Sayosuki

Sayosuki is the femslash ship between Sayori and Natsuki from the Doki Doki Literature Club! fandom.

Canon
In game, there's not a big number of interactions between these two girls. However, during the ones they share we can still see that Sayori is much more affectionate with Natsuki than she is with Yuri, Monika, or the player, seemingly due to a love of Natsuki’s cuteness and small stature. Over the course of the game, both show an attraction to the Protagonist. If you don't pick Yuri when the Protagonist selects what girl he wants to help with the preparations for the club event, Yuri starts to sulk because she wasn't picked. Natsuki tries to cheer Yuri up, in the same way like Sayori would have done it. The Protagonist later even says that Natsuki tried to sound like Sayori.

There is one instance in which Sayori wraps her arms around Natsuki’s shoulders, excitedly exclaiming that everything that Natsuki does is “just as cute as Natsuki herself” in a cheery tone. Natsuki gets flustered by this, blushes, and states that she’s not cute, shortly before the player changes the subject. Sayori also does this another time, when Natsuki has a cookie in her hand. Even though Sayori already had a cookie, Sayori sneaks up behind Natsuki and takes a bite of the cookie. Natsuki gets flustered here as well, and proceeds to lightly scold her about it while Sayori gets embarrassed and apologizes.

The two have numerous similarities. They both have color schemes that compliment each other nicely, Sayori has mainly salmon in her palette and Natsuki has mainly pink. Both girls also wear the same school uniform with a loop, and stockings. Both also have short hair and wear a red accessory in their hair and are the clubs shortest members. Furthermore, both girls are also considered the more cutesy ones of the club while Monika and Yuri are the more beautiful brooding ones, so they’re similar in that sense as well.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus
In the new edition to Doki Doki Literature Club, Natsuki and Sayori get their own side story called "Balance". In it, Sayori learns how to control her boundaries with Natsuki.

Sayori is often being shown as overly affectionate to Natsuki and greets her by pulling her into an embrace while Natsuki is rearranging her manga in the first line of the side story. Sayori is excited to be getting into Natsuki's manga and says she's fine with anything when Natsuki starts listing out the genres of manga there is. Natsuki states that if she really has no preference in what she reads, then she should just start with something that is easy to get into, as well as expressing she's more considerate than Yuri when it comes to having to make a commitment to her manga as opposed to Yuri's long horror novels. Natsuki also states that she's impressed by Sayori's attention span, which Sayori responds she has the "attention span of a donut". Natsuki plays onto this joke and says they can find something that even donuts can read, to which Sayori takes it as a compliment and interprets it as Natsuki calling her sweet and in return says that she is cute. Natsuki is immediately flustered by this, and says that Sayori shouldn't call her cute.

Natsuki is also quick to pull blame away from Sayori, as she doesn't want to make her feel bothered around her and says that it isn't her fault. Both seem to be constantly apologizing to one another and Natsuki even compliments Sayori as "a nice person" so she wouldn't be mad at her like that. Sayori is flustered and turns shy because of the compliment Natsuki gave her. Later on, Monika strikes up a conversation with Sayori, noting how she got Natsuki to share some of her manga with her. Sayori begins to compliment Natsuki about her traits but quickly refrains herself from calling her cute, saying how she isn't sure if Natsuki meant she couldn't say she was cute to her, or if she couldn't say it at all. Sayori also admits in this conversation that she is afraid that she's bothering Natsuki, and that she actually doesn't like her very much. Despite this, Monika says she shouldn't be afraid and Sayori replies about how she "loves her" and wants to get closer to her.

Next club meeting, Sayori and Natsuki hang out again, each doing their own things. Sayori makes a poem, and doodles stick figures lining the margins of the paper while Natsuki reads the newest volume of a manga. Some time passes by and Natsuki gets to a stopping point, noting how her head was swimming and asks Sayori if she was bored as well. Sayori denies boredom and begins to describe all of the stick figures and some sorts of problems they have in their lives, which Natsuki finds hilarious and bursts out in laughter, calling Sayori a "weirdo" for being able to come up with these. Sayori then questions Natsuki if she wants to read the poem that she had wrote in the meantime. Natsuki has complications with how Sayori is so open with her emotions and feelings, while she feels uncomfortable with that and wouldn't like sharing her own poems. Sayori is more shocked that Natsuki even writes poems in the first place and asks if she would ever want to share. Natsuki expresses her discomfort again and Sayori immediately apologizes, taking a small pause before suggesting they move on to something that would make them both happy.

After a few days of Natsuki getting smothered with affection by Sayori, Monika seizes a chance to have a word with Natsuki and says how it's cool she's been finding the time to spend with Sayori and how she was pretty excited to read with her. Natsuki only responds to her questions with "Yeah" and "Mhm", showing how tense she felt and even guilty that she didn't want to talk badly about Sayori behind her back. Monika says she knows Sayori and expresses her worry, offering to fix the problem but Natsuki says she doesn't want other people solving her problems for her and that she'd figure out a way to find the solution.

In Part 2 of the "Balance" side story they share, it begins at lunchtime where Sayori finds Natsuki with her friends and enthusiastically waves to her, only to find Natsuki purposefully avoiding her and becomes crushed by how distant she is becoming. Natsuki is just frightened and ducks around the corner quickly because she didn't know how to confront Sayori about her boundaries. When the club members start arriving, Sayori finds herself one of the last members again and sees Natsuki in the window, which makes her contemplate whether she should just go home or not. Sayori begins to say self deprecating things such as calling herself stupid for thinking that Natsuki wanted to be friends with her, that Natsuki was only interested in her because she wanted to read manga with her, etc. As she's about to turn around, Yuri is there right behind her. Yuri, at first being pushed away by Sayori but then was clung onto by her, tries to find the problem with her. Sayori explains what happened in the lunchroom, and keeps blaming herself for being the downfall of her and Natsuki's friendship, calling herself selfish. Yuri states this behavior is something she would do out of anxiety and asks for more context. After hearing more, she says that each of the members have lives outside of the club and that making best friends isn't some daily occurrence. She gives Sayori the advice to give Natsuki some space and Sayori sees that she truly needs to grow in knowing the boundaries of other people and gives Natsuki some time alone this club meeting. Meanwhile, Natsuki was busy making a poem for Sayori but didn't know how to get her words out. Monika, spying on the other club members for their wellbeing, notices Natsuki's poem and gives her a small "I'm proud of you" before leaving her alone.

At the end of the club meeting, Sayori goes to put the manga she had finally finished back and Natsuki fixes it for her. They small a share "See you later" before Sayori feels defeated and carries herself out of the classroom. Natsuki follows quickly and meets her out in the hallway with the poem she was about to give clutched in her hands. Both Natsuki and Sayori apologize to each other, Natsuki apologizing for being so mean lately and saying that she wasn't good with things that made her uncomfortable like feelings. She holds out the poem she made for Sayori, and Sayori smiles from the bottom of her heart, saying that she's "happier than she could ever express." Sayori then apologizes and said that she made a mistake by trying to jump in trying to make a friendship blossom between them, and says that her stance was made clear with her poem. After their heartfelt conversation, Natsuki states that she'll only share her best poems with Sayori, in which she responds that she likes anything that Natsuki does. Naturally, Natsuki becomes flustered because of this, and the two chat about the manga they were reading together while walking down the hallway. Natsuki expresses her disappointment that Sayori didn't save the last two chapters for them to read together, and Sayori says that it's cute she wanted to enjoy it with her.

Quotes
"Natsuki was trying to sound like Sayori"

- Protagonist about Natsuki's encouraging words to Yuri "She's so enthusiastic and expressive. I could just listen to her talk. She's so cute."

- Sayori gushing about Natsuki to Monika "I am a woman of respect!... But Natsuki is a woman of cute."

- Sayori calling Natsuki cute when talking to Monika "Well, I'm gonna keep trying because I love her and I wanna get closer to her."

- Sayori's determination to get closer to Natsuki because she loves her.

Fanon
This ship sailed mainly because of Sayori’s affectionate moments with Natsuki in game, and some of the dialogue they share. It also fits the popular ship trope of the bubbly extrovert and the moody introvert, which also makes it very well liked.

Sayosuki is heavily rivaled by ships such as Sayori x MC, Sayonika and Natsuri, but due to the limited number of characters in the game, still gathers a large enough following to be considered popular.

It is a common ship partner to an equally popular ship, Yurika, as a way to pair all four girls off.

Many fans appreciate the common interest of sweets the girls share.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Sayorixnatsuki tag on Wattpad
 * Sayorixnatsuki tag on Wattpad
 * Sayorixnatsuki tag on Wattpad

DEVIANTART
 * Sayosuki tag on Deviantart
 * Nastukixsayori tag on Deviantart

Trivia

 * Sayori and Natsuki seem to have a shared love of the color pink, as suggested by their casual clothes.

Variations

 * Doki Doki Squad refers to the ship between the two, Monika and Yuri
 * Literature Club refers to the ship between the two, Protagonist, Monika and Yuri.