S-Sorry!" Jake apologised, realising his big mistake. "I-I didn't mean- I just- I shouldn't have- ugh crap..."

Jake looked away from her. His pink face had now turned rosy red. He thought Yuri had noticed him offering the chocolate and wanted him to feed it to her. He should have known better than to think that.

(Why am I so goddamn stupid!?) He thought.

"It's... Well... Y-You were just helping..." Yuri said, blushing as well. "That's something that...most friends do... Right?"

"I mean... Y-Yeah...?" Jake said, but it was more of a question than an answer. "Yeah... That's all it was..."

"Yeah..." Yuri agreed. "Then... You don't need to stop or anything..."

Jake looked back to her, looking shocked. He had not expected that kind of answer. Was she... actually okay with him doing this?

"Okay..." He responded, trying to regain his composure.

This situation had gotten really intense. Yuri tried to return to the book. But Jake could tell that even she couldn't focus now. His heart was pounding, as he nervously took another chocolate between his fingers.

But this time, Yuri's violet eyes made direct contact with his green-hazel ones. They both stared silently at each other, neither of them averting their gaze. Jake noticed her chest rise and fall to the rhythm of her breaths. He slowly raised his arm...

"Ah..." Yuri parted her lips. But it's different this time. Jake took the chocolate and again placed it into her mouth, feeling her hot breath on his fingers...

"OKAY, EVERYONE!"

"Uwa—" Jake gasped, pulling his arm away.

"A-Ah!" Yuri cried out. She jolts back to the wall.

"It's time to share poems!" Monika announced happily.

(Aw, fuck...)

____________________

Cliffhanger! And the first F-Word!

Yeah, the game isn't for kids, so neither should this. I should probably warn to this story is gonna have some mature content And maybe some sexual themes? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Lol, don't worry! I promise this will be a lemon/smut free story. I don't think I'd be very comfortable writing that sorta stuff anyway. Especially since the main character is based on me...

Anyways, I also decided to combine the two times you read with Yuri in the game just so we can get to the good stuff a bit faster.

~Cheesy