Sayori

Sayori is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Monika) of the 2017 visual novel game, Doki Doki Literature Club!. She is one of the five members and Vice-President of the Literature Club in Act 1; after Monika is deleted in Act 3, she replaces her as the club president in Act 4 and serves as one of the three characters for whom the player can write poems. She is also the protagonist's childhood friend.
When she inherited the position of being the club president, she started displaying patterns of self-awareness and sentience in a similar manner to Monika when she was club president.
==Appearance==
Sayori is a young teenager who has coral pink hair, cut chin-length and slightly curled at the ends, with a large red bow on the upper left side of her head. Like the other female characters, she has a pair of prominent strands of hair beside her bangs, and her eyes are a bright sky blue. She is of short-to-average height, which makes her the second-shortest character in the game, before Natsuki. She is also pale-light skinned, like the other club members.
When in school, she wears the standard-issue female school uniform consisting of a warm gray blazer that is, unlike the other club members, worn quite lazily: it is extensively unbuttoned and untucked, brown sweater vest, white shirt slightly unbuttoned and crooked at the collar and tucked, red ribbon that is displaced, dark blue pleated skirt, white knee-high socks and white uwabaki slippers with sky blue tips. Because of her disorganization, Sayori wears the uniform quite lazily; her shirt is misbuttoned and scattered at the collar, the blazer she wears is completely unbuttoned and the ribbon around the collar is untied.
While outside school, Sayori casually wears a pink shirt with rolled-up long sleeves and blue shorts. On the morning of her death, she is seen wearing her pajamas in a tattered condition: it consists of a brown-collared white dress shirt, which has a pocket on each side, brown folds and six black buttons, the top one being unbuttoned, slim-fitting red shorts and was barefoot.
== Personality==
Sayori is characterized as the epitome of a genki girl: expressing a considerate and optimistic disposition. She is also heavily inelegant, notable for finding methods to coincidentally inflict self-harm or to drop random things/gadgets. Regardless, she is shown to be a facetiously cunning individual who can trick others to achieve food, shown after managing to eat Natsuki's cookie without her permission and attempting to convince the protagonist to accompany her to get something to eat, only to have him buy something for her as she did not actually have sufficient amount of money on hand. Sayori has also been known by the protagonist to obsess over activities that she loses interest in later. She states that writing poetry and examining literature is different to her than those other interests because it assists her in exploring her feelings.
While she has been known to obsess over an activity, this is fleeting as she will only drop it a few days later, as stated by the protagonist during an interaction between the two. This could also be the case with writing poetry, as the protagonist wonders if she might drop it later on, though he also notices that she is a lot more passionate about writing, as she mentions earlier on that it assists her to express and understand her feelings better.
Despite her lighthearted façade, however, it is later revealed that she is a tragic individual who suffers from chronical depression. As such, she is hardworking to make the people around her surroundings cheerful to cope with her own lack of self-love amongst other things. She is also typically the only character, other than the protagonist, shown to break up arguments and retain peace among her friends (such as between Natsuki and Yuri), Monika stating that her sentiments are necessary to retain a relaxing atmosphere in the Literature Club. As such, Sayori's presence is described as paramount of retaining the literature club at an atmosphere of relaxation and peace. This is proven by her absence in Act 2, where literature club falls into an atmosphere of chaos and paranormal conflict. Monika also states that while she might resemble a good leader, Sayori is typically at her best in terms of to dealing with people, especially at meditations. She tries her best to make everyone cheerful. Simultaneously, she dislikes attention directed at her own wellbeing because she feels unworthy of offerings to her from the others.
Sayori is also introduced as the protagonist's childhood friend. The protagonist seems to regard her as an airhead and slightly annoying at the beginning of the game, but he starts to sympathize with her after she confesses about her depression, despite her lacking the entertainment of the attention and concern in the slightest.
Sayori's depression makes her disorganized, and she often cannot find a circumstantial reason to get out of bed in the morning when she tries to awaken herself, which is the reason she is typically late for school. Her room, which the protagonist regularly cleaned for her, is also notified to be untidy. The protagonist states how Sayori has remained practically intact, and the changes the protagonist notices in her later are due to Monika's interference, extending her depression and suicidal tendencies.
Her depression not only characterizes her as a "crybaby," but also seems to make her believe that she does not deserve to be loved, yet she simultaneously desires to be loved, especially by the protagonist, whom she has a crush on. When the player chooses to pursue one of the other girls, Sayori seems to suffer because she desires the protagonist to love her in secret, while simultaneously experiencing guilt for feeling bad in the first place. During this point, her depression is also gradually amplified by Monika by proxy of her alterations within her character file. However, if the player persistently chooses to pursue Sayori, she will still experience guilt since she lacks the courage to believe that she deserves to be loved. Regardless of the player's choice, Sayori will kill herself on the day of the festival in the early hours of the morning, courtesy of Monika's command of what she should do. Her relationship with the protagonist and other people's happiness are her paramount coping mechanisms since she believes that if she offers everyone else happiness, she will not have a reason whatsoever to lack happiness.
It is worth noting that Act 1 establishes that Sayori sleeps in because of her depression, which is the reason she is often late for school. In Act 4, however, Sayori tells the protagonist that she has been waking up on time recently. This implies that her depression has been alleviated to some degree.
==History==
Sayori was born in 1999. During her early childhood, she became childhood friends with the protagonist and the two walked to school together until Sayori began oversleeping later on in her life.
In 2017, Sayori joined the Literature Club at her high school, soon becoming the vice-president, and invites her childhood friend to also join the Literature Club. The protagonist then meets the other members of the club: Natsuki, Yuri, and the club president, Monika. He starts to participate in the club's activities such as writing and sharing poetry, and grows close to the four girls. Over the course of the timeline within Doki Doki Literature Club, it is revealed that Sayori suffers from chronical depression, thus slowly shifting from cheerful to melancholic. The protagonist told Monika about this, and Monika went over to talk to her. While it seemed like Monika was assisted to cheer her up, it is assumed she harassed Sayori to hurt her feelings. Eventually Sayori goes home and isn't seen in the club again until Act 4.
Whilst preparing for an upcoming school festival, the protagonist goes to Sayori's house to see if she is fine. Sayori reveals that she has being suffering from serious depression throughout her whole life, marking the beginning of the twist within the game's theme. Sayori also confesses her love for the protagonist after he either bakes with Natsuki or assists Yuri with decorations. The next day, the protagonist becomes incredibly worried about Sayori due to her not answering his text messages. 
When Sayori confesses her love for the protagonist, she will either hug him or flee with a pained/heartbroken expression, depending on whether the player accepts her feelings, or rejects them. The next day, the protagonist will go to school without her, assuming she was still asleep. There, he will read a morbidly different and ambiguous poem written by Sayori, aliased "%," with the words, "get out of my head," repeated constantly. This will cause the protagonist to panic and go to Sayori's house, gently opens the door to her room, and will find her dead, hanging from a noose with blood on her hands. If the player tries to load their save after her death, the game states that the save files are corrupt and completely reboots, as if Sayori never existed. This would mark the end of Act 1. In Act 3, it is revealed that this is a direct result of Monika extending her depression in an attempt to prevent her from confessing her love to the player. Sayori cares about the player deeply to the point of romantic interest, but she will end her life regardless of the player's decision to reciprocate her confession or not out of ambivalence. If the player accepts her confession, she is driven to suicide out of the player's concern for her, and if he rejects it, she is driven to suicide out of heartbreak.  
In Act 2, Sayori is deleted from the game's code and is absent for the entire act. However, a poster of her hanging can occasionally show up at the background of the classroom at random. 
In Act 4, Sayori (along with Natsuki and Yuri) is revived by Monika. Due to Monika being deleted, Sayori is now the president of the Literature Club. After Monika restores each member's file, at the start of Act 4, Sayori will again be present in the game, alive and well. Natsuki and Yuri will also be present, also unharmed. Towards the end of the game, one out of two endings will happen. If the player achieves the normal ending, Sayori will reveal that since she is now also self-aware, potentially because she is now the club president, and will thank the player for deleting Monika. The scene then moves from the club into the room Monika was in during Act 3, as she claims how happy she will be to be with the player forever. Monika will then delete Sayori, stating that she "won't let her hurt him," and then will delete the entire game.
If the good ending is achieved, Sayori will instead thank the player for spending time with all of the girls, stating that it is all that she wanted. She will then tearfully thank the player for playing Doki Doki Literature Club, and confess that they all love the player.
If the player deletes "monika.chr" prior to creating a new save, instead of delivering her traditional dialogue at the beginning of the game, Sayori is overcome with existential dread, causing the game to terminate itself. Upon reopening, a black screen with the word, "END," in white letters will be displayed, followed by, a monochromatic image of her lifeless body hanging from Act 1's climax. If the player waits up to ten minutes on this screen, the phrase, "Now everyone can be happy," will fade in beside Sayori, written in her handwriting. This screen and message will also appear if the player deletes "sayori.chr" before she commits suicide in Act 1.  
==Powers and Abilities==
After becoming the new president after Monika's deletion, Sayori gains self-awareness and knowledge of the game's code. Her powers include:
*Breaking the Fourth Wall: Sayori is aware of the fictional nature of her universe.
*Resistance to Plot Manipulation: Sayori managed to break out of the script of the game via her knowledge of the Fourth Wall, something not even the Player is able to do.
*Script: She can edit the "script" of the game at will, therefore deciding every event that happens within the game.
*Erasure: She can "erase" the file of anyone, which results in their erasure of the entire history of the world, leaving it to adapt to their absence. However, Sayori herself is unaffected and can still remember their existence and bring them back at will.
*Non-Corporeal: Through unknown means, Sayori can keep her conscience and ability to affect reality even after having her file (and thus, her entire existence) deleted. Though not demonstrated directly in-game, she can likely bring her own file back to existence as Monika did with her friends, as long as she keeps a "back up" of her own file.
==Quotes==
==Gallery==
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==Trivia==
*Dan Salvato stated in the fan pack booklet that Sayori's name is a fusion between 'Sayuri' and 'Saori,' thus it has no traditional meaning. However, "Sayori" (さより) is an actual Japanese girls' name (as well as the name of the japanese halfbeak fish), albeit an uncommon one, as seen with the voice actress, Sayori Ishizuka, as well as the pseudonymous artist behind Nekopara.
*As also noted in the fan pack booklet, Dan chose Sayori as the character who inadvertently sets off the horror side of the game virtually because he knew it would hit anime fans the hardest (i.e., witnessing the archetypal girl who offers everyone happiness be the one to commit suicide).
*In a livestream celebrating the first anniversary of the game's release, Dan cited the character Yui Hirasawa from K-On! as an inspiration for Sayori's character.
*Sayori and Yuri are the only characters to actually die in the game, while everyone else (specifically Natsuki and Monika) were all deleted from the game (although, Yuri and Sayori were deleted as well after death). 
**Coincidentally, both Sayori and Yuri died in the same day of the school festival.
*Sayori is the only character whose blazer is open.
*The title of the song, "Sayo-Nara," is a pun on her name.
*When the game proceeds to Act 2, Sayori's sprite in the main menu will be replaced with an amalgamation of all the other characters present (Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika) instead.
*Sayori's file can be decoded into an .ogg file, which will play some sort of high, muffled screeching. Running the audio through a spectograph will reveal a QR code, which leads to the Project Libitina website.
==External Links==
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