The gross substance landed on MC's tray with a sickening plop. He stared down at his disgusting lunch as it jiggled around helplessly. His heart fell, and with it, his appetite.

"Meatloaf," he informed the girl to his right. "I hate meatloaf day."

"I think you're overreacting," Monika replied as she stepped up for her helping. "Sure, meatloaf day isn't the best, but it isn't that bad."

Plop!

"Care to eat your own words, Monika?"

Monika had gone completely silent. In front of her was a reddish-brown mound of mush slathered in a thick layer of ketchup. Hunks of onions, green beans, and even corn poked out from all sides as a slimy unidentifiable liquid formed a puddle underneath. The most overwhelming aspect, however, was the smell. It was so foul, so incredibly revolting, that there was not a word in the English language befitting it.

Monika gulped. "I stand corrected."

Trays of slop in hand, the two of them walked away from the lunchline and toward the far upper-right corner of the cafeteria. There, conversing happily among themselves, were the other three members of the literature club.

"Hey girls," MC greeted as he sat in between Sayori and Yuri. "How are things?"

Yuri, who had her nose half-buried in a new book, caught a mere whiff of MC's food. "Wonderful, at least until you showed up."

MC raised an eyebrow. "Wow, Yuri, I would expect something like that from Natsuki, but you?"

Yuri's eyes widened as she realized what she had just said. "N-not that there's anything wrong with you," she nervously stuttered. "Merely your. . . food? I'm not quite certain that's what it's meant to be."

MC chuckled. "Apology accepted."

Natsuki scooped a hunk of her loaf into her mouth. Surprisingly, she did not retch or even flinch at the rotten meal. Subsisting on a diet of school food and sweets had granted her an iron gut, and there was no such thing as a bad lunch to her. "I don't see what the problem is," she stated, still chewing. "This stuff is delicious!"

"Please chew with your mouth closed, Natsuki," Yuri politely yet firmly commanded.

"Oh, go back to reading your book," Natsuki retorted, and Yuri did just that.

"See?" Sayori began as she pulled a small pink lunch box out from under the table. "I don't understand why none of you pack your own lunch. Every day, I make sure to bring a sandwich and some cookies," she giggled, obviously very proud of herself. She then clicked open the box to find that there was not a single scrap of food inside. Her smile and optimism? Gone.

"My lunch!?" Sayori exclaimed to the heavens. "Oh no, I forgot my lunch!"

Monika saw the look of pity MC was giving Sayori. A brief twitch of jealously flashed through her mind, but she managed to suppress it.

"You can try to eat my meatloaf," MC offered as he slid his tray toward Sayori. "I'm not really hungry anymore."

Sayori smiled, clearly thankful for the gesture, but she placed a hand on MC's wrist to stop him. "That won't be necessary; I think I'd rather just go hungry."

MC shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Monika perked up. Now was her chance to show that she would do anything for love. "I wouldn't mind eating your meatloaf," she lied. "I'm pretty hungry."

MC stared blankly at Monika, at her full tray, at Monika, at her full tray again, and then finally gave her a half-smile that did little to mask his doubt. "Somehow, I don't buy that."

"I thought you were a vegetarian, anyway," Sayori reminded.

"Hey, I can eat meat when I want, and I am hungry!" Monika lied for the third time in a row, then hastily shoved a forkful into her mouth. In a mere nanosecond, her eyes widened as she realized her folly. Every individual taste bud felt like it had just been socked in the face by a barrage of incompatible flavors. The crunch of the onions and corn crashed against the mush of the mystery meat in such a way that both suffered, not to mention the fact that everything was drowning in the ketchup. Worst of all, however, was the fact that it was cold. Cold meatloaf! How could a starving peasant stomach this garbage, let alone a student!?

Monika finally swallowed, and her eyes weren't the only things green anymore. "I. . . Oh gee. . . I gotta go," she murmured weakly, then rushed off in the direction of the girls' bathroom. All the way, she clutched her stomach with one hand and her mouth with the other.

"What a trooper," Sayori observed, and gave a mock salute to emphasize. "I comment her for her sacrifice."

"Commend," Yuri corrected.

"Whoopsie!"

Natsuki, having finished her own serving, noticed the two remaining full trays. She licked her lips hungrily. "Hey MC, are you gonna eat that?"

MC wordlessly passed his tray over to Natsuki. Her voracious appetite is nothing short of disturbing, he thought.

"Awesome!" Natsuki exclaimed eagerly, already preparing to stab at it with her fork. "I think I'll save Monika's for dinner tonight, too. Speaking of which, can I borrow your lunchbox, Sayori?"

The normally upbeat attitude Sayori fostered vanished, replaced by an uncharacteristically stern frown. "You are not putting that slop anywhere near my lunchbox."

"Party-pooper," Natsuki whined, but cheered herself up by digging in.

Sayori tapped her fingers together anxiously. "Are any of you free this weekend?" She asked to her three friends.

MC tore his attention away from Natsuki's devouring. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

Yuri nodded.

"Mhmm," Natsuki hummed through her chewing.

Sayori beamed. "Great! I've just had this fun idea that we can all do together."

Yuri looked up from her book with a small smile. "Go on."

"We should all go camping!" Sayori suggested, unable to contain her enthusiasm. "Think about it: it's getting warmer, we can all spend time together, and it might be good for our creative writing."

"I don't have a tent," Natsuki informed through a mouthful of loaf. Yuri shot another glare at her, but she ignored it.

"I might have a spare," Yuri assured. "I like to spend time in the woods; it's rather rejuvenating."

"So, you're going?" Sayori asked.

"Yes," Yuri nodded. "What about you, MC? Your creative well seems to have dried up lately."

MC leaned back in his chair. She did have a point: the time that he used to spend thinking about his poetry was now occupied by Monika's guessing games. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Natsuki finished off the last of her meatloaf, then polished the plate with your tongue. "Count me out on this one. There's a bunch of bugs out in the forests," she informed, then shivered at the thought. "I don't want to be stung by an Asian Giant Hornet or something."

"Aww," Sayori moaned sadly, shooting Natsuki a puppy-dog look. "Pretty please."

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Oh, alright, but we're going to need a ton of bug spray."

"Yay!" Sayori cheered. "Then it's settled: we're going camping tomorrow night!"

"What about Monika?" Yuri inquired. "She hasn't exactly had the chance to voice her opinion."

"She'll go," MC assured. "I'm pretty sure of it."

"You're awfully certain about that," Yuri replied.

"I am," MC said as the bell rang, bringing lunch to a close. "She'll come around to it once she gets all the meatloaf out of her system."

"Nice," Sayori said as the club members grabbed their respective backpacks and prepared to leave. "See you all at the club this afternoon."

And with that, the four parted ways and left the cafeteria. All except for MC of course, who made his way to the girls' bathroom just in time for Monika to exit. There was a dazed and fatigued look in her eyes, as well as multiple bile-colored stains on her blazer.

MC wrapped his arm around her in an intentionally platonic manner. "Hey, are you alright?"

Monika was a little out of breath, presumably from a prolonged period of chunk-spewing. "Not really.

"Want me to walk you to the nurse's office?" MC offered.

Monika gave him a thankful, if weary, smile. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course."

"Thank you so much," she replied as the two of them started off. "I'll really owe you one."

"I hope so, because we're going camping tomorrow night."

"OK," she replied, leaning on his chest. "Wait, what?"