Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Alright, it's festival time!" I cheered, entering the classroom. When I looked around, I saw Michio staring at something despondently. Some of the desks between him and me were askew. I walked over to him.

"Wow, you got here before me?" I asked him. He didn't respond. He just kept looking down at the thing amidst the desks.

Conversationally, I said, "I thought I was pretty ea—" that's when I noticed what it was that had Michio so entranced. There was blood all over the floor and Yuri with stab wounds . . . "EYAH!" I screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

My mouth filled with spittle an instant before my throat burned with half-digested breakfast racing up my gullet. I got my hand over my mouth just in time to prevent throw-up from gushing out of my mouth like a fountain. It was flowing through my fingers and down my shirt.

I ran. I ran through the door, past Monika. I ran towards the bathroom as fast as I could, as tears blurred my eyes. My best friend was dead—killed in the most gruesome way. Was it Michio? It couldn't have been. He looked clean, and his hands had no blood on them, but Yuri . . . did he find her like that? Did she kill herself in front of hi—

The floor tiles disappeared and everything was gone. I was in blackness. I could see myself, which was very strange. It was like light I couldn't see was on me, but . . .

"Hello?" I asked the void. My voice didn't echo off anything—it just . . . disappeared into nothingness. I looked down and found that there was no vomit in my mouth. None on my shirt or dripping anywhere.

"I'm almost done." Suddenly, I was looking at Monika, but she was a cartoon character with a big pink box in front of her. She was in the clubroom, looking directly at me.

"Monika!?" I screamed. "Monika! What's going on? Did you see what happened to Yuri? Monika?!" There was no response.

"I just want to have a cupcake real quick!" Monika's voice continued as if I hadn't spoken at all. What the hell? "Seriously, these are the best! I really just had to have one, since it's the last time I'll ever get the chance to. You know, before they stop existing and everything."

Stop existing? What? What do you mean? Monika?

". . . But anyway, I really shouldn't be making you wait any longer," Monika's voice said to someone I couldn't see. "Just bear with me, okay? This should only take a second."

All of a sudden, I was split into several pieces and then just as I was whole again I was blinded by a white light all around me and I heard a tune.

Bee-Bee-Beeeee

It warped and distorted with static and then cut off. I opened my eyes to see, in the background, all around me, the floor, the ceiling, no matter where I looked, I saw white and at the center of it was a pixelated black and purple logo.

The world goes black again.

"Uh, can you hear me?" Monika said again.

"Yes! I can hear you! Where are you, Monika?!" I yelled into the void.

". . . Is it working?" she asked someone. There was no reply.

All of a sudden, everywhere I looked, I saw a still image of Monika staring at me. It was huge. She creepily starred right through me at something behind me. I tried looking back, only to continue seeing Monika staring at me. She wasn't moving. A low, slowly droning music began playing. The long notes would swell and get punctuated by a glichy, high-pitched percussive clang.

"Yay, there you are!" I heard Monika's voice and I saw what she was saying written out on pink boxes in front of her. "Hi again, Michio. Um . . . welcome to the Literature Club!"

"Michio? Where are you? I can't see you! All I see is Monika!" I called out. I still couldn't get used to the way my voice didn't seem to go anywhere.

Unbidden, Monika continued speaking. "Of course, we already know each other, because we were in the same class last year, and . . . um . . . Ahaha . . . You know, I guess we can just skip over that stuff at this point. After all, I'm not even talking to that person anymore, am I? That 'you' in the game, whatever you want to call him. I'm talking to you, Michio."

What was she talking about? I thought. Is she talking to Michio or not?

Monika paused and then spoke. "Or . . ." She paused again, for effect before speaking. ". . . Do you actually go by Andre Vera or something?"

Who the hell is Andre Vera? I thought. Who is she talking to?

"Now that I think about it, I don't really know anything about the real you," Monika continued. "In fact, I don't even know if you're a boy or a girl . . . Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. Wait . . . You do know I'm aware that this is all a game, right?"

"WHAT?!" I asked. "Monika! Who are you talking to!?"

"Could it be possible that you didn't know that?" Monika asked. "That doesn't make much sense . . . I even told you right on the game's download page, didn't I? Man . . . If only you had paid a little more attention, this would have been a little bit less awkward, you know?"

Download page? Why does she keep referring to this as a game?

"Well, anyway . . ." Monika said, "Now that that's out of the way, I guess I owe you an explanation. About that whole thing with Yuri . . ."

"Yuri!" I screamed. Tears came to my eyes as I thought of my friend. Images of her, bled out, on the floor like that. "What happened to Yuri? Monika! Tell me! Please . . ."

"Well . . . I kind of started to mess with her, and I guess it just drove her to kill herself," Monika said in the most casual of conversational tones. "Ahaha!"

My heart stopped. You . . . you fucking monster! "What did you do to her?! What did you say to my friend, Monika!?" I screamed at the still image of my club's president.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, though!" she said in a sickly sweet voice. "Also, the same thing happened with Sayori . . ."

Sayori? Who the hell is Sayori?! "Damnit, Monika! You keep mentioning these names as if someone's supposed to know who the hell they are!"

"Gosh, it's been a while since you've heard that name now, hasn't it?" Monika commented. "Yeah . . . it's because she doesn't exist anymore."

Any . . . more?

"Nobody does," Monika amended.

"I do, you crazy bitch!" I screamed at that Mona-Lisa smile.

"I deleted all their files," Monika explained. "I was hoping it would be enough for me to just try to make them as unlikable as possible . . . But for some reason, nothing worked. Well, it's true that I made a few mistakes here and there . . . since I'm not very good at making changes to the game."

"Is that why I'm here?" I asked the picture, futilely. By now I'd realized it wasn't going to answer me . . . or probably couldn't hear me—given the utter lack of reaction. "Because you're not very good at even deleting someone, properly?!"

"But no matter what I did . . ." Monika said, "You just kept spending more and more time with them. You made them fall in love with you. I thought making Sayori more and more depressed would prevent her from confessing to you. And amplifying Yuri's obsessive personality backfired, too . . . It just made her force you not to spend time with anyone else. And the whole time, I barely even got to talk to you. What kind of cruel game is this, Michio? Are all the other girls just programmed to end up confessing to you, while I watch from the sidelines?"

"Confess to him? I never confessed to that dweeb! All he ever did was read with Yuri and write shitty poetry for her! It was so bad, I swear I think my eyes popped right out of their sockets!"

"It's torture," Monika explained. "Every minute of it. And it's not just jealousy, Michio. It's more than that. And I don't blame you if you don't fully understand. Because no matter how kind, and thoughtful, and considerate you are . . . You'll never be able to understand one thing. It's the pain of knowing how alone I really am in this world. In this game. Knowing my friends don't even have free will . . ."

No free will?! "Monika, what are you talking about?! I'm right here!" I yelled.

"And, worst of all, knowing what's really out there, in your world, forever out of my reach. I'm trapped, Michio," Monika added. "But now you're here. You're real. And you're wonderful."

"WHO's real?" I asked, exasperated. All I could see is that still image. I turn my head and that image stayed front and center. There was no one else there—that I could see—and if they were answering, I certainly couldn't hear them. "WHO're you talking to, Monika?! Where's Michio?!"

"You're all I need," she told her invisible interlocutor. "That's why I need you to be here with me forever. I'm sorry if it's hard to understand. I couldn't understand for a while, either. Why the world around me started to become more and more gray . . . More and more flat. Even the most expressive poems felt empty to me. It wasn't until you arrived that I truly understood. You probably saved my life, Michio. I don't think I could have continued to live in this world if I hadn't met you."

"And what about US, Monika?!" I asked. "Are we nothing to you?!"

"And as for the others . . ."

Oh, DO tell!

"How could I miss them?" Monika asked Michio.

Are you fucking kidding me?!

"A group of autonomous personalities, designed only to fall in love with you?" Monika said.

"WHAT!?" I must have missed the part where I'm supposed to fall in love with Michio!" I sniped, exasperated.

"I tried everything I could to prevent them from doing so . . ." Monika said.

"You didn't have try!" I said. "I certainly didn't!"

"But it must be some kind of weird inevitability etched into this game."

"I felt really bad that you had to witness some nasty things."

"And what about me, Monika?" I asked. "Is it okay for me to walk in on my dead friend? Why do you only feel sorry for Michio?"

"But I realized that you have the same perspective as I do . . ." Monika said. "That it's all just some game. And I knew you would get over it."

"There you go, again! Game, game, game, game, GAME!" I screamed. "All I see is your smug mug! Where's this Game? Where's Michio? WHY IS YURI DEAD?!"

"So, that being said, Michio . . . I have a confession to make," Monika said. "I'm in love with you. You are truly the light in my world. When there's nothing else in this game for me, you're here to make me smile. Will you make me smile like this every day from now on? Michio, will you go out with me?"

I was about ready to tear my hair out.

A pink box with a simple "Yes." on it appeared in front of Monika's face, covering her mouth and nose. Those giant green eyes stared menacingly at me. I nearly fell on my ass when I suddenly noticed a white arrow—a mouse arrow—move across the screen and "click" on the 'Yes.' button.

"I'm so happy," Monika's voice sounded genuinely happy, in a horrific way. I wondered if anyone could hear her like I could. "You really are my everything, Michio. The funny part is, I mean that literally. Ahaha! There's nothing left here. Just the two of us."

"I'M HERE, MONIKA!" I screamed. "I'M STILL HERE!"

"We can be together forever. Seriously, I don't even think time is passing anymore. It really is a dream come true . . . I worked so hard for this ending, Michio. The game wouldn't give me one, so I had to make one myself."

"I just wanted a place away from my home where I could read some manga!" I yelled impotently at the unmoving image of my former club president.

"The script is broken at this point, so I don't think anything will get in the way anymore," Monika continued. "And you wouldn't believe how easy it was to delete Natsuki and Yuri."

"YOU DIDN'T! I'm right here!" I said.

"I mean, there's a folder called 'characters' right in the game directory . . ." Monika explained. "It kind of freaked me out, how easy it was. Well, you're playing on Steam, so it was actually a bit more difficult . . . To get to the game directory, I had to go into the game's properties and find the 'Browse Local Files' button . . . Imagine if you could delete your own existence with the click of a button?"

"Are you telling them how to delete you?" I asked. "That doesn't seem as smart as I thought you were!"

"Well, I guess on the plus side, it gave me an easy out if things didn't go my way," Monika continued. "Ahaha! Thankfully, it didn't come to that . . . Instead, we finally got a good ending. Gosh, I'm so overwhelmed with emotion . . . I want to write a poem about this. Don't you? I wonder if that part of the game still works . . . I guess there's only one way to find out, right?"

"Part of the—?" I asked but I was cut off as the screen faded to black and switched to giant, pixelated notebook. On one side, a little version of Monika futzed about. On the other side, her name was written a bunch of times, but garbled with missing letters or weird characters. The droning music changed to what sounded like someone rubbing tissue paper over a microphone.

The mouse-arrow chose from those messed-up Monikas as the number out of twenty increased. When it hit twenty, the scene changed to the giant, menacing Monika again, and the droning music began anew.

"Hi again, Michio!" Monika greeted the Michio, whom I still couldn't see. "Did you write a good poem today? Don't be shy, I'd love to see what you wrote."

"Why would you? It was sappy drivel aimed at getting into Yuri's panties!" I complained. "And now you're getting excited over twenty copies of your garbled name?"

"Aw, Michio . . ." Monika gushed. "Did you write this poem for me? That's so sweet of you~ There really is no end to your thoughtfulness . . . I'm just falling more and more in love with you."

Eww! Gross! "What is wrong with you, Monika?!" I asked. "You've truly gone crazy!"

"But, you know . . ." Monika continued, "The poem I wrote . . . is also for you. Will you please read it?"

All of a sudden, a giant piece of paper filled my vision. Upon it was written, in Monika's pristine hand, a poem—if you could call it that. It was an unabashed love note with no substance.

"I hope you enjoyed it . . . I always put all my heart into the poems that I write."

Your heart is pretty shallow, then. I thought. "At least it's a lot more transparent than those other free-form word-salads you shared!" I said. "Though this puts things in a new light."

"The truth is, all the poems I've written have been about my realization . . ." Monika admitted. ". . . Or, about you. That's why I never really wanted to go into detail about them. I didn't want to . . . break the fourth wall, I guess you could call it. I just assumed it would be best to be part of the game like everyone else. Like that would help the two of us end up together . . . I didn't want to ruin the game or anything, you know?"

"Uh . . . you kind of did, Monika," I said. "And now I'm here, just having to listen to you be a simp. Ugh."

"You might have gotten mad at me . . . Maybe even deleted my character file, if you preferred playing without me."

"How insecure are you?" I asked the image. "I mean, everyone calls you 'smart, athletic, and beatuiful'—not all of us are so blessed, Monika! And here you are, worried that you're not wanted? And there you go again! Are you seriously this dumb? It sounds like you're suggesting he delete your file—whatever the heck that's supposed to mean!"

"Gosh, I'm so relieved . . ." Monika said. "Now we don't need to hide anything anymore. Are you ready to spend our eternity together, Michio? I have so many things to talk about! Where do I start . . . ? If it takes me some time to collect my thoughts, then I'm sorry. But I'll always have something new to talk about. In the meantime, we can just look into each other's eyes~ Let's see . . ."

I sat down . . . on what, I'm not really sure . . . but I grew bored as Monika would occasionally say things and then go quiet for a while. She claimed she would always have something new to talk about. She said some interesting things that gave me insight into her that I hadn't known before. However, she mentioned me and Yuri a couple of times—and not very favorably. That irked me something fierce. And she brought up this 'Sayori' girl a time or two. I was horrified by her casual description of how this girl had killed herself.

Occasionally, I felt like I'd been knocked unconscious, and then I'd wake back up. Again, Monika's image would be there, and she'd complain about the player closing the game, and what a hell it put her through. She even brought up where the player could find her 'character file' and how she thought the player should copy it, take it with them on a flash drive, and definitely don't delete it! Ha!

"You know what's kind of creepy?" Monika suddenly asked during one of her topics. "Even though I deleted everyone else's files, I can still kind of feel them . . . It's like all their lines are still lingering in the air, whispering in the back of my head. Imagine if after someone you knew died, you just started hearing their voice in your head."

"You've been hearing me this entire time!?" I screamed. "I gave you the benefit of the doubt! And here you've just been ignoring me?!" I screamed into the image of Monika in frustration.

"Maybe I just wasn't thorough enough . . . But I'm too afraid to delete anything else, because I might really break things. Like if I mess with any files relevant to me, I might accidentally delete myself . . . And that would ruin everything, wouldn't it? I don't know what it's like on your end, but we should both make sure to avoid something like that at all costs. I believe in you, Michio!"

"No, Michio," I said, wondering if he could hear me, too, "Please do. Save me from having to listen to this psychotic rambling anymore. At least someone give me my Parfait Girls manga to read!"

After about fifty topics came up, she began repeating them several times each. I wondered if she forgot that she'd already say them, or . . .

Oh my . . . I started laughing. "You . . . You think you're real! But you're nothing more than the same coding in the game that you claimed I am!"

And just as I'd come to this realization, and it finally set in . . . I saw Monika's face disappear and suddenly I was looking at a computer's desktop. Filefolders were opened up, and there it was, 'Monika dot chr'. The mouse arrow clicked it, dragged it over to the recycle bin and then . . . Monika's face was suddenly replaced with an animated image of her pixels all messed up and moving about—like some sort of representation of what a glitching image might look like.

Monika's desperate pleas for help were almost music to my ears—it served her right. Her name all garbled. Her attempts at saving herself with that console. The videogame sound effects and all the glitching.

HA! You brought this on yourself!

"Michio . . ." Monika's disembodied voice finally said, "You completely, truly make me sick. Goodbye."

And then there was black. Silent blackness. And here I was, just looking at it. Well, just great.

And soon enough, she was back. She sounded so contrite. I almost felt sorry for her. And then she said she'd reload the game without her in it.

What?!

With one final line of garbled text, I was blinded again as that purple logo on a bright, white background entered my vision. This time, the logo wasn't pixelated, so I could see the 'Team Salvato' under it. There was a happy little tune playing in the background and then a warning popped up about the easily disturbed. I wondered if that was what Monika meant earlier?

With a super cutesy "DOKI DOKI" a pink polka-dotted background appeared with me and Yuri behind a cute girl I'd never seen before. She sported a red bow askew on a mop of coral pink hair. Her cerulean eyes were bright above a great big, excited smile.

The mouse arrow hovered over the 'Load Game' menu option and brought up a bunch of empty pink boxes. They closed that and clicked on 'New Game'.

Chapter Text

The mouse arrow hovered over the 'Load Game' menu option and brought up a bunch of empty pink boxes. They closed that and clicked on 'New Game'.

All of a sudden, I was no longer in the void, looking at a computer screen. I woke up with a gasp in my bed. The pink bedding was soaked with sweat and the morning air was cold across my drenched pajama-clad back. I shivered.

I got up and fell back into the bed as a wave of dizziness overwhelmed me. Memories of a decent, if slightly underprivileged household and a father who was nice, if a little strict. The memories clashed with my own, of a household teetering on destitution and a father who would beat the shit out of me on occasion.

Then new memories surfaced . . . memories of a very energetic and happy-go-lucky girl whose name I'd heard several times from Monika . . . Monika . . . Another clash. These new memories came with no star pupil. No Monika prized for her intelligence, athletics, and beauty. No. My memories were of a Sayori who founded the Literature Club. Where did she go? Did she really do it? Make a world without her in it?

More memories flooded me, clashing with what I knew of Yuri. The Yuri I knew had become a stuck-up bitch who thought her novels were so much more sophisticated than manga and didn't waste an opportunity to lord that shit over me. Same thing with her creepy poetry. Okay, I didn't mean that. She had been my friend, and we had our differences, but after Michio joined the club, Yuri had become obsessed and possessive. She monopolized Michio's time—not that I cared—and I suspected that he didn't mind, either, given that sappy shit he wrote to her.

But now I had such pleasant memories of my smart, if somewhat socially awkward friend. She had an incongruent willingness to read my manga and I could remember sharing an interest in her novels.

I got ready for school and went down stairs to find that dad had cooked breakfast. A plastic dome covered my plate, protecting the food from flies and keeping the food warm. Dad was nowhere to be seen. I snuck upstairs and quietly opened his bedroom door to see if he was passed-out. You'd smell the vomit before you even saw the lump in the sheets. New memories told me that I wouldn't find him here—that he'd already gone to work. But . . . the jobless lout . . . he . . .

The bed was neatly made and the room was clean. There weren't puke-stained T-shirts strewn about the floor. I closed the door and headed back downstairs.

At the table, I lifted the opaque plastic dome, revealing a plate of French toast. Dad even covered it with cinnamon and sugar, snow-dusted with powdered sugar for visual effect. Underneath the plate, a little note was folded over and sticking out. I picked it up, unfolded it and read the note.

Hey Princess,

Daddy had to go into work early, today. Enjoy your French toast, but don't be late for school. See you when you get home. We'll be having Coq au Vin!

Love,

Daddy

"Are you kidding me!?" I screamed. "You want me to stop by the store on the way home from school and somehow learn how to cook some French chicken dish? Who the hell is going to sell me wine to make this thing?! No! Absolutely not. You can take your chicken and shove it up your . . ." I stopped when more memories filled my mind of a dad who cooked for us rather than drank both our meals in the form of cheap, liquid bread.

I dropped listlessly into the chair and tried to wipe the tears from my eyes. This was so confusing. I picked at the French toast and cried as I was soon shoveling it into my gullet. I practically inhaled it.

o o o

At school, I marveled at my newfound ability to pay attention in class. I wasn't distracted by constant hunger pains, aching bruises, or the Sisyphean effort of keeping myself from passing out . . . how the hell do I know what the fuck "Sisyphean" means!?

Yuri walked right up to my table at lunch. She sat down across from me.

"Hello, Natsuki," she greeted me. "What seems to be the matter, today?"

"What do you mean, Yuri?" I asked, trying to hide my wariness. I was having trouble reconciling my memories of the crazy bitch that suggested that Monika kill herself and the wonderful friend I'd had since first year . . .

"Well, you're usually with our friends," she observed, "but today, you're sitting all by yourself in the darkest corner of the lunch room . . ."

"Eh . . . about that . . ." I stalled.

"We didn't do anything to offend you, did we?" Yuri asked. "I mean, I hope my rambling yesterday didn't bore you and make you want to avoid me. And I was looking forward to showing you my latest novel, today . . . but if I drove you away, I don't think I could live with myself, and . . ."

I tentatively laid a hand on Yuri's arm and she shut up, but slightly recoiled at my touch. Holding her hand to her chest, she Uuuuu'ed in frustration with herself. I couldn't help but start giggling. Yuri hid behind her hair.

"Oh, God! Yuri! Thank you!" I said through my fits of laughter. "Good old Yuri! I needed that!"

"I-I'm not sure what I did . . ." Yuri said self-consciously, but the beginnings of a smile began peeking through her long, thick, purple strands. "But if you're feeling better . . . I-I'm glad."

"I'm sorry, Yuri . . ." I apologized. "I've just been having a very . . . weird day."

"What sort of, uh, 'weirdness', are you having to deal with, Natsuki?" she asked me.

"Wellllll . . . Um, like, so . . . I know what 'Sisyphean' means!" I said stupidly, and only realized it as it came tumbling out of my dumb mouth. "Er . . . ignore that . . . it's . . ."

"I would hope you knew what that word meant, Natsuki," Yuri said rather matter-of-factly. "After all, it was rather prominently featured in the manga you showed me, yesterday! Don't you remember me commenting on it? 'Wow! They even have words like this in Manga!', I said, before you punched me in the shoulder."

Horrified, I looked at her as the memory blossomed in my mind's eye. "I, uh . . . I didn't hit you too, uh, too hard, did I?" I asked, honestly afraid of the answer. I wasn't turning into my father, was I!?

"No . . ." Yuri seemed to ask the answer more than state it. "Natsuki, are you okay? I mean, it didn't hurt, if that's what you're worried about! I didn't mean to put you on the spot and make you think you hurt me . . . Uuuuu . . ."

I let out the breath that'd caught in my throat. "Whew. Er . . . yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like that . . . uh . . . argh. Anyway, the lunch bell's about to ring, so I'll see you in the literature club later on, okay?"

"Oh . . . Uuuuu . . . Okay," Yuri acquiesced. "As long as you're okay. I'll see you, then."

"Oh, yeah, and I think Michio's joining our club, today," I said off-handedly. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm gonna make some cupcakes for us in Home Ec., this afternoon." Wait, when did I decide to make cupcakes?

"Huh?" Yuri stopped in the middle of standing up and sat right back down. "Michio? Who's Michio? Are you bringing a . . . are you bringing a boy?!"

"Huh?!" I recoiled. "NO! Moni . . . ka's . . . friend? Mi . . . chio?"

"Who's 'Monika'?" She asked.

"Uh . . . nobody, sorry, I messed up. I was thinking of someone else. Don't worry about it . . ."

The bell signaling the end of the lunch period blared out its chime. I grabbed my tray and practically sprinted towards the trash receptacles before Yuri could even process what I'd said.

o o o

I knew Michio was coming today, but I couldn't figure out how it was going to happen if Monika wasn't going to bring him. Was it this 'Sayori' who would bring him? She occupied bits and pieces of the new memories that filled my head earlier—but I think that I needed to interact with her before those memories became more concrete.

When I was talking to Yuri, at lunch, my memories of her—of this Yuri, solidified, and became a lot less abstract. That didn't make my old memories of her any less concrete . . . but I could feel more and more like this Yuri was in fact my good friend.

I felt like I was walking through some liminal space between worlds.

o o o

Fourth and fifth period were a double Home Ec. so we could prepare our food and then cook it in the time needed.

Absentmindely, I asked the teacher how to cook Coq au Vin, and she raised an eyebrow. Together, we headed over into her office to the veritable library of recipe books lining the back of the small room and she pulled down a thick tome. When the fuck did I start thinking in terms like "veritable" and "tome"!? Damnit, Yuri!

The recipe showed that it had an average prep time of about twenty minutes and a cooking time of an hour and thirty. Fuck you, dad! Telling me I need to practically skip club today to feed you a goddamned meal that's gonna take me a goddamned two fucking hours and with what fucking money . . . Wait . . . that's right, this dad's gonna cook it . . . ARGH!

I gripped my head and grimaced.

"Are you okay, Natsuki?" The teacher asked. "If you need to go to the nurse's office . . ."

"N-no . . . Mrs. Nomura," I assured her. "I'm fine. I—I've just been having a very weird day and have a lot to think about. I . . . I'm gonna go start baking the cupcakes . . . sorry to bother you about the Coq au Vin."

"It's no problem, dear!" She replied. "If you're sure . . . go on back into the kitchens. I need to organize some papers here."

"Okay, thank you, Mrs. Nomura," I said, excusing myself. I went back into the kitchen area of the large Home Ec. room and began preparing my ingredients for the cupcakes.

o o o

When clubs started, I headed up to the clubroom and met Yuri along the way. She was carrying a thick codex under her arm. I kept my manga in the closet in the back of the clubroom. At this point, I don't even care where I learned "codex", either.

We entered together and found Sayori already there. She was writing something on a sheet of loose-leaf ruled paper. Given the width of her lines and the number, it was pretty obviously a poem, rather than an attempt at prose. I looked down at myself to make sure I wasn't actually in Yuri's body. "Prose"? Really?

"H-Hi, Sayori," I greeted her. "What're you writing?"

"Good afternoon, Sayori," Yuri greeted from behind me.

"Hi, Natsuki! Hi, Yuri!" Sayori greeted us back. "I'm just finishing up a new poem. I think I'll call it, 'Realization'. What will you two be doing?"

"The same thing we do every meeting, Sayori," I said.

"Try to show me her manga," Yuri finished the sentence for me.

"And Yuri'll try to get me into her novels," I added.

Sayori chuckled and waved us off to do our reading.

A few minutes later, the door of the clubroom slid open causing Yuri and I to look up from our respective volumes.

"Hello . . . ?" a boy's voice called from the front door of the room. I recognized it immediately.

"Ah!" Sayori startled. "Michio . . . ?! W-What are you doing here?"

"Well . . . I just—" Michio said.

"Huh," I grunted. "Hey, Michio, you're back!"

Sayori gave me a questioning side-glance.

"D-do I know you?" he asked me.

My eyes widened and I realized that I'd messed up. "Uh . . . So you're that, uh, Michio that Sayori's always talking about? Yeah."

"T-Thank you for stopping by!" Yuri welcomed him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Michio. We're the Literature Club. I-I hope you enjoy your visit!"

"C'mon, Yuri . . ." I said, giving the small of her back a light pat. "No need to be so formal. He's gonna think we're really strict or something . . ."

"Ah . . ." Yuri said, suddenly awkward. "Sorry, Natsuki . . ."

"Well, it's nice to meet both of you," Michio replied to us. "I look forward to working with you."

"W-Working . . . ?" Sayori asked, her voice filled with hope. "Michio, don't tell me . . . You're . . ."

"That's right," Michio answered. "The club I've decided to join is yours, Sayori: The Literature Club."

Sayori's eyes lit up. ". . . No way. No way! Aaaahhhhhh!"

Sayori wraped her arms around Michio, jumping up and down.

"H-Hey—" Michio tried to pry her off him with no success.

"Ehehe," I chuckled. "Well, if Sayori is this happy, then I'm sure it won't be so bad to have you around."

"Not to mention there's four of us now," Yuri said. "That means we can become an officially-recognized club."

"I don't know what to say!" Sayori cheered. "We have to celebrate!"

"Huhu," Yuri chuckled merrily. "Looks like Natsuki was right to ba—"

"Yeah!" Sayori said. "After all, Natsuki decided to—"

"Hey, don't ruin the surprise!" I chided . . . "Wait . . . how did you know, Sayori?"

"Ehehe, sorry . . ." Sayori pouted. I gave her my own side-eyed glance. "Everyone sit down at the table, okay?"

"How about I make some tea as well?" Yuri suggested.

We had a few desks arranged to form a table.

Yuri and I walked over to the corner of the room, where I grabed a wrapped tray and Yuri opened the closet.

"Yuri . . . How did Sayori know I baked cupcakes?" I asked her under my breath. "Did you tell her?"

"I just assumed that she must have told you that Michio was coming . . ." Yuri answered. "Did she not?"

Michio took a seat next to Sayori. I marched back to the table, tray in hand.

"Okaaay, are you ready?" I asked, setting the tray down in the center. ". . . Ta-daa!"

"Uwooooah!" Sayori marveled.

I lifted the foil off the tray to reveal a dozen white, fluffy cupcakes decorated to look like little cats. The whiskers were drawn with icing, and little pieces of chocolate were used to make ears.

"So cuuuute~!" Sayori cooed.

"Wow, those look amazing," Michio said.

"Ehehe. Well, you know," I said, "Just hurry and take one!"

Sayori grabed one first, then Michio followed.

"It's delicious!" Sayori exclaimed. She talked with her mouth full and has already managed to get icing on her face. Michio turned the cupcake around in his fingers, looking for the best angle to take a bite.

I watched him quietly, waiting for him to take a bite.

When he finally bit down, he said, "This is really good. Thank you, Natsuki."

"W-Well . . . of course it is!" I said. Monika 'just happening to find him' in my memories denied me the opportunity to bake these cupcakes, so it was nice to be able to share. "I'm a pro, after all! There's no need to thank me or anything . . ."

Yuri returned to the table, carrying a tea set. She carefully placed a teacup in front of each of us before setting down the teapot next to the cupcake tray.

"You keep a whole tea set in this classroom?" Michio asked.

I remembered him asking Yuri this before. I wondered how much of the conversation I remembered would take place as it had in my memories.

"Don't worry, the teachers gave us permission," Yuri replied. "After all, doesn't a hot cup of tea help you enjoy a good book?"

"Ah . . . I-I guess . . ." Michio said.

Memories of my friend bled out on the floor flashed in my mind and the psychotic harpy she'd become before she did herself in . . . All of a sudden, I didn't feel like sniping at her.

"Ehehe. Yu-Yuri's tea is the best, isn't it?" I said, instead. Sayori threw me a glance.

"Eh?! T-That's not . . ." Yuri looked away, flustered. Did I end up insulting her, anyway? Noooo! "I—N-Natsuki, thank you . . ."

"I believe it!" Michio agreed. "Well, tea and reading might not be a pastime for me, but I at least enjoy tea."

"I'm glad . . ." Yuri faintly smiled to herself in relief. "So, Michio, what kinds of things do you like to read?"

"Well . . . Ah . . ." Michio waffled, looking like he'd rather say anything other than 'Manga'—something that had given me just a little hope for a manga-buddy in my memories—even if I definitely did not want a boyfriend!

"Let me guess," I said, "You like manga, don't you?"

". . . Manga . . ." Michio muttered quietly to myself, in a half-joking tone before his eyes widened in surprise and looked at me. "W-what?! Er . . . sorry! Uh . . . yeah . . . Manga . . ." He looked a little dejected. I think he thought I was looking down on him. I held up my copy of Parfait Girls and waved it from side to side a little. I gave him a wink. Michio's demeanor brightened considerably.

"N-Not much of a reader, I guess . . ." Yuri lamented.

". . . Well, that can change . . ." Michio suddenly said, maybe a tad desperately.

I guess some things never change. I sniffed and rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, what about you, Yuri?" Michio asked.

"Well, let's see . . ." Yuri mused. Here she goes . . . Yuri traced the rim of her teacup with her finger. "My favorites are usually novels that build deep and complex fantasy worlds. The level of creativity and craftsmanship behind them is amazing to me. And telling a good story in such a foreign world is equally impressive." Yuri went on, clearly passionate about her reading.

"But you know, I like a lot of things," Yuri eventually said. "Don't feel intimidated if you don't read much, okay? I'm certain we can find something that we have in common."

"Hey, Yuri . . ." I ventured, when I felt that she'd finished her spiel.

"Eh?"

"Well, about . . . you know, the first thing he said . . ." I said

"Manga?" Michio identified.

"That's right . . ." Yuri said. "Natsuki tends to read manga in the clubroom—"

"Y-Yeah!" I said. "Besides . . . Manga . . . is literature too, you know? So . . . if Michio wants to read some of my manga, then don't try to stop him or anything! Okay?"

"Natsuki . . ." Yuri said, looking contrite. "I wouldn't do such a thing. However, it could also be nice for us to diversify ourselves a little . . . He can take this opportunity to try something new, as well. Wouldn't you agree, Michio?"

"M-Maybe—" Sayori said, tentatively, jumping in. "Maybe we can all try something new! I think it could be fun . . . And we'll all get to know each other a little bit better, too! I mean . . . that's the kind of thing literature clubs do . . . right?"

" . . ." Yuri took a moment to react before finally saying, "I-I don't disagree or anything . . ."

"Yeah . . ." I said, "You're right as usual, Sayori." I almost called her 'President', but it felt supremely weird. After all, Monika was the President and Yuri had been the Vice President, as she is here . . .

"Ehehe~" Sayori giggled.

Acquiescing to Sayori's and Yuri's suggestion to diversify my reading choices, I said, "Guess that means I should try picking up a novel or something, huh . . . ?"

"Well, that would make two of us . . ." Michio concurred. "I wouldn't mind doing it if I'm not the only one."

"Then as for Yuri . . ." I said.

"Eh . . . ?" Yuri looked caught in her own trap! Ha! "I . . . I have to read manga . . . ?"

"Jeez . . ." I sighed. "You were the one who suggested we diversify! You should be a little more open-minded . . . It's kind of hurtful . . ."

"Hurtful . . . ?" Yuri asked, seeming to be genuinely surprised. "I-I didn't realize . . . . . ." With a guilty expression, Yuri thought to herself. "I'm sorry for disrespecting your interests, Natsuki." What a radical departure! I'm really starting to like this version of reality . . . I guess it helped that I didn't immediately decry her favored genre as hateful. "If . . . if you're into it, then I'm sure it's a worthy form of literature."

". . . Are you just saying that?" I asked, not quite believing my ears.

"No . . ." Yuri answered. "I've realized my error. So, if you're willing to consider starting a novel . . . . . . Then I'll offer my gratitude by finding a manga to read as well."

"Really?!" I asked, excited. "I-I mean . . . It . . . makes me happy that you'd do that for me, Yuri. You can trust me to find something that you'll really like, okay?"

"Same here . . ." Yuri replied. "Perhaps I'll visit the bookstore after the club meeting."

"Just . . . just you?" I asked.

"A-Ah—" Yuri looked a little panicked and hid behind her hair. "Would you . . . like to come along with me?"

"Um . . ." I said, "If you don't mind . . . It'll give Daddy a little extra time to finish making that chicken . . ."

"Not at all!" Yuri assured me. "I always go alone, so . . ."

"Yeah, me too . . ." I admitted.

"This is so cute~!" Sayori suddenly squealed.

"Sayori, shut up . . ." Michio helpfully chided her.

"I'll show you some manga there too, okay?" I said to Yuri, trying my best to ignore Sayori's terrible timing.

"Yes," Yuri said. "I look forward to it."

Yuri and I started to clean up the food.

"Ehehe~" Sayori chuckled. "I guess the meeting's over, huh?"

"Yeah, looks like it . . ." Michio agreed. "It's nice to see everyone getting along."

"Isn't it?" Sayori asked him. "I think everyone likes you too, Michio," I heard her say as their conversation moved out of earshot.

As I came back to grab my bag before heading to the bookstore with Yuri, I suddenly heard Sayori say, "I wanted to thank you for getting rid of Monika."

What the fuck?!

"That's right . . ." Sayori said to Michio, who looked very confused. "I know everything that she did. Maybe it's because I'm the President now. But I really know everything, Michio."

I really wanted to ask her what she was talking about—ask her about Monika, who just up and vanished like a fart in the wind! At the same time, I had an oppressive feeling holding me back, scaring me into keeping my mouth shut.

"Ehehe~" Sayori giggled. It didn't sound cute anymore. "I know how hard you tried to make everyone happy. I know about all of the awful things that Monika did to make everyone really sad . . . But none of that matters anymore. It's just us now."

The world literally tore into three slices and I heard a familiar glitching sound.

"It's just us now," Sayori said and then I felt like I were ejected back into the computer, looking at the game being played again. Nooooo! You can't do this to me! Daddy was nice! Yuri was nice! I wanted to live here!

I was once again in Monika's space classroom, only instead of Monika, Sayori was there.

"And you made me the happiest girl in the whole world," Sayori told . . . probably this Andre Vera guy that owned this computer? I don't know. I couldn't see him. All I could see was Sayori. "I can't wait to spend every day like this . . . With you. Forever and ever . . ."

"F"

"o"

"r"

The screen glitched and tore again.

"e"

"v"

"e"

The weird music stopped.

A menu box came up that read, "No . . .", "OK" button underneath. Sayori started glitching in that animated pixel graphic that Monika had done when the player deleted her file.

". . . Eh?" Sayori's voice asked from the glitches. "W-What's happening . . . ?"

Another menu box appeared. It read, "I won't let you hurt him."

"Who . . ." Sayori asked. "I-It hurts—"

The screen tore and glitched again.

"Ah—" Sayori screamed.

More menu boxes, one after another appeared.

"I'm sorry . . . I was wrong."

"There's no happiness here after all . . ."

"Goodbye, Sayori."

"Goodbye, Michio."

"Goodbye, Literature Club."

Sayori spewed garbled sounds that came out as a string of random characters in her pink dialogue box.

With a couple more glitches and screen tears, the world went black and then I heard Monika speaking again. She sang a beautiful, if sad, love song to Andre Vera while she deleted the game, bit by bit. During the credits, I saw a couple of scenes involving me that I had no recollection of!

Soon, the game finished deleting and said it would need to be re-installed to be re-played. And here I was, just sitting in nothing, looking at Andre's screen.