NATSUKI

Natsuki (ナツキ) is one of the five main characters in Doki Doki Literature Club!, one of the five members of the Literature Club, and one of the three characters for whom the player can write poems.
== Appearance ==
Natsuki has short, straight pastel pink hair and pink eyes. She also has a red hourglass-shaped hair clip at the right side of her bangs, as well as two red ribbons forming two small twin-tails. The rest of her hair is short and she has small bangs on the side of her face and small locks of hair on her forehead.
Natsuki wears the traditional school uniform just like the other characters for the majority of the game, which is a warm gray blazer and underneath it is a brown sweater vest over a white collared shirt topped off with a red ribbon and also a dark blue skirt, white knee socks and white uwabaki slippers with a sky blue tip. If the player chooses her path on Day 3, she will wear a light pink ruffled skirt with a black trim, a white shirt with short sleeves decorated with a light pink cat face on the left side of her chest and light pink trims along the edges of the sleeves. Under the shirt, two black bra straps can be seen.
She is the shortest character in the Literature Club, a feature that results in people commonly mistaking her for a first-year student. Her short stature is thought to be because of her being younger than the rest of the cast, but it was implied by Monika and Special Poem 9, "Things I Like About Papa", to be from nourishment.
== Personality ==
Natsuki appears to be a brash, blunt, cranky, and seemingly arrogant girl at first, with a cute, softer interior as a result of insecurity, convincing Monika enough to class her as the embodiment of a tsundere. While she is impulsive and can speak without thinking, Natsuki truly cares about her friends and, even when she has obvious anger issues, doesn't enjoy fights or arguments with people. Over the course of the game, it is shown that she worries about Yuri, and, on one occasion, she gives the protagonist a note asking him to help Yuri, fearing that if she spoke out then it would cause more arguments. Natsuki is very stubborn and has a hard time expressing how she feels and what she wants. When repeatedly challenged, she often becomes awkward and tongue-tied, then aggressive, and then simply bursts into tears.
Her cute interior also involves a love of manga and anime, particularly those in the slice-of-life genre, and baking. She has been known to store her manga collection in the Literature Club out of embarrassment; another reason (hinted at) is because her father would be angry while the rest of the club obviously knows about her interest, and she is still hesitant to talk about it. Natsuki also likes cute things, such as cupcakes with cat faces, and prefers poems with cuter, happier words, though her own poems are still about sad things, such as being persecuted for the protagonist's hobbies. Natsuki believes that it's important to be able to express something deep with few words. Her simplistic writing style puts her at odds with Yuri, who has a more extravagant style.
Natsuki dislikes being called "cute," even when she acts as such or does cute things, and she will deny any claims from others relating to this; nevertheless, she is much more comfortable exposing her sweet side once she knows people aren't going to tease her about it. Natsuki hates it if she isn't taken seriously, whether it's her writing, her hobbies, or just her overall demeanor. It is likely Natsuki learned to be ashamed of herself and her hobbies because her classmates judge her and because of her implied abusive father, making her abrasive nature a coping mechanism. This is also implied in a secret poem, "Things I Like About Papa", which is most likely written by her.
It is shown that she is a very lonely person who desperately craves affection. One example is during the third poetry-sharing session: if Natsuki has liked all the player's poems to date, she outright asks the protagonist if he thinks her poems are the best, which swiftly shifts to her begging him to say they are, even if he hates them.
== Preferred Words ==
Act 1
* Anger, Anime
* Blanket, Boop, Bouncy, Bubbles, Bunny
* Candy, Cheeks, Chocolate, Clouds, Cute
* Doki-Doki
* Email
* Fantasy, Fluffy
* Games, Giggle
* Hair, Headphones, Heartbeat, Hop
* Jump, Jumpy
* Kawaii, Kiss, Kitty	
* Lipstick, Lollipop
* Marshmallow, Melody, Milk, Mouse
* Nibble, Nightgown
* Papa, Parfait, Peace, Pink, Playground, Poof, Pout, Puppy, Pure
* Ribbon
* Shiny, Shopping, Skipping, Skirt, Socks, Spinning, Sticky, Strawberry, Sugar, Summer, Swimsuit
* Twirl
* Valentine, Vanilla
* Waterfall, Whisper, Whistle
Act 2 Extras
* Adventure, Amazing, Awesome
* Beauty, Bed, Bliss
* Charm, Cheer, Childhood, Clumsy, Color, Comfort
* Dance, Dazzle
* Excitement, Extraordinary
* Family, Feather, Fireflies, Fireworks, Flower, Flying, Friends, Fun
* Happiness, Heart, Holiday
* Laugh, Lazy, Loud, Love, Lucky	
* Marriage, Memories, Music
* Nature
* Ocean
* Party, Passion, Play, Precious, Promise
* Rainbow, Raincloud, Romance
* Sadness, Silly, Sing, Smile, Sparkle, Special, Sunny, Sunset, Sweet
* Together, Treasure
* Vacation
* Warm, Wonderful
== Trivia Edit ==
* It is implied that Natsuki has an abusive father:
** Natsuki prefers to stay at the Literature Club rather than at her home and is visibly worried about fading into the background if more people were to join the club, even asking Monika to let her know in advance if a new member joins.
** Natsuki implies that her father finds manga childish and fears what would happen if he caught her reading it.
** The father wants her home no later than a specific time.
** Monika's alterations to Natsuki's negative traits in Act 2 intensify her fathers abusiveness, evident by Natsuki's bolded "My dad would beat the OOF out of me if he saw this" (I Know but Momo Hibiki hates bad words.) comment and Monika's "guess" that Natsuki's father does not give her money or lunch as she departs to school, resulting in her malnutrition and short stature.
*** Related, Natsuki passes out in the Literature Club room, prompting Monika to give her a protein bar, saying it happens often enough to have Monika keep one in her bag in case it happens again.
** Natsuki's insecurity being the fuel to her tsundere archetype and boastful attempts at superiority as she looks for approval and jeers from others without being laughed or mocked at, a common symptom for victims of child abuse.
** Another circumstantial point, but if the player writes poems for Natsuki in Act 2 the day before and the day of the festival planning, then the interaction between Yuri and Natsuki changes on the day of the festival planning and takes a darker turn: Natsuki apologizes for being so aggressive the day before and leaving the club, and Yuri responds that "Nobody cares. Why don't you go look for coins under the vending machines or something?" Natsuki is shocked and angry at first and tries to speak, but instead she runs out of the club room crying. Despite this, the rest of the events for that day proceed as usual, and Natsuki will still give the player her "poem" about trying to help Yuri, stating that she doesn't trust Monika. The jab by Yuri though further alludes to the possible fact that Natsuki's father doesn't give her lunch money and thus encourages the concept that Natsuki's father is abusive.
** Theoretical at best, but by connecting the symptoms of insecurity from real-world abuse victims and how such relationships tend to begin,[4] Natsuki pressuring to go home for dinner after saving her appetite, feeling insecure about her underdeveloped size and stature, and she boasts on about how she can overcome such a flaw with minor acts of feat, the father is likely critical of her stagnate growth and wants her to eat all provided meals so his efforts are worth the fortune that Natsuki does not become more dependent on him and become a greater drain on his resources, time, and energy.
* Natsuki's version of "Okay, Everyone!" involves a much simpler tune consisting of a recorder xylophone duet, though it is slightly off-tempo, representing her childish and simplistic nature.
* Her poems are usually the shortest and most "childish" of the group, with playful and simple music, contrasting with the messages of her poems, which are usually more hard-hitting and serious.
** Natsuki snapping her neck to the side during her corruption in Act 2 could be disputed as Natsuki's self-destruction, but the act has temporary and inconclusive consequences.
* In the manga Parfait Girls, Natsuki's favorite character is a girl named Minori, who she claims to be particularly unlucky.
* Dan Salvato has stated that he wishes he could have added more content to Natsuki's character.[citation needed]
* Natsuki is the only girl who does not have a death scene.
* The sprite of Natsuki throwing up may have been inspired by "vomit-chan," a famous Yume Nikki fanart that features the player character, Madotsuki, throwing up.
== References ==
# ↑ the statement by Dan Salvato on subreddit Discord[citation needed]
# ↑ Concept height and statement on canon height[citation needed]
# ↑ Satchely (DDLC's character artist)'s tweet about Natsuki's hair color
# ↑ poem_special9
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