The next day, things returned mostly to normal for Jin and Sayori. Jin was up first and waited outside for Sayori to show up, and sure enough, she was late like usual. Jin couldn't be frustrated this time. Knowing Sayori was still alive was enough to keep him sane.

"Good…morning Jin!" Sayori said, running out of breath from trying to chase him down.

Jin replied, "Good morning! Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yep! I slept better than I had in a long time! So good in fact that it was even harder than usual to leave my comfy bed…" She said, putting her fingers together and blushing. Jin didn't know whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing, but nevertheless he smiled and put out his hand for Sayori to hold. Sayori took hold and they headed off to school.

The day was about as mundane for Jin as usual. Boring teachers, boring classes, boring assignments. Nowadays all he wanted to do was hang out with the literature club and share poems. It had become such a highlight of his daily routine for him, and the fact that he got to do it with Sayori didn't hurt either.

The school day eventually drew to a close, and Jin stormed upstairs to the club room. Everyone was already there, chatting and laughing and having a great time.

"Hey everyone!" Jin spoke up as he entered the room. Everyone waved hello as he walked over to Yuri, pulling out the knife she had left behind the other day.

Yuri gasped as she saw the knife in Jin's hand. "Jin! What're..." she quickly pulled him aside awkwardly. The other three girls looked puzzled at this, but eventually turned back to their conversations. "Jin, why did you bring that thing in here?" She asked sternly. Jin didn't know what to say, she thought she'd be happy to have her favorite knife back. "Just hold on to it for a while. Sayori and I are going to the library after club, and I REALLY don't want her to know about my…" She clears her throat, "…interest in knives."

Jin already knew something was going on with Yuri based on what happened between them on Sunday, and this only furthered his suspicion. He put the knife back in his bag and Yuri relaxed and backed off. They took their seats and Monika began the club meeting as normal.

Jin forgot to write a poem the night before, which frustrated him. Everyone else pulled out their poems and started exchanging them with each other. Yuri glanced over at Jin and noticed he didn't have anything pulled out, and asked him, "Jin, do you have a poem today?"

"Oh, no. I forgot to write one last night. I just went home and started watching anime," he said sheepishly. Yuri didn't seem very amused by that explanation at first, but smiled and handed her poem to him to read anyway.

It was eloquent and mystical as usual. Jin tried emulating this style before, but his poems never turned out quite as good as Yuri's, most likely because he didn't really have any prior writing experience.

"This is really good Yuri. I'd expect nothing less from you," Jin complimented Yuri.

"Thank you! I personally don't like it as much as my other poems…I kinda whipped this one up last minute before bed," she chuckled as she started playing with one of her strands of long purple hair. That was always one of Jin's weaknesses regarding Yuri. The way she would play with her hair when nervous would always put butterflies in his stomach. He couldn't lie to himself, he really liked Yuri, and if it wasn't for his greater love for Sayori, he would have confessed to Yuri instead. It's probably why he chose to spend the weekend with Yuri when Sayori wasn't available, even if it was probably against his better judgement.

The day's meeting ended, and Monika gave everyone her daily writing tip. As the other four members left the club room, Yuri pulled Jin aside while Sayori was talking with Natsuki. "You can give me that knife back now," she whispered to Jin. He awkwardly pulled it from his blazer pocket and handed it to Yuri, who quickly stuffed it into her bag. Yuri turned to Sayori and quickly switched demeanor. "I'm going home to switch to something more comfortable. I'll meet you at the library," she said. Sayori smiled and nodded, and left the school with Jin.

"So, Yuri seemed kind of irritated with you today…what was that about?" Sayori asked Jin.

"Oh nothing," Jin lied. He didn't want to divulge something to Sayori that Yuri clearly didn't want to get out. Yuri was one of his friends and he didn't want to disrespect that boundary.

Sayori raised an eyebrow of suspicion, but said nothing further. After a long pause, she asked with a concerned tone, "You don't…like her too, do you?"

Jin's brow started to sweat. He felt like this could only go badly, but he couldn't be dishonest about this. Continually lying to Sayori would just mess up the trust he had already built with her. "Sayori, I'm going to be completely honest with you, I do like Yuri."

Sayori frowned and her eyebrow furrowed, but Jin looked her in the eye and continued, "BUT, not as much as I like you. Yuri's a gorgeous girl, but she's got some…quirks that I couldn't live with. She seems too obsessive about certain things. When she was at my place on Sunday there were some things she would do and behaviors she exhibited that kinda put me on edge," Sayori's face relaxed, but Jin didn't want to sell Yuri short and give Sayori the wrong impression. "She's a nice girl though. I'm just glad you're my girlfriend is all."

Sayori's eyes widened. She looked stunned at that last statement. "G-girl…girlfriend?"

"Oh, heheh…did I say that out loud?" Jin felt awkward all over. His mind started racing, and he felt like his armpits had ice water splashed on them. It was too late to take it back now though. "But yeah, I do really mean that. Maybe now wasn't the best time to blurt it out, but I have been thinking to myself lately 'Wow, Sayori really is my girlfriend'. It feels kinda nice."

Sayori's cheeks turned bright red and she turned her head away from Jin, still glancing back at him. "Jin…I really like that. Does that mean I can call you my boyfriend now?"

"I…I mean, I guess so," Jin stammered. His cheeks were also bright red. His pulse was pounding faster than ever. He'd never felt so connected to a person like this in his life, it felt foreign to him. Before he could fully process the situation, Sayori had practically tackled him with the tightest hug she had ever given him. After several seconds, she released him with a huge smile on her face.

"I better hurry up and get ready to meet Yuri at the library…see you later Jin!" She said as she headed off to her house. Jin just stood there for a minute, taking it all in. His mind could barely comprehend what had just happened.

Sayori walked up the sidewalk to the library, looking around to see if Yuri had already arrived. After a minute, she went inside and looked over the first floor. Yuri wasn't anywhere to be seen yet, so she took a seat at a table and grabbed a magazine, lazily thumbing through the pages. After a few minutes, Sayori felt a tap on her right shoulder. She looked up and saw Yuri standing above her, wearing a heavy sweater and holding a dark green book in her right hand.

"Hi Sayori! I'm glad you decided to come to the library with me today," Yuri said, smiling happily. Sayori grinned back, but she couldn't help but think it was a little odd that Yuri was wearing a sweater in the middle of the summer. She put down the magazine and sat up straight.

"It's my pleasure Yuri! I just wanted to spend some more time with you outside of literature club, since that's pretty much the only time we get to know each other," She said. Yuri sat down in the chair next to Sayori.

"So, I never really got to ask you, what kinds of books do you like to read?" Yuri asked curiously.

Sayori shrugged and said, "I dunno, I like to read stuff that's kinda sad honestly…something about sad stories just resonates with me." Yuri was puzzled. She didn't understand how such a bright and happy girl could enjoy things that were so downcast.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't expect you of all people to enjoy sad stories," she said. "I guess that's why they say you should never judge a book by its cover." Sayori nodded and smiled.

Sayori said, "I also listen to music a lot. Sometimes I just sit in my room with my headphones on, staring at the ceiling and listening to whatever I'm in the mood for. Do you listen to much music?"

"Oh, I'm not really much of a music person to be honest," Yuri admitted. "I tend to mostly just read in silence."

Sayori's eyebrows perked up slightly, "I'm gonna have to show you my favorite band. I think you'll like them a lot."

"There are some records upstairs if you want to check them out," Yuri suggested. Sayori nodded, and the two of them went upstairs. The music room had a single piano on the far wall, and shelves of records and CD's, with a record and CD player in the corner. Sayori began thumbing through records, looking for one of her favorites, until she realized what she was looking for was on a shelf she couldn't reach.

"Yuri, can you help me reach up there? I'm too short…" Yuri nodded and reached to where Sayori was pointing. She pulled out a black album with a white triangle in the center and a white line entering it from one side, exiting in the other in the color spectrum.

"Oh, I've seen this before on t-shirts and stuff. Never bothered to know what it was," Yuri pondered. "Dark Side of the Moon…" she muttered.

"It's really good! Let's put it on!" Sayori said, taking the record and putting it on the player. She set the record on the B-side and the familiar sound of a cash register began to ring out from the speakers, along with the crackling of the record. As the low thumping bass kicked in, Yuri found herself bobbing up and down with the uncommon 7-4 beat.

"Money!

"Get away.

"You get a good job with more pay and you're okay.

"Money!

"It's a gas.

"Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash."

"Sayori, this is really good. I like it a lot," Yuri said with a pleasant smile on her face. "I definitely wouldn't have pinned you as the type to be into this kind of music though,"

"Well, you said it yourself, never judge a book by its cover!" Sayori said. The two of them laughed as Sayori stood up. "I gotta use the restroom, I'll be back in a bit." Sayori dismissed herself from the room and Yuri continued to listen to the record.

As the song finished, and transitioned to something softer, Yuri felt her mood change quickly. Alone in the record room with her thoughts, her arms started to sting. She rolled up the sleeve on her left arm and stared down at it. Covered with a bloody bandage, she sighed and felt a restless shiver run up her spine. "Why do I do this to myself?" She said to herself in a frustrated tone. She left her sleeve rolled up as the album continued to play. She started to lose herself in the music, closing her eyes and relaxing her shoulders. The smooth droning of the guitar put her at ease. Then Sayori walked back in the room.

"Well then, what do you think Yu-" Sayori froze when she saw Yuri's arm. "Yuri! What is that?!"

Yuri jerked herself up and shouted, quickly pulling her sleeve down. She was shaking uncontrollably in fear. Sayori was speechless. She didn't know how to react to what she just saw. Yuri sat back down and began crying, burying her face in her hands. Tears welled up in Sayori's eyes too as she knelt down next to Yuri.

"Yuri…what's going on?" Sayori asked, choking on her concern.

"Oh Sayori…I'm so sorry you had to see that…" Yuri could barely string together a full sentence clearly. She was so scared and downcast. The last thing she wanted was for someone to know this about her. Thoughts began to bounce around in her skull. She was afraid Sayori would be scared and run away, leaving her alone once again. "I'm…a monster Sayori...a self-destructive monster with no self-control..."

Those words hurt Sayori deeply. She couldn't bear to hear her friend say such awful things about herself. "No Yuri, you're not a monster! Don't say that about yourself!" Yuri's sleeve slid down her arm again, revealing the bandaged forearm. Sayori felt a lump in her throat. "Did…you do this to yourself?"

"Yes…" Yuri managed to say through her tears. "I cut myself with knives every day…it's the only way I feel alive. No one really seems to pay attention to me or like me, so I started cutting myself to distract myself from the pain…but it doesn't go away, and now I can't stop reopening these wounds day in and day out…"

Sayori understood why Yuri was wearing a sweater now, and why she usually kept her arms behind her back. It was a subconscious effort to hide her gashes from the outside world.

"Yuri, I…I'm not an expert in dealing with these things, but…I want to be here for you…I can help you through this if you want…" Sayori offered. Yuri lifted her head and looked at Sayori, face red and soaked with tears, just like Sayori's was two days ago. Sayori found herself unable to hold back her tears any longer, and she burst into tears as well. The two of them hugged each other tightly there in the music room, the record still playing in the background, humming the melancholic guitar riffs and basslines Sayori had cried herself to sleep to countless nights before.

Once the two of them calmed themselves down, they discussed their issues with each other openly. Sayori told Yuri about her depression, and Yuri told Sayori about her obsessions and insecurities. They sat there for about an hour just talking to each other, and they felt closer to each other than they ever had before. Sayori felt better this way. She was so sad for Yuri and her twisted state of mind, but at the same time she was happy that she had someone close to her that she could so closely identify with.

The two of them left the library, and shared a long hug before heading their separate ways.

"I really hope you feel better Sayori," Yuri said with concern. Sayori smiled and nodded.

"I hope you do too Yuri…" She replied. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then? Will you be okay for the night? Is there anything I can do to help?" Yuri shook her head.

"I won't be cutting myself anymore today at least…I do think I'll be visiting a therapist tomorrow after literature club though. Thank you for convincing me." Yuri reassured Sayori.

Sayori smiled with a pained expression, and gave Yuri one last hug.

They both walked in separate directions towards their houses. Sayori took out her phone and texted Jin, asking if he was still awake.

"Yeah. What's up?" Jin replied.

"I think we need to talk about Yuri soon…"