19 Omake

"So, how did your guys' poster turn out?" Shujinkou asked Sayori and Yuri.

"It went great!" Sayori beamed. "I sure was lucky to be partnered with Yuri. She led the whole thing."

"Really?" Shujinkou asked, his gaze excluding everything but Yuri.

"Ah-!" The embarrassed maiden instinctively turned away and began playing with her hair. "She's exaggerating. It was really a team effort."

"What about you and Natsuki?" Sayori asked.

"Well, we're both proud with the results. I think that's all that matters," Shujinkou replied.

He closed his eyes and thought back to the events that took place yesterday. Despite a few awkward moments, including one big awkward moment, it was a really fun day for him. Suddenly, all his mind could focus on was the big awkward moment that happened between them. It was…

"Shujinkou!"

A loud voice penetrated his thoughts. Following the sound of the sudden voice, Shujinkou turned around and had a small, thin package shoved into his hands by Natsuki.

"What's this?" Shujinkou asked.

"Don't ask dumb questions. Just open it, dummy," she replied.

Doing as he was told, Shujinkou opened the package and was surprised to find a home-made chocolate chip cookie inside.

"You made this me?" he asked.

"Well… yeah," Natsuki quietly admitted. "But only because I didn't want to waste leftover materials and because I was in a good mood! That's all!"

"What put you in such a good mood, Natsuki?" the curious vice-president asked. "Did something happen yesterday?"

"What?!" Natsuki exclaimed. She nervously glanced towards Shujinkou before her gaze returned to Sayori. "Yeah right, like anything related to Shujinkou could put me in such a great mood! If anything, I should be mad at him."

"Why?" Sayori asked.

"Because…!" Natsuki nervously glanced towards Shujinkou once more. "Never mind! It's not important!"

With that said, Natsuki stormed her way to the closet.

"Was it something I said?" Sayori wondered aloud.

As the club's vice-president tried to wrap her head around the conversation that just occurred, Yuri took a deep breath and turned her gaze towards Shujinkou.

"Ah, Shujinkou…" Yuri called.

"Hm?" Shujinkou replied.

"I hope that this isn't intrusive, but there's something that I've been wondering about for a while now," Yuri said.

"What is it?" Shujinkou asked.

"It's about your name," Yuri said.

"My name?" Shujinkou wondered what Yuri could have to say about his name. But before he could ask, a worried expression formed on Yuri's face.

"Sorry!" she suddenly apologized. "It was too intrusive wasn't it?"

"Not really. Just kind of surprising," Shujinkou responded. "What about my name?"

"Well… it means 'protagonist,' correct?" Yuri asked.

Shujinkou nodded his head.

"Would you happen to know why you were given that name?" Yuri asked.

"Well, my mom told me it was because I was the protagonist of my own story," Shujinkou answered.

"I see…" Yuri went silent for a moment to gather her thoughts. "That's interesting."

"You think?" Shujinkou asked, scratching his right cheek.

He never really gave much thought to his name or his mother's reasoning for it. The fact that someone else finds it interesting was a bit surprising to him.

"Well, it's just that I find it interesting that your name is an indicator regarding your position in life," Yuri continued.

"What do you mean?" Shujinkou asked.

"In books, we follow the protagonist own personal journey through their life. All of their hopes, their pain and their determination," Yuri started to explain. "We don't usually think about this because it seems silly to compare us to works of fiction, but despite the circumstances, isn't it the same for us? Most of us usually have others who watch over us and witness our tale unfold and even if someone doesn't have that luxury, they can still look back on their own experiences.

In fact, it's because of those personal experiences that we have some of the greatest literature that exists today. It's quite funny when you think about; a protagonist writing the story of a protagonist basing it on their own story. But that's one of the things I love about reading and writing. The ability to express your feelings and experiences and the opportunity to understand how someone else feels…"

Yuri immediately stopped herself from saying more and shyly averted her gaze.

"I was just rambling wasn't I? Sorry," Yuri apologized.

"Nothing to apologize for," Shujinkou chuckled. "It was just a bit surprising to see you lose yourself to the conversation."

"Well, I do have a tendency to do that when discussing my own interests. That doesn't bother you does it?" she worriedly asked.

"Not really. Everyone's like that. You don't have to be so embarrassed when it happens," Shujinkou assured her.

"I see…" Yuri averted her gaze once more and giggled shyly.

"What's so funny?" Shujinkou asked.

"Ah, nothing," Yuri answered. "I was just thinking about something you told me once."

"Oh," Shujinkou replied.

It was at that very moment where Shujinkou realized something.

"I wonder if this how Snake feels like when he realizes that most of his dialogue in his playable appearances consist of questioning others and repeating what they've said," Shujinkou wondered as his hand instinctively moved his baked treat from Sayori's teeth.

"How do you that when you're not even paying attention?" sputtered Sayori.

"It comes naturally when you're around," Shujinkou grinned.

He then split the cookie into two and handed half to Sayori, which she eagerly accepted.

"Thanks, Shujinkou!" Sayori bubbled.

The two took a bite out of their halves, with only Shujinkou being able to hide his utter delight. Soon he heard a giggle from behind and turned around to find Monika behind him.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing," Monika smiled. "It's just that I saw something interesting today. Anyway, I'm super sorry I'm late everyone! I was really busy during Study Hall."

"What were you doing?" Yuri asked.

"It's a secret," Monika replied. "But it did invoke a strange case of Déjà vu, though I guess it's probably better to experience that then Jamias Vu."

"Jamias Vu?" Sayori repeated perplexed.

"It's the experience of being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar," Yuri explained.

"Still trying to understand how that concept relates to the Ground Zeroes mission," Shujinkou thought, taking another bite of the cookie.

"But enough about the brain. Let's get today's meeting started!" Monika happily announced.