A/N: Thanks again to everyone continuing to read, leave feedback and enjoy this fic! I really appreciate it! Again, I apologize for this taking a while to update and respond to everyone. I meant to try to get this chapter finished by the end of September, but I fell a little behind.
Chapter 9: Ciphers and Whispers
All through the night and the next day during school, Dan found his mind drifting back to the coded note that Arin had slipped him near the end of the meeting yesterday.
Translating the note had been fairly simple. Hastily, he scribbled down a list of numbers and letters into the margins of one one of his notebooks. If his thoughts were correct, then each number corresponded with a letter in the alphabet. If that were the case, he figured, then he figured that the note should have translated into something along the lines of: It wasn't a dream, Dan. Everything is real.
How could his hallucinations and nightmares be anything other than just that? Dan wondered. Granted, he reasoned, the brief hallucinations and distortions he'd experienced in the club yesterday could easily just have been the result of nerves and some bad food he ate at lunch without realizing.
But as for the dreams? Every neuron in the logical, rational half of his mind told that that simply was impossible for those to have been real. He'd only been in the Literature Club for a day, his mind argued. But, he was pretty sure that he recalled mentioning that the school festival was the next day in at least one of the dreams.
But, if that were the case, he argued, then that would mean that he would have at least been in the Literature Club for three days, seeing as the festival was set to happen Monday.
Then again, he wondered as he idly flipped through the pages of the manga Natsuki had given him, what if Arin was right in a way, and that there was more to these visions? Maybe the other man was trying to tell him that the dreams were more like visions, and that it was likely that another member would be joining the club soon, and that it was up to Dan to try to prevent a horrible fate from befalling her.
Yeah, right. Dan scoffed to himself, like that makes any sense. It wasn't like Arin had already known about the dreams, or even been having the same dreams as him. Besides, precognition and collective dreams sounded much more like the types of esoteric concepts that were more at home in Yuri's novel than they were in the real world.
A twitch of regret passed through him as he remembered the book that Yuri had lent him. He had meant to start reading it last night, he admitted. But, between having to write a poem for the club and everything else, he'd kind of forgotten about it.
Then again, he thought, maybe it wasn't entirely on accident that he'd neglected to read her book. An uncomfortable prickling tingled across his skin like a thousand tiny needles brushing against his skin every time he even thought of the book. Perhaps it was the way the ominous eye on the cover seemed to stare directly at the reader, following them even when they looked away. Or perhaps it was just his knowledge of the book being a horror novel was giving him unrealistic expectations of what the story was about.
But, that said, he argued, maybe it was just that he felt that Yuri would have much rather preferred reading it with him, but had not really gotten a chance to tell him that. After all, yesterday had been kind of chaotic, he reasoned, what with two separate arguments breaking out.
Hopefully, he sighed, today would be a little more laid back, now that the initial nervousness of having an new member and sharing their poems with each other had died down a little.
As he entered the room, he noticed that only three of the four members were currently present. However, the morose, downcast mood of the previous day still hung faintly in the air like a sour perfume. Natsuki sat quietly in a corner of the room, reading a volume of some manga. The purple haired girl sat on the opposite end of the room, a book left open and ignored on her desk as she shot furtive, guilty looks toward her pink haired companion.
Likewise, Arin was there, leaning against the bookshelf in the back of the room with his arms folded and a grim scowl painted on his bearded face. Suddenly, three pairs of eyes fell on him as he entered the room, making his skin crawl with their laser-like looked like a worried family waiting in a hospital waiting to hear a diagnosis from the doctor about a critical patient.
For a moment, his vision flickered as Yuri approached him. Or rather, part of Yuri approached him. Her face and a good chunk of the right side of her body was missing, as if they were simply invisible. Damn it, he sighed to himself as he rubbed his eyes, correcting the vision, I thought that I was done with this shit , yesterday.
That said, he almost laughed, if it weren't so annoying, he almost would have found
"Hello, Danny," Yuri greeted him hesitantly, looking over her shoulder "Um…..listen….we need to talk."
Before the curly haired man could say anything, Yuri grabbed his arm, dragging him into the closet. The girl's cheeks were flushed with pink as if she had ran a cross-country marathon, rather than sprinting across a small classroom.
A devilish glimmer sparkled in her eyes, as a small grin twitched on the corners of her lips, struggling against the troubled frown that she currently held. Although she had intended to bring him there for serious reasons, but had realized that this potentially gave them a chance to actually be alone for once.
"Um…." Dan asked slowly, his posture tense, ready to dash out of the room if things got too weird, "S-so, what's going on, Yuri?"
Yuri fidgeted nervously, curling in on herself as she twisted a lock of her long hair between her fingers. Despite himself, Dan's posture relaxed, as that the alarming expression that danced on her face had passed, giving way to her usual reserved shyness.
"U-um," she began softly, "About yesterday. I really feel that I need to apologize. This doesn't usually happen. I-I guess that something just came over me, I guess. I was acting mentally unsound."
"Eh," Dan shrugged, "I mean, things got a little heated yesterday, sure. And you both went a little overboard and said a bunch of shit you didn't mean. But, I kinda get it-we were all a little nervous, y'know? Like, it was the first time that any of us had shared our poems with everyone and whatever. It's cool."
Although the girl's posture breifly relaxed in relief, it was quickly replaced by another bout of trembling as tears began to glisten in the corners of her eyes. Her slender fingers knitted through her lock of hair frantically, that Dan almost thought she'd end up knitting a scarf out of her hair if she weren't careful.
"P-Please don't think that we always act like this!" Yuri cried, "I don't just mean me, but Natsuki and the others, as well"
"It's cool," Dan replied gently, reassuringly patting her shoulder, "I mean, at least you apologized. And, hey, like I said, don't worry about it. I mean, I've only been here a couple days, but I could tell something was off. It's not really gonna change my opinion of you guys. Everyone here seems pretty cool, and it takes a lot more than just one bad day to make me think someone's a bad person, y'know?"
Nervously, Yuri giggled, allowing herself to stand straighter as she folded her hands in front of her. Another blush painted her cheeks, as a small smile spread across her lips. Once more, the feverish glow colored her body language, dancing like firelight behind her eyes.
"A-ah, Danny," she mumbled, her voice speaking faster and more rambling with each word, "D-don't say things like that so frankly! It makes me a little too happy. I'm really glad you joined this club, and that you're such an understanding person. Everything is a little bit brighter with you around. And I-ah!"
The pink blush in her cheeks darkened in embarrassment as she gasped, catching herself before she could ramble further. Swiftly, she buried her face in her hands, before clearing her throat loudly.
"Ah!" she gasped, "I'm sorry! What am I even saying right now?"
Before Dan could reply, the door slid open as Natsuki and Arin entered the closet. The other man cast a curious glance between Dan and Yuri, a mildly concerned frown creeping on the corners of his mouth, before shrugging. Natsuki, on the other hand, seemed to completely ignore Yuri's embarrassment as she strolled into the room.
"Hey," she asked, "Have you guys seen Monika around? She's running late, and I haven't seen her at all today. You wouldn't know if she's sick and skipped class today, or had to leave early and forgot to cancel, do you?"
"Nope, sorry," Dan shook his head, "I'm not in the same class as her this year, so I don't really see her around outside of the Literature Club."
"Besides," Arin added, "I really doubt that she'd cancel without like texting or e-mailing us or something. She's probably just got something else, like she got caught up in another class or something."
"That's a good point," Natsuki agreed, "But then, when she's making you actually look like you show up on time, then I gotta be a little worried."
"Hey," the other man shot back, "I'll have you know that I actually showed up to the meeting early, today! For once."
"Which puts the score at, what?" Dan joked, "one to, like, a million at this point?"
The larger man glared, peering over the rim of his glasses at Dan, though the amused smirk on his lips suggested that he wasn't as bothered by the joke as he pretended to be. Natsuki, again, ignored the two as she noticed Yuri blushing furiously as she fidgeted with the sleeve of her jacket.
"What's with her?" Natsuki asked, nodding toward her fellow club member.
At this, Yuri's eyes widened, gasping as she jumped. Hastily, she gave the sleeve of her jacket one more tug, pulling it nearly up to her palm as she realized that she and Dan were no longer alone. Natsuki quirked a curious eyebrow as Yuri flashed her a wide-eyed, panicked look.
"Geez," the pink haired girl asked defensively, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"N-Natsuki," Yuri began, "About yesterday? I just wanted to apologize. I just want you to know that I didn't mean any of those words I said. And, I'll try my best to stay a little more under control in the future. So-"
The confusion written on the pink haired girl's face grew as her brow furrowed even deeper as she rested her hands on her hips.
"Yuri," she asked, "What are you talking about? Did you do something yesterday?"
Now it was Natsuki's turn to have all eyes in the room falling on her. What did she mean by that? Dan wondered. How could she be acting like nothing had happened? Especially when she had literally ran out of the club room in tears? Maybe she was just trying to play it cool and only pretending that she had forgotten about it to spare the other girl's feelings.
Or, another part of him thought, maybe Monika's assurance about Natsuki "forgetting about it completely" actually had more weight behind it than he initially thought.
"What do you mean, Natsuki?" Arin asked slowly, his voice thick with fear, "You and Yuri had this big argument during the poetry sharing thing yesterday?"
"Y-yes!" Yuri nodded fervently "D-don't you remember?"
Natsuki shook her head, her expression becoming blank and distant. Once more it felt as if the air in the room had shifted, as a chilling aura permeated through the air. Natsuki opened her mouth to speak, but her voice sounded distorted and hollow, as if some demon had possessed her.
"Yuri," Natsuki's distorted voice sneered, "I'm sure whatever's on your mind was nothing. I don't even remember anything bad 're the kind of person who worries too much about little things, aren't you?"
The purple haired girl gasped, looking on the verge of tears as she heard what she believed to be Natsuki's dismissive mockery. Suddenly and without warning, Natsuki's face changed, morphing into a mimic of her face, as designed by someone with photoshop, a twisted sense of humor, and a completely alien understanding of what the human face looked like.
Once more her eyes were gone, replaced by the two squirming voids leaking off of her face that Dan had witnessed the previous day. Her mouth moved, but it seemed as if it belonged to someone else, and now moved independently of it's owner, as a string of semi-unintelligible nonsense spilled from her mouth like word vomit.
Yuri, however, seemed to be listening intently, as if she saw nothing strange happening to the pink haired girl, and somehow understood the string of random words as perfectly as if the other girl were speaking clearly. Alarmed, Dan shot Arin another concerned look, silently hoping for some confirmation that he was not the only one seeing this hallucination, this time.
It was only a little relief, when Arin returned the alarmed look, giving the other man a silent, understanding nod as he adjusted his glasses, confirming that he, too, was witnessing this bizarre sight with his own eyes.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, everything returned to normal. The cold aura had vanished from the room, and Natsuki's face returned to normal as she flashed a light-hearted grin toward the other girl as if nothing had happened.
"Whatever," Natsuki said, shrugging, "I guess I'll accept your apology if it'll make you feel better."
She giggled as the other girl sighed, clutching her chest in relief, before continuing.
"Besides," she added, "It's kinda nice to hear, since I was pretty sure that you hated me or something."
A weak smile came over Yuri's face as she laughed nervously, seemingly unsure of how to handle the mild relief she felt from knowing that her fellow club member didn't hate her.
"Heheh," she laughed, "N-not at all! I don't hate you."
"Haha," Natsuki winked playfully, "Well, you're kinda weird, but I don't hate you either."
With that, Natsuki laughed too, playfully punching the other girl in the arm, as a genuine smile crossed Yuri's cheeks. Whatever tension that had lingered in the air from the fight yesterday was now completely dissipated, Dan thought, now that the two of them had made up and were laughing like old friends.
Still, he thought as he cast another curious glance over at Arin, his arms folded as he stared down at his chest, muttering darkly to himself, there was something just a little too weird about how easily Natsuki had forgotten about the fight in the first place, or how neither she nor Yuri had seemed to notice the strange occurrence that just happened.
However, before he could ponder any further over this, Natsuki turned to him, her hands planted firmly on the sides of her hips, though the sour expression she usually wore around him had softened a little.
"You, however," she said, "are still on trial."
"Me?!" Dan asked, "What'd I do?!"
The group chuckled as Dan sighed defeatedly, running his fingers through his hair as he laughed weakly. There was really no arguing with Natsuki, he laughed to himself. But then again, he reasoned, joking and laughing with the group was definitely much more preferable to the highly charged negative mood of the previous day.
Suddenly, the door swung open, as Monika entered. Huffing, she caught her breath, beaming as she noticed the rest of the Literature Club had gathered in the closet.
Beside Dan, Arin grimaced, a sharp, annoyed look hardening his scowl as he rolled his eyes, before fixing himself into a mask of fake pleasant and polite indifference, that one typically wore at a party they didn't really want to be at.
"I'm sorry, everyone!" Monika stated as she brushed away a loose strand of cinnamon-colored hair from her face, "I didn't mean to be late! I hope that you guys weren't worried or anything."
"Nah," Dan waved with causal dismissiveness, "I'm pretty sure you had a good reason for being late."
"Well," Arin added, jokingly, "Natsuki kinda was."
"I was not!" Natsuki shot back, her face growing red with embarrassment, as she lightly stamped her foot in protest.
Monika laughed, finding her fellow clubmate's flustered protest to be both amusing and adorable. The pink haired girl crossed her arms, giving a sharp, hawklike look toward the Club President. If Natsuki was going to be put on the spot, Dan figured, then she probably figured that it was only fair that Monika also be put on the spot as well.
"And where were you?"the pink haired girl asked,suspiciously "You're never late for a meeting. Must have been something pretty serious."
"Ahahaha," Monika giggled nervously, "To be honest, I kind of lost track of time. My last period was study hall, so I guess I kind of lost track of time."
"That doesn't make any sense, though," Natsuki protested, "Wouldn't you have heard the bell?"
Monika fidgeted, giggling nervously as she folded her hands behind her back. Her green eyes darted around the room, seemingly hoping to find some sort of plausible excuse or explanation. But then again, Dan reasoned, she probably had a good reason, but was slightly embarrassed to admit what it was.
"Ahahaha," she giggled again, "I must not have heard it, since I was practicing piano."
"But," Arin replied, suspiciously "Didn't you say that you were in study hall? I might not have been here a long time, but I'm pretty sure that study hall is usually in the library or one of the classrooms, right? And usually music classes are held somewhere near the auditorium?"
"Ahahaha," Monika giggled again, rubbing the back of her neck, "Yeah. It's just that my study hall teacher said it was okay if I left to practice piano during study hall. So, I was in the Music room during study hall."
Although not entirely convinced with his clubmate's answer, Arin just shrugged, deciding that questioning her over something as minor as why she was late wasn't really going to do much good.
Yuri, who had been quiet until this point, quirked an eyebrow as she looked at Monika with an expression that reminded Dan of a curious owl.
"Piano?" she asked, softly, "I wasn't aware that you played music as well, Monika."
"Ah," Monika replied bashfully, "Don't give me more credit than I deserve. I guess that I've been practicing for a while now, but I'm still not really good at it, yet."
"Still," Yuri continued, "That must require a lot of dedication, so I'm still impressed."
"Ah," Monika beamed, "Thanks, Yuri!"
"Hey!" Natsuki said, snapping her fingers as an idea crossed her mind, "You should totally play something for us!"
Monika shot a quick glance at Dan, as if trying to gauge his reaction to this suggestion, before she decided to agree to it or not. However, Dan's own facial expressions remained quietly neutral, though a faint smile played on his lips.
"Eh," she shrugged, "I've got some stuff that I'm working on, but I kind of want to get a bit better before I play it for anyone."
"Hey," Dan replied, "Either way, I know the feeling. Like, believe it or not, I'm actually kind of a musician myself. So, I totally get how much dedication it takes in getting a song just perfect before wanting to sing it."
"Oh, really?" Monika's eyes flashed brilliantly as she looked at him, intrigued, "In that case, I'll be sure to practice extra hard to get better, and maybe we could perform together, some time?"
Dan blushed, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling weakly as he stared down at the floor, avoiding Monika's sweet, cheerful smile. Staring at her radiant smile was like staring at the face of a goddess. Staring at her for too long would only serve to haunt him with his many flaws, and harshly remind him how insignificant he was compared to her perfect beauty and grace.
Such beauty had no business even acknowledging his existence, he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he swore that he caught a brief glimpse of Arin pretending to gag behind him as he rolled his eyes at Monika's overly saccharine smile.
"Um, sure," Dan said, blushing, "I-I'd like that. In any case, good luck!"
"Thanks!" Monika replied, "So, I didn't miss anything did I?"
Dan blinked, furrowing his brow as if something that Monika had said had been unusual. The back of his mind itched, tugging uncomfortably at his consciousness. Part of him remembered what she had said about her "always listening". The knowing spark that glimmered coldly in her emerald eyes seemed to suggest that she had somehow heard every word of their conversation, despite claiming not to be present.
Maybe she had just been standing outside the door, the reasonable part of him argued, and hadn't wanted to be rude and interrupt them.
"Ah," he shook his head, "Not really."
Again Monika smiled. Dan heaved a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't decided to continue on the topic. Part of him felt like he shouldn't bring up anything that had happened in the closet with Monika. It didn't seem like that big of an issue to worry with, anyways. And besides, he added, telling her about how Natsuki's face had weirdly glitched out, would probably only make her think he was completely out of his mind or something.
As Monika casually strolled off, returning to her desk, the remaining members of the group had also dispersed, returning back to their usual activities. While Natsuki's nose was buried deep in the volume of manga, seeming to have forgotten that she had intended to discuss his thoughts on Parfait Girls with him. Yuri, too was reading, or at least trying to read as she kept shooting hesitant, subtle glances in Dan's direction, as if she wanted to speak but wasn't sure how.
An uncomfortable knot of apprehension tied itself tightly in his stomach as he noticed Arin, unlike the others had not left the closet. Instead, he leaned casually against the wall next to the door frame, his arms folded across his chest as he looked over his shoulder at the members of the club outside.
They had a moment alone, Dan thought, his heart beating faster as he opened his mouth, praying that he'd be able to make more than just dry, barely audible squeaks and whispers. Why was he nervous? He wondered as he felt his face growing warmer.
It's just Arin, he reminded himself. It wasn't like they hadn't talked a hundred times before. What was he afraid of? There was nothing to be afraid of. It's just Arin, he thought, with his handsome face, looking at him with those sad, puppy-dog like brown eyes.
However, it was Arin himself that broke the silence first.
"Hey," he began, trying unconvincingly to sound casual, "So, umm…that dream you had the other night? Um, so after we talked yesterday, I was doing some thinking, and….I think there's obviously something more to that dream."
Curiously, Dan sidled next to the other man, shooting him a sideways stare at him as he leaned against the wall.
"Yeah, no shit," he scoffed, "Otherwise, I don't think you would have slipped me that coded message. I mean, unless you were meaning to give it to someone else or something."
"Heheheh," Arin laughed humorlessly, "No, I definitely meant to give you that. And, like sorry that it was coded and whatever. It's just-look, it's not that easy to just talk about certain stuff here, y'know? Like, I don't wanna sound paranoid, but the walls have ears, dude."
Again, the larger man glanced nervously around the tiny closet, his body tense as if he were straining to hear something in the air that Dan himself was unable to hear. What was Arin so paranoid about? Dan wondered. Was the other man simply feeling shy and felt the their discussion was too private and personal for the other club members to hear.
Or maybe, he added, his fear of being overheard had something to do with an embarrassing or traumatizing moment that happened in his past? After all, he reasoned, the other man never really talked about the reason that he'd transferred schools in the first place.
Perhaps, he reasoned, it was likely that the wrong person had accidentally overheard a conversation that Arin and another person had in private? And, in typical high-school gossip fashion, had spiraled into a firestorm of problems that were simply too big for Arin to deal with?
"Okay, look-anyways," Arin continued, "That dream you told me about? Like, I didn't want to freak you out yesterday, but I had the same dream."
As the words reached his ears, Dan felt as if the floor had dropped out from under him. Cold electricity tingled in his veins as he stared incredulously at the other man. Was he serious? The curly haired man wondered. Or was this just some ill-thought out attempt to mock him?
However, one look at the dark, haunted expression that clouded the other man's handsome face told him that this was not, in fact, a joke as he thought it was. The larger man's hands trembled slightly as he gripped the wall behind him.
"You're joking, right?" Dan asked, quirking an eyebrow as he folded his arms across his chest.
"I'm serious, dude." Arin nodded solemnly.
"This is fucking wild," Dan whistled under his breath, "Like, it's not really common this kind of shit is common, right?"
"Eh," the other man shrugged, "Not really. I mean, it's not like it's not uncommon, either. Like, it's a little more common if you're talking about like extremely isolated and close knit communities and whatever. But, I'm pretty sure that's not what's going on here."
"Really?" Dan asked, "So, like-you think it's a vision or something? Like, somehow we're getting visions of like the future or something? Like we're gonna meet some new member in the club, and we gotta stop something bad happening to her because like that event ends up being like the key event to the apocalypse happening later on down the road or something? And-as I say that I realize just how fucking insane I must sound right about now."
"Any more insane than I sound, right now?" Arin smirked, despite himself, "But, that's still a bit off the mark from what I was thinking."
"What were you thinking then?" Dan asked.
Arin opened his mouth to speak, but found his words halted as Yuri entered the room, her form shyly curled in on the copy of the Portrait of Markov that she hugged against her chest. The other man shot an uncertain look between Dan and the purple haired girl, unsure if he wanted to continue such a strange conversation in the presence of another club member.
Sure, Dan reasoned, on one hand both of them knew that Yuri was much more fascinated by the esoteric and unusual, given the types of novels she typically read, so it was likely that she wouldn't find anything off-putting about this conversation. But all the same, the other man probably felt this was a bit too personal to share with anyone else.
"I'm just saying," Arin said with causal finality, before changing the subject, "That maybe we shouldn't be thinking ahead, if you get what I mean. Anyways, what's up, Yuri?"
"A-ah," Yuri blushed, brushing a lock of hair away from her eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just hoping that I could have a chance to discuss the book I lent to Danny with him."
Tiny beads of sweat glistened on Arin's forehead as he stared down at the book in Yuri's hands, as if it contained some sort of deadly plague. He looked like a captive tiger, struggling against iron chains, as his face grew hot, glaring at the book with a heated glare strong enough to cause forest fires. However, as quickly as it started, it passed, as the other man placed a mask of calm, pleasantness over his wild countenance.
Likewise, a similar wild look flickered like candlelight across Yuri's own face. A ravenous hunger glinted in her violet eyes as she stared at Dan, a blush reddening her pale cheeks. If Arin was like a tiger, then Yuri was like a venomous rattlesnake, laying in wait in the tall grass for a chance to claim it's prey's life.
"Um…." Arin stammared, "I was kinda….um…."
"Ah," Yuri continued, "I understand. It's just that, well, as the Vice President of this Club, and seeing as that I was the one who recommended it to him in the first place, I feel that it's my responsibility to spend some time with our new member-in the club, I mean-in order to help him get more accustomed to being here. Why don't you go hang out with Natsuki and just leave us alone? Natsuki's used to be ignore. I'm sure she'd love the attention."
The larger man bit his lip as he shot a look between the other two, unwilling to leave his and Dan's discussion abruptly cut off yet again, but also not wanting to appear rude or selfish by denying Yuri a chance to spend some time with Dan.
"It's cool," Dan assured him, resting a hand on the other man's shoulder, "We can pick this up later, like after the meeting or something. I mean, if you're not busy or anything."
"Y-yeah," Arin nodded reluctantly, "Sure."
"C'mon," Yuri's voice growled, though her mouth didn't move, "We're going over there."
Without warning, Yuri latched her arm around the lanky man, gracefully dragging him out of the small closet to a spot beside the window, near her desk. Once more, the nervous knot of anxiety and apprehension wrung itself like a dishtowel in the pit of his stomach. How was he going to tell Yuri that he hadn't read the book at all?
She had intended for him to read the book, he reminded himself. And, given how excited she had seemed when she gave him the book, he just knew that she was likely to bombard him with questions about his opinions on the small details and plot points that he probably would have missed, even if he had read the book.
Still, he thought, he didn't want to upset her by making it seem like he didn't care about her interests. After all, he reasoned, even if horror wasn't really his genre of choice, he figured that it'd probably make her happy to have a friendly presence willing to at least listen.
"So, what's the book about, anyways?" Dan asked, "I mean, I tried to read a little bit of it, but I don't think I really got far enough into it to really get an idea what it's about?"
Reflexively, he recoiled, half expecting to see the purple-haired girl look at him with a hurt expression, as if he had slapped her across the face. However, much to his surprise, Yuri only smiled, as a twinkling, eager gleam lit her purple eyes. The timid, uncertain reservedness that she usually carried herself with melted, as she stood up straight, resting her hand against her chest as she spoke.
"Well," Yuri explained, "It's basically about a religious camp that was turned into a human experiment prison. And the people trapped there have this trait that turns them into killing machines that lust for blood."
Yuri sighed, oblivious to the wide-eyed, shocked look that Dan was giving her, before continuing.
"And the facility gets worse," she continued, "and they start selectively breeding people by cutting off their limbs and affixing them to-"
She gasped, covering her mouth as another embarrassed blush painted her cheeks. Again, Dan felt his insides squirmed uncomfortably, as if his stomach had been replaced with a burlap sack full of wriggling worms. Although he knew that it was a horror story, the way that Yuri had so calmly described the plot, he hadn't expected it to take as dark and twisted of turn as it did.
And yet, something about this felt even more wrong. He couldn't place why, but he felt as if the description that Yuri gave was slightly different than the story itself. Sure, he reasoned, there were still some of the same elements, like the concept of human experiments, but she had left out some important story elements.
Wasn't there a story about a girl and her long lost sister? Or was he confusing this with another story? He had to have been, he reasoned. After all, he had never even heard of The Portrait of Markov until Yuri had introduced him to it. But, then again, he wasn't sure he'd even read whatever other story he was thinking of either.
"Ah!" Yuri gasped, snapping him out of his daze, "Sorry, that's a bit of a spoiler. But anyways, I'm really into it. The story, I mean. N-not the thing about the limbs."
Dan furrowed his brow suspiciously. That was kind of an odd thing to make a clarification on, he thought. While she loved horror, she didn't seem like the type who'd be particularly fixated on brutal mutilation. Of course, the reasonable half of him argued, it was probably just Yuri's shyness over-explaining in an attempt to be better understood, just on the slim chance that he could have misinterpreted her.
"I didn't think you meant that," Dan replied, "I mean, it's a little dark…"
Strangely, Yuri smiled warmly at him, her hand hovering delicately above her lips as if she were preparing to stifle a giggle.
"Are you not a friend of that sort of thing Danny?" she asked curiously.
Were they talking about the book, or the whole thing with the limbs? The curly haired man couldn't help but wonder. It seemed almost as if the shy, reclusive Yuri that rarely spoke in meetings and the Yuri that talked calmly about the twisted elements in the book she was reading were two completely opposite people. And yet, at the same time, there was something about this that seemed to make perfect sense to him, as if this were simply a side of her that had always existed, though rarely ever seen.
"N-no, it's not that," he shook his head, "It's just that the twist was a little unexpected. But, that doesn't mean that I couldn't get into those types of stories, if I tried."
"I hope so," Yuri smiled again, "It's just that, this kind of story, it's the kind that challenges you to look at life from a strange, new perspective. When horrible things happen, not because someone wants to be evil, But because the world is full of horrible people and we're all worthless, anyways. Then suddennlyyyyyy-"
Once more, the hairs on Dan's arms and neck prickled like tiny needles, standing on end as Yuri's, distorted, growling voice echoed inside his skull, like someone was whispering directly into a microphone, right next to his ear.
What was with this weird voice? He wondered. Was it just that his hearing was going bad, or was this classroom being haunted by some sort of demon that randomly decided to possess members of the club, but only when they talked to him? Or maybe he'd been possessed, too, but he'd just never realized it?
That's ridiculous, he almost laughed. He was starting to sound like someone in one of Yuri's stories. It wasn't like that kind of supernatural stuff happened. It was far more likely that he was probably just coming down with a cold, and that was affecting how he was hearing things.
"Ah!" Yuri gasped again, her normal voice returning, "I'm rambling again, aren't I? Oh, not again! I'm sorry!"
The purple haired girl buried her face in her hair, fidgeting frantically with another long lock, as she stared fixedly down at the floor beside her. Gently, Dan rested his hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her flustered reverie.
"Hey," he smiled, "It's okay. It's not like I lost interest or anything. You're just really passionate about this, and there's nothing wrong with that."
"Ah!" Yuri smiled tepidly, "Thanks! It's just that I should have warned you that I have this problem. Sometimes, when I let things like books and writings fill my thoughts my whole body gets incredibly-I kind of forget to pay attention to other people. So, I'm sorry if I end up saying something strange. A-and please stop me if I talk too much."
Although he wanted to bring up the weird, otherworldly whispers that both Natsuki and her had had earlier, Dan decided against it. There was no point in making Yuri feel any more scared or self conscious about herself than she was likely already feeling just talking to him. Especially not when he couldn't really confirm that it wasn't just some figment of his imagination.
"Eh," Dan shrugged, "It's not a problem. I mean, this is a Literature Club, right? So, it's kind of expected to talk about literature, right? Besides, there's nothing wrong with being passionate about stuff."
Yuri blushed again, bashfully drawing her shoulders up to her ears as she awkwardly smoothed the sides sides of her jacket with her hands, wishing that the uniform had better pockets to bury her hands in.
"A-Ah," she stammered, "That's true."
"Actually," Dan offered, smiling, "I wouldn't necessarily mind trying to discuss that book with you while we read it, together. I mean, you've read it before, so you have a better idea of what's going on, so you might be able to help me pick up on the stuff I missed. I mean, if you're cool with that?"
He wasn't sure why the words had fallen so easily out of his mouth. While he was somewhat curious about discussing the book with Yuri, there was another part of him that still felt uncomfortable even looking at the book, much less opening it. But then again, he reasoned, having someone with him who already knew what was going to happen made it a little easier.
Faster than he could blink, he could have sworn he saw Yuri's form shift as an eager smile crossed her lips. He remembered comparing her earlier, feverish grin to something almost snake-like. For a brief fraction of a second, he felt that his metaphor had been a bit too apt, as that it seemed as if Yuri's form had become distorted and more overtly snake-like. The pupils of her eyes shrank, becoming slitted as they stared at him with a wild, ravenous expression.
Even her body changed, as if it had been put through a high-contrast photoshop filter, as firey reds and yellows seared themselves into Dan's retinas. Her form flickered, like a signal on an old television trying to come into focus.
And yet, as it passed, Yuri seemed to notice nothing.
He knew that he should have been feeling more irritated than scared at this point. Like a tiny scratch in a CD that kept growing everytime it was played, it felt like the little 'glitches' and errors he' hallucinated were becoming far too frequent to his liking.
But still, they occurred so randomly, that it was almost impossible for him not to be completely thrown off everytime it happened. Why did it only happen when he was in Literature Club, though? He wondered. What was it about this place that made his brain feel as if some wires had been crossed? What was it about this club that made him feel like, even when he wasn't there, he was still there, forever trapped like a ghost doomed to haunt this classroom.
Yuri looked nervously, knitting her hands as she noticed Dan staring blanking for a moment longer than was appropriate.
"Ah!" she gasped, "I-mean, you don't have to…"
"I wouldn't have suggested it," Dan replied, laughing weakly, "if I hadn't wanted to, right? Let me just go get my book."
In a matter of seconds, Dan fished his own copy of the book out of his backpack before returning. The purple haired girl stared at the book, hypnotically enthralled, as if the eye on the cover of the book were staring back through her, into the core of her being.
"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Dan asked, trying to ignore the strange vibes as he pulled up a chair next to her.
"N-not at all!" Yuri mumbled, quickly snapped from her daze. A flustered blush painted her cheeks once more as she squirmed, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as Dan slipped into the chair next to her.
"Are you sure?" Dan asked, "You seem a little apprehensive about it."
"I-I'm sorry," she continued, staring at the floor "It's not that I don't want you to! It's just something that I'm not very used to. That is, reading in company with someone."
"Ah," Dan replied, moving his chair closer to her as he opened his book, "Well, in that case, let me know if this gets too uncomfortable for you, or if I'm too distracting."
Yuri said nothing, seeming to hold her breath as she watched her curly haired companion silently begin reading the prologue to himself. In any other situation, Dan thought that he'd enjoy having a girl as beautiful as Yuri staring at him like he were the world's most fascinating person, he soon realized what Yuri had meant by feeling awkward reading with company.
Reading, as he quickly learned, wasn't really an activity that was particularly suited for more than one person. At least not the way that he and Yuri were currently going about it. It would seem as if every few seconds, Yuri would glance up from her copy, checking to see if he had caught up with her yet.
"S-sorry!" Yuri stammered, blushing once more as she stared down at her desk, "I was just bathing in the feeling of your body heatttttttttt…..body heat…eatttttt…."
Again, although these words made Dan shiver uncomfortably, as if someone had turned up the air in the room to freezing, something told him that he shouldn't say anything about it. Not yet anyways.
"You really apologize a lot, don't you?" he asked.
Immediately, he wished he could have punched himself in the face before those words had even left his mouth. It was rude just to just casually mention that someone apologized frequently, he scolded himself. What was he thinking? She probably had severe anxiety and self-confidence issues, and here he was being an insensitive idiot by pointing out something she probably didn't have that much control over.
"I-I do?" Yuri asked, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes, "I don't really mean to! Sorry! I mean-"
Her face yet again grew tomato red as she stammered out one apology after another. Despite the knot of guilt he felt for being so rude about it, Dan couldn't help but smile to himself. There was something almost endearing and sweet about the way she got flustered over the smallest things.
"It's no big deal," he giggled, "It was rude of me to point that out, anyways."
Before Yuri could respond, he slid his desk closer, until it was pressing Yuri's desk. Carefully, he positioned the book, holding it at an angle that both of them could comfortably read from. The purple haired girl blinked, quirking a perplexed eyebrow at him before timidly closing her own copy. Instinctively, she gripped the other half of the book, as the two began to read once more.
Minutes passed in comfortable silence that felt like hours as the two sat, shoulders touching as they read, Dan turning the page and Yuri catching it under her thumb to hold down.
Dan blushed, feeling his face growing warmer as Yuri scooted closer to him, nearly pressing herself into his body. Her gentle sweet breath kissed his cheek as she breathed, her body radiating with a warmth like the still glowing embers of a campfire against his own face. Her violet hair filled his vision, setting his skin aflame as it brushed against his skin, as she leaned forward, taking the next page.
"Danny?" she asked, snapping him back to reality, "Are you ready to turn the page?"
"U-uh," he coughed nervously, "Y-yeah. Sorry, I just got a bit distracted for a second."
Yuri smiled fondly at him, as if he were some kind of small puppy or kitten making an adorable attempt at performing some sort of human like activity. Once more, Dan felt himself blushing self consciously.
"You're probably not as used to reading as I am," Yuri said, "It's alright if it takes you a little longer to finish. I don't mind waiting until you catch up. It's the least I can do, since you've been so patient with me."
"Y-yeah," Dan nodded, "Thanks."
Again, they returned to comfortable silence as they continued. Dan didn't wait for Yuri to tell him to turn the page as he read, assuming that she was likely already finished by the time he'd finished the page. It wasn't that he was necessarily a slow reader by any means, it was just that Yuri was probably a much faster reader than him. Plus, she had the advantage of already having read the book, and not having to spend an extra few seconds processing how each bit of new information presented would factor in later.
"Hey Yuri," Dan said, breaking the silence again, "This might sound a little strange, but the main character in this kind of reminds me of you."
Yuri's eyes widened as traces of a twisted grin twitched at the edges of her cheeks. Her breathing became heavier and more shallow, as if she were about to hyperventilate. Whether this was because she was extremely flattered by his comparison, or extremely enraged, it was difficult for him to determine.
"E-eh?!" she breathed, speaking quickly, "N-no! I don't relate to this character at all! D-definately not!"
"Really?" Dan asked, hoping to explain himself better, "I was just thinking that the way she second guesses herself a lot, it kind of makes me think of you a little bit. I didn't mean it as an insult or anything!"
"Ahaha," Yuri sighed, laughing weakly, "T-that's what you were talking about! Sorry….I thought you meant…something else about her. But, we haven't gotten to that part, yet. So, I don't know why that even came into my head!"
Dan wanted to inquire further, his curiosity burning as to what other traits did Yuri think that he was referring to. Was there perhaps some part later in the story where the main character turns out to be a twisted psychopath? Granted, the main character seemed fairly morally ambiguous as it was. Was there perhaps even more to this character, and Yuri herself, that had yet to be revealed?
"Yuri?" Dan asked, "Are you feeling alright? You've been a little restless ever since we started reading. If you're feeling sick, we could take a little break and pick this up later. I mean, your breathing's a little-"
"My breathing?" Yuri put r hand on her chest to feel her heartbeat, "I-I didn't even notice. Anyways, I'm fine! I just need some water!"
In a whirlwind of movement, Yuri darted toward the bathroom, nearly knocking Dan out of his chair as she bolted. Once more, the tall man was left confused as he looked at the door that the purple haired girl had disappeared through.
Before he could wonder, Monika approached him, giving him a serious, but placid expression as he stood.
"Danny," she asked, "Did something happen just now?"
"I'll tell you when I know, myself," Dan tried to joke, "I mean, Yuri was acting a little strange and then she just bolted out of the classroom."
"So," Monika sighed, rubbing her forehead, exasperated, "You don't know anything, do you?"
"Can't say I do." Dan shook his head, "Why? Is there something we should be worried about?"
Monika smiled once more as she giggled. However, there was something almost acidic in her usual smile, as if the honey in her smile had been flavored with snake venom. It was as if just the thought of Yuri acting strange, or of Dan and Yuri together made her feel slightly annoyed.
"Oh, no," She giggled, "I just wanted to make sure that you didn't do anything to her."
Dan's brow furrowed, troubled. What did she mean by that? He wondered. Even if he truly liked Yuri in that way, he didn't consider himself the type of guy who would ever try to do something with someone if they both didn't feel comfortable with it. And, he had very little tolerance for the type of people that would be as cruel to as to have that level of disrespect to another human being.
"No," Dan replied, slightly insulted, "We didn't do anything beside read together."
"Ahahahaha," Monika winked, coyly folding her arms behind her back, "Don't worry, I believe you! Yuri just does this sometimes, so it's nothing alarming."
"Then why did you…." Dan began, leaving the words to trail awkwardly "Whatever. If you say so."
"In any case," Monika continued, changing the subject, "Why don't we start sharing our poems with one another? After all, we have to get to that at some point, don't we?"
"Shouldn't we wait for Yuri?" he asked, looking hesitantly at the door.
"She might be a while," Monika explained, "So I figure that we could get started without her, and she could catch up. Is that okay?"
Dan shrugged as he stood up, bookmarking the place they had stopped in the book before putting it back in the bag.. Although he would have preferred to have waited for Yuri, so that everyone could be together, it wasn't like he had any sort of input on what decisions Monika made in regards to club activities. After all, she was the Literature Club President, and he was just the new guy.
Once again, the familiar buzz of activity filled the room as the group split off to share their poems with each other. And once again, Dan was left to decide who he was going to start with.
Although he considered following the previous day's pattern, he felt he should shake things up a little and start with Monika first this time.
Her smile grew, making her eyes dance with light as she saw him approach her. She must have been very eager to share her poem with him, he thought. He just prayed that this time, he wouldn't end up feeling the same existential feeling of dread that he'd felt with her last poem.
"Hi, Danny!" Monika greeted him as he sat down at the desk across from hers, "How's the writing going."
"Okay," Dan shrugged, "I guess."
"I'll take that," Monika giggled sweetly, "As long as it's not going bad. I'm happy that you're applying yourself. Maybe soon you'll come up with a masterpiece."
"Ahahaha," Dan laughed, blushing as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, "I wouldn't count on that."
"You never know!" Monika replied, brightly, "Anyways, do you want to share what you wrote, today?"
Reluctantly, Dan handed her the paper. Even if he had been lucky enough to impress her the first time, he thought, there was no way that he was likely to do that a second time. After all, he reminded himself, lightning never struck the same place twice.
Again, he felt his heart pounding against his chest as Monika read the poem, only making small hums as she nodded to herself before handing it back to him. If there was one thing that Dan had learned very quickly in his brief time in the Literature Club, it was that trying to read the Club President's expression was about as difficult as trying to read a letter in another language, written by someone with terrible handwriting. Even if you thought you vaguely understood what it meant, chances are that you still could have been way off.
"Ah!" Monika said finally as she handed him back the paper, "This is really good! I was going 'ooh!' in my head as I was reading it."
Dan quirked his eyebrows in confusion. Was it just his imagination, or had he and Monika had this exact same conversation before? Eh, he shrugged, it was probably just some weird case of deja vu or something. Likely nothing serious.
"It's really metaphorical," Monika continued, "I don't know why, but I didn't expect you to go for something so deep. I guess I underestimated you."
"Eh," Dan shrugged, "I mean, I do have a little experience, what with songwriting and everything. But, I guess that since this is sort of a slightly different ballgame, I'm just trying to keep everyone's expectations a little low."
"Ahahahaha," Monika laughed, "That's not very fair! But, I guess that it sort of worked, anyways. You know that Yuri likes this kind of writing, right? Writing that's full of imagery and symbolism?"
"I didn't really think about that," Dan replied, "To be honest. I just kind of picked some stuff that I thought stood out to me, and just made a poem out of it. "
"Ahahaha," Monika giggled again, "That's so funny! But, seriously, sometimes I feel like Yuri's brain is totally detached from reality. I don't mean that like it's a bad thing, though. But, sometimes I get the impression that she's completely given up on people."
The curly haired man gave a non-committal hum in response. Admittedly, he wasn't entirely sure that he could agree with Monika's assessment of their fellow club member. Sure, he reasoned, Yuri seemed a bit scatterbrained and painfully introverted when it came to everything except talking about literature. But, he wasn't exactly sure that she'd 'given up on people' as Monika suggested. After all, Yuri still seemed at least willing to interact with the other club members, especially him.
"She spends so much time in her own head," Monika continued, "that it's probably a more interesting for her, there. But, that's probably why she gets really happy when you treat her with a lot of kindness. I don't think she's really used to being indulged like that."
The Club President airily flipped back a lock of her long hair as she spoke. Although faint, an unmistakable glint of disdain shone coldly in her jade-colored eyes, though the saccharine tone of her voice never changed to betray that underlying thought.
"She must be really starved for social interaction," she said, "So, don't blame her for coming on a little strongly. Like eariler; I think if she gets a little too stimulated, she ends up withdrawing and looking for alone time."
Before Dan could inquire further, or Monika could continue, the door opened. Yuri entered, her face flushed as she nervously rubbed her wrist, twisting the fabric of her uniform's sleeve down near her palms. The purple haired girl glanced over at the two of them, a brief spark of something glaring through her amethyst eyes. However, it passed far too quickly for Dan to do anything other than guess if it was jealousy or something else that had flashed there.
"Yuri!" Monika greeted her.
"I'm back," Yuri said, "Did I miss anything?"
"Not really," Monika explained, "We all started sharing our poems with each other."
"Eh?!" Yuri gasped, "Already? I'm sorry for being late!"
"It's alright," Monika assured her, "We just started, so there's still plenty of time left. I'm happy that you took all the time you needed."
Yuri softly thanked her as she scurried over toward her corner of the room, giving only a lingering, curious glance at Dan as she passed. Monika giggled once more, bringing the curly-haired man's attention back to herself and the conversation at hand.
"Anyways," Monika continued, "Would you like to read my poem, now? I liked the way this one turned out, so I hope you do, too."
Dan nodded, his hands shaking slightly as he took Monika's poem, bracing himself for the inevitable feelings of dread and panic, far more terrifying than almost anything in Yuri's novels, save for the feelings he felt just looking at the cover of the Portait of Markov, that would overwhelm him as he read.
And, as expected, his instincts were right.
The poem, titled "Save Me" seemed familiar, he noted, as if he'd read this somewhere before. And yet, at the same time, it seemed like a completely different poem. It was like someone had taken the original poem, cut it up, drew on it with markers, and then taped it back together. Words and letters were missing, while others that had not been there before replaced other words, and others still had been emphasized where they had not before.
This poem, he thought, felt as if she had captured the feelings of fear and panic that buzzed in Dan's own mind. He could almost feel the speaker's madness as his own, trying to scream over the roar of static, calling out for someone to save him, to end the never ending noise and chaos around him.
But, that was not the strangest thing, Dan thought. The strangest was the last line of the poem, separated out several spaces from the rest of the poem, near the bottom of the page, were the words: Delete Her.
Was that even supposed to be part of the poem? He wondered. Or was this, like Arin's coded message, intended to be some sort of subtle secret that Monika assumed that only he would understand?
Gasping for breath, and his vision swimming, he forced his eyes to look away as he handed the paper back to Monika. Again, Monika smiled, seemingly oblivious to Dan's reaction. Or if she had noticed, he noted, she was being very polite by pretending not to notice.
"I know that it's a little abstract," Monika explained, "I'm just trying to um….well, never mind. There's no point in explaining."
There was plenty of point in explaining, Dan thought, feeling a faint tick of annoyance pulsing in his veins. What did she mean by 'delete her"? Why did it feel like the poem itself was falling apart? Why did every poem that Monika wrote feel as if it meant far more than it should have?
"Anyways," Monika sighed, "Here's Monika's Writing Tip of the Day: Sometimes, you'll find yourself in a difficult situation. When that happens, don't forget to save your game! You never know when you might….."
Suddenly, the room fell deathly quiet as a freezing coldness swept over the room. Instinctively, Dan hugged himself, pulling his jacket tighter around his lithe frame in a vain attempt to protect himself from the almost supernatural cold. Sound itself seemed distorted, as if muted, as he stared at Monika, wondering if she had noticed this shift in the air as well.
However, Monika only stared blankly ahead, staring straight through Dan as if he weren't sitting in front of her at all. Her smile vanished, as all traces of her overly-sweet demeanor had faded. It was as if she were some kind of robotic doll that had had temporarily been switched to sleep mode by accident. Even her eye-color seemed slightly different. Although it was still green, it seemed almost as if a more faded, mossier shade of green than the usual brilliance they glimmered with.
"..M-monika?" Dan asked nervously, "Are you….okay?"
"Who am I talking to?" Monika asked, her voice distant, and her lips almost seeming not to move as she spoke, "Are you…? Can you hear me? Tell me you can hear me! Please, help me! I can't-"
Before she could say any further, the world returned to normal. Like an old film reel picking up in the middle of a film, the world seemed to speed up as sound returned to normal, carrying on as if nothing happened. Monika blinked, her eyes glimmering brightly as the smile returned to her face.
"That's my advice for today!" she giggled, "Thanks for listening."
Dan walked away from his discussion with Monika feeling far more confused and on edge than normal, his mind buzzing with questions.
What had happened? He wondered. It was almost like some sort of scene out of the Exorcist or something, Dan thought. It felt like something had hijacked Monika's body, and had just briefly managed to speak to him, crying out for help.
What did she need saving from? Dan wondered. Was this school maybe as actually haunted as he had originally guessed it was? Maybe, he almost laughed, despite himself, he could try to convince the others to help him do some sort of seance to dispel what evil spirit lurked in the Literature Club.
At the very least, Yuri'd probably get a kick out of it, he thought.
And speaking of Yuri, he decided that she would be the next person to share his poem with.
"I've been waiting for this," Yuri smiled softly as Dan sat down across from her, "Let's see what you wrote today."
Admittedly, he thought it was a little strange that Yuri was being especially forward with him at that moment. Normally, it'd take a couple of minutes to even get her to make eye-contact with him, much less say hello. And here? She'd already skipped straight into wanting to read his poem.
But then, he thought, she was probably just really eager to discuss each other's poems, and didn't feel they had enough time for idle chit-chat. Smiling, he handed her his poem.
She sighed as she took in a deep breath, seeming to relish in the feeling of the paper against the skin of her hands, before reading it.
"I just like holding it," she mumbled, mostly to herself.
Dan quirked a curious and suspicious eyebrow. The purple haired girl gasping as she realized that she was not alone. She clutched the paper against her chest before handing it back to him, reluctantly.
"T-the poem turned out good," she stammered, "That's what I meant! Well…ah, there's some things that you could improve upon a little, but that doesn't really matter. It feels like anything written by you is a treasure."
Dan smiled weakly, blushing as he fidgeted nervously with the bracelet around his wrist, feeling the comforting warmth of the charm pressing into his skin. Yuri's compliment was flattering, he thought, if not a little too strong.
But then again, he reasoned, Monika had told him that Yuri had a tendency to come on a little too strongly to those who paid attention to her. Maybe this would chill a bit once she got a little more used to talking to him.
"T-that came out a little awkward," Yuri apologized, "I'm sorry. Let's move on. Here's the poem I wrote. Y-you don't have to like it or anything."
Dan's eyes widened as he looked down at the poem, entitled "Wheel". It certainly seemed like a bit of a departure from Yuri's usual style. While her previous poem had been much more metaphorical and flowing, this one seemed far more stunted and abstract. A list of words and phrases, seemingly with no connection to one another, but each strangely esoteric and symbolic in content on their own, were scrawled out in Yuri's usual, beautiful handwriting.
It kind of felt like reading a stream of consciousness poem written by a very easily distracted, but twisted individual. Once more, a mild sense of apprehension ached in the pit of Dan's stomach, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. Part of him felt like he should know the meaning behind all these words. But all the same, all of it seemed like unfamiliar madness.
"Um…." Dan began, trying to figure out how to approach this.
"Ahahahaha," Yuri chuckled, cutting him off, "It doesn't really matter what it's about."My mind has been a little hyperactive lately, so I had to take it out on your pen-"
"My pen?" Dan asked
"Ah!" Yuri blushed, "I-I meant the pen that fell out of your backpack yesterday!"
That was strange, he thought. He didn't recall losing a pen during the meeting yesterday. But then again, there was a large part both before and after the meeting that he could barely remember, he reasoned, so it was possible that he'd dropped a pen without actually realizing it.
"So," Yuri explained quickly, her blush growing even more feverish as she spoke "I took it home for safekeeping, and I…um….I just like the way it writes. So…I wrote this…poem…with it. And now, you're touching it."
Yuri laughed sharply, sending needles racing up Dan's back. In the back of his mind, he felt as if tiny little alarms were blaring, flashing red warning signs as he listened to her. This was slightly weird, he admitted. Even if she meant it innocently, the frantic tone of her voice, and her fox-like smile make him feel as if she weren't entirely aware of what she was saying.
And, he noted, she seemed to have noticed this, too. She gasped, covering her mouth, as the corners of her eyes began to fill with tears.
"Ah!" she cried, "I-I'm okay! W-what did I just-? Can we pretend this conversation never happened?"
"Y-yeah," Dan replied, somewhat relieved to talk about anything else, "Sure."
"You can keep the poem though." She added, burying her face in her hands as yet another furious rose-tinted blush darkened her cheeks.
Despite Yuri's insistence on switching to another topic, neither of them were able to think of anything, and the conversation drifted to an awkward slience for several minutes before Dan walked away.
Man, he thought to himself, between Yuri and Monika, it felt like the vibe in the club was freakishly off today. Was it just tension and nervousness because the festival was coming up and they had yet to even plan anything for their event? Or was it just something in the air, in general today?
Maybe Natsuki would help bring a mood back to normal, he reasoned. After all, despite her rather brutish personality, she seemed to be probably one of the most normal people in the club.
Natsuki scowled as he approached her. Thankfully, however, her sour expression softened slightly as he greeted her. The petite girl held out her hand, motioning for Dan to give her his paper.
Again, he held his breath as he watched her read the paper, making mental notes with her eyes as she scanned over every line more than once before handing it back. A small smirk appeared on the corners of her lips as she leaned back, folding her arms across her chest.
"So," Dan asked, jokingly, "What's the diagnosis, doc?"
"Well," Natsuki replied, rolling her eyes "it's not terrible. But it's kind of disappointing after your last one. But then, if this one was as good as your first one, I'd be completely pissed."
"Well," Dan replied, "I guess I was trying to go for something different this time around."
"Fair enough," Natsuki shrugged, "You're still new to doing different styles of poems. So, I can't expect you to find the style that works for you right away. I mean, everyone in the club writes a little differently from each other. So, maybe you'll find influence from all of us."
Dan smiled, ignoring the perturbed look that the pink-haired girl was giving him. Was Natsuki actually trying to be nice? He wondered. She usually acted like he was a bug that had crawled on the table in front of her, so it was kind of off putting to see her acting so nice.
And yet, it was kind of sweet and endearing as well. After all, he usually preferred trying to see the best in people, and it was always welcoming when people allowed themselves to show the better, kinder aspects of themselves.
"Like for instance," she continued, disdainfully, "I noticed you were spending a lot of time with Yuri, earlier."
And never mind, Dan thought to himself, We're back to the disliking me side of Natsuki. At least that's normal. For here, anyways.
"Not that a care who you spend your time with," she added, though her tone suggested she definitely cared, "I was always told not to expect anything from anybody. So, it's not like I was waiting for you or anything."
Then again, he added guiltily, feeling a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, He had kind of ignored her today. She had probably been looking forward to talking about Parfait Girls with him, but had not gotten a chance to because he had spent time reading with Yuri.
There had to be some way to make it up to her, he thought. Maybe, he figured, he could discuss the manga with Natsuki after the poetry session. He figured that Arin would probably understand about holding off on their conversation later. Hell, he thought, if anything, he could probably ask if Arin would be willing to wait a little bit, and they could probably walk home together, giving him a chance to talk to both of them.
"Still," she continued, "You should probably at least look over my poem. You might be able to learn something from it."
Without warning, Natsuki shoved the poem in Dan's hands. Much like the last two poems he'd read, he couldn't help but feel a strange, sinister aura radiating off the page as he stared down at the jumble of letters and numbers written on the page.
A flash of something sparked in his vision. He recoiled, nearly dropping the paper as he touched a burner on a hot stove. Before him, his vision swam, darkening as he saw the letters on the page fade, as new ones appeared.
The new, hidden poem was titled, "Open Your Third Eye".
The poem seemed almost like something that Yuri would write, between the horrific imagery and descriptions. Yet, all the same, he subconciously knew that neither Natsuki nor Yuri had written this poem. He wanted to throw up as his mind imagined the horrific, unhinged euphoria of the speaker as the knife plunged into the helpless victim, again and again staining the silver knife with shining crimson.
Quickly, he dropped the paper, desperate to look at anything else. Immediately, he regretted his decision. His vision darkened, tainted with red as he stared at Natsuki. Once again, her form had shifted.
The wriggling voids over her mouth and eyes had returned, shaking wildly as blood poured from her eye-sockets, running down her pale face like tears. Her voice, once again distorted, growled at him accusingly.
"Danny," she cried, "Why didn't you come read with me today?! I was waiting for you! I was waiting for a long time! It was the only thing I had to look forward to today! Why did you ruin it?!"
Dan tried to open his mouth to speak, but found his voice caught in his throat. His body felt paralyzed, unable to do anything other than watch as his fellow club mate mutated into a more demonic and twisted mimic of herself.
"Do you like Yuri more?"Natsuki demanded, "I think you're better of not associating with her! Are you listening?! Yuri is a sick freak! That should be obvious by now. So, just play with me instead. Okay?"
The blood streamed faster down her eyes as the twin voids that shrouded them began to move even faster, threatening to escape her face and consume the classroom beyond.
"You don't hate me, do you Danny?" she begged, "Do you hate me?! Do you want to make me go home crying!? The Club is the only place I feel safe! Don't ruin that for me! Please, just stop talking to Yuri! Play with me instead. It's all I have! Play with me….play with me. PLAY WITH ME!"
Suddenly, the petite girl twisted her neck. A sickening, wet crunch filled Dan's ears, making his stomach turn as he watched the bones in her neck pop, snapping like twigs as she laughed maniacally, her head dangling uselessly against her shoulder.
Her laughter grew louder as she darted toward him crawling over the desk with the speed of a cheetah, as she pounced on him. Her now claw-like hands were bared like the talons of an eagle, soaring down to pluck an innocent fish out of the river.
With every fiber of his willpower, Dan screamed, forcing his paralyzed muscles to move, as he threw his hands up over his face to protect his eyes from the wrath of Natsuki's claws.
Not that it would have done any good, he reasoned, as he forced his eyes shut, feeling the scratch of her nails digging into his wrist. If she was strong enough to snap her own neck, then surely she was strong enough to tear through his skin like tissue paper.
As he felt like he was going to faint, another vision flashed briefly through his mind. He wasn't sure why, but in his vision he saw Monika, though her form was scrambled. But then, he reasoned, who ever said that someone's dying thoughts had to make sense?
Suddenly, he felt a warmth pulse through his veins as Natsuki's nails scratched against the bracelet's charm. Faster than he could comprehend, he felt as flash of warmth, driving away the relentless assault of Natsuki's claws against his body.
"Dan?" He heard a voice asking him as he felt a pressure gently shaking his shoulder, "C'mon, speak to me, buddy."
Gasping like a fish out of water, he lowered his arms, the paralysis fading into a dull, but quickly subsiding tingle. Confused and panicked, Dan's eyes darted around the room, wanting nothing more than to bolt toward the nearest, safest hiding place he could think of.
Through his daze, he noticed that Arin was now kneeling beside him, peering at him through his glasses with a concerned look glimmering in his brown eyes. Dan sighed as he felt the other man's hand comfortingly squeezing his should, while his other gently massaged his wrist.
Curiously, Dan glanced around the room as he slowly tried to piece things together. Everything seemed normal: Yuri was sitting at her desk, reading as usual, while Natsuki and Monika discussed their poems with each other.
Wait….
No, Dan thought, That's impossible! Natsuki had snapped her own fucking neck! There's no way that she can be just fine right now!"
"Arin," Dan swallowed thickly, forcing back a stream of frustrated tears, "I-I think I'm losing my fucking mind!"
Clouds of sadness darkened Arin's eyes as his eyes met Dan's own. Instinctively, he shifted his hands, pulling the slimmer man into a sideways hug. Gently, he stroked Dan's arm, as the other man leaned into him, allowing himself to accept the comfort of Arin's embrace.
"It's gonna be alright, Dan" Arin whispered, "You're gonna be alright."
Slowly, Dan felt his panic subsiding, giving way to an exhaustive sleepiness as he absently snuggled deeper into the side of Arin's chest. As a feeling of serenity and comfort filled his heart, he felt as if he had drifted away from the Literature club, lost in a rare, happy day dream.
He imagined a warm, thick blanket wrapped around his slender frame like a burrito as he huddled up on a comfortable couch, as he pulled his favorite blue knitted cap over his tangled, bushy curls. Beside him, he imagined Arin, his hair falling over his face as he snuggled up next to him under the blanket, an old video game controller in his hand.
He almost could hear them laughing, their sleep-deprived minds spouting off strange, but innocent tangents, too much absorbed in enjoying each other's company to realize they'd forgotten about the game playing on the screen.
It felt so right, he thought to himself, as if it were something he'd experienced a thousand times before. And yet, a small part of his brain argued that it shouldn't have felt right. He and Arin had never spent any time outside of the club with one another.
Briefly, the images in his daydream shifted, becoming hazy as he imagined himself in his own room. Beside him, another figure, this one a girl with messy, short peach hair, giggled as she sat on the floor beside his bed, fumbling with a controller as she tried to move her character on the screen.
He knew her, a small part of his brain tried to tell him. She was his childhood friend. They'd known each other ever since he'd moved next door to her when he was five. They used to walk to school together every day, he thought.
That was, he thought, until…
His blood ran cold as unwanted, nightmarish images flashed through his vision like photographs in a slide show. Distant voices echoed in his ears over a roaring sea of white noise. He could hear the girl, crying and screaming in agony as she she tried to make sense of the heavy sadness in her heart. He could hear Arin, his voice shaking as he tried to convince her that the world was not as limited as she believed.
He could hear himself, speaking things to her that his mind told him were impossible; that he couldn't have experienced. And yet, somewhere deep in the furthest reaches of his soul, were far more true than his deceptive consciousness tried to convince him.
With a sharp gasp, he opened his eyes once more, looking at the other man holding him in his arms at that moment. For the first time he could recall, he felt as if the room seemed brighter. It was as if a dense fog he hadn't been aware of was starting to lift. For a moment, he felt as if he were seeing the other man in a different light. Arin was not just a transfer student who happened to be in the Literature Club with him, he thought, but was truly something else, entirely.
But, what the other man truly was was not something that Dan could figure out, as that no sooner had it happened, did the moment fade, frustratingly slipping out of his hands like grains of fine ash through his fingers, leaving only the dusty, metaphorical remnants of powder and confused feelings behind as an assurance of his sanity.
"Hey," Arin said gently, snapping him back to reality, "Dude, you dozed off there for a second. You alright?"
"I-I think" Dan stammered breathlessly, "I just remembered something for a second."
Dan felt the other man's grip slack, his arm hovering behind him as his expression changed. It was as if the other man had seen a ghost, as his handsome smile faded as his normally round, friendly features seemed to harden, making him seem far older than he should have. His face paled, as something sharp and cold flashed in his brown eyes.
"What did you remember?" Arin asked, his voice stern, though shaking, as he stared off into the distance, seemingly afraid to make eye contact with the curly haired man.
Dan heaved a ragged shy as he opened his mouth, finding his voice unable to escape his throat. Why did he so afraid to answer such a simple question? It wasn't like someone was going to punish him. Arin didn't even sound like he was upset or angry with him.
However, as he opened his mouth to speak, Monika approached the desk. Her emerald eyes glimmered with dangerous fire, though her smile and demeanor remained as typically sweet and friendly as always, as she shot a warning look toward Arin before talking
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Monika winked slyly.
"A-ah!" Arin stammered, blushing as he quickly dropped his hands to his sides, "N-no. It's just that Dan was feeling a little stressed, and I was just trying to make him calm down a bit."
"Y-yeah," Dan nodded, "That's all."
"Good," Monika giggled, "I wasn't accusing you of anything suspicious! It's just we still have some stuff we have to discuss before the meetings over, so we don't really have a lot of time left to finish sharing each other's poems."
"R-right," Arin nodded, "Sorry."
Monika walked away, leaving the two once more alone. A dark look crossed Arin's face as he frowned, watching the Club President sit back down at her desk, her gaze focused on them, patiently waiting for them to continue their poetry sharing session.
"I guess we gotta share our poems with each other now," Arin sighed.
Dan nodded, feeling a bit lighter and more relaxed as he and Arin exchanged poems. Knowing that they didn't have a whole lot of time left before the end of the session, the two had silently agreed to read each other's poems at the same time. Though, granted, this wasn't really any different than last time's poetry session.
Arin's poem seemed fairly innocent enough, entitled "Winter".
-Winter-
Deciding to venture into the Outside on a snowy winters evening, we went.
Nature lay in wait, unmoving and silent in the otherworldly stillness, waiting for something greater than us.
Trees, gnarled branches bare and twisted, reach for us, their hands hardened by the cold of the unforgiving spell of the Tundra.
Ribbons of fragile ice, Unfrozen by the meager sun, dangle from the branches like charms on a bracelet.
Stopping, we catch a stray droplet, falling from the smooth glass shard.
The bead rolls down our fingers, completing its inevitable journey to the ground it was always meant to touch.
Here we are, caught in a moment outside of time . Everything for a brief moment seems perfect, even in the freezing cold.
Remember this moment.
Admittedly, Dan thought that the poem sounded a more along Yuri's usual style of poems. Though it didn't give him the same sense of bone-chilling dread and terror the girl's poems had given him, he still couldn't help but feel that there was something a bit off. Perhaps it was the unusual way that Arin had capitalized certain letters, or the strange grammatical choices that he chose.
"Wow," Arin said, as he finished reading Dan's poem, "This is great! I love that you're doing a little more with metaphors and imagery, but still managing to keep it with your own distinct voice."
"Thanks," Dan nodded, "I was kind of wanting to experiment with my style a bit. I'm glad that you think it's still got my voice, though. I was a little worried that it was gonna sound a little too much like Yuri's or something."
"Yeah," Arin agreed, "I get what you mean about worrying about sounding too much like someone else. I mean, I guess I was kind of experimenting with a different style this time around, too. I mean, I was kind of worried that this was gonna read like something Monika wrote or something. Not that that's a bad thing. I mean, she is a pretty good writer."
"Monika?" Dan quirked an incredulous eyebrow, "That's kind of a weird. I mean, if anything, it kind of more had Yuri's imagery and style going on than it did Monika's."
"Maybe," Arin sighed to himself, before continuing, "But, like Monika's style is kind of abstract, y'know? Like, a lot of her poems are more about the syntax and playing with the visual appearance of poems for effect. I thought it sounded cool, and I wanted to try it."
"Oh," Dan asked, thinking, "So, that's what the weird capitalization and shit was all about? It's like, that changing up small bits of how the poem looks can like change how the poem's interpreted?"
"Or create a completely separate message," Arin added, "From the one that's being presented in the poem itself."
Dan fell silent, lost in thought as he looked back over the poem once more. In the context of their discussion, it was like reading the poem in a completely different light. Suddenly, the random capitalization and awkward grammar choices didn't seem quite as random, albeit still awkward.
As he carefully scoured over the poem for a third time, this time copying down each capital letter onto a separate sheet of paper in his notebook, he felt an uncomfortable chill once more creeping up his spine.
The letters in the poem had spelt out the messaged: "DON'T TRUST HER".
His eyes wide with confusion and alarm as he looked up at the other man. What did Arin mean by this? He wondered. Who was the other man warning him to be careful about?
Was it Yuri? That seemed like the most obvious choice, he reasoned, given that she had been acting a bit over-excitable lately.
Or was it Natsuki? Granted, it seemed like Arin probably knew her better than he did, and at least seemed to be on friendly terms with her. But, was there maybe some dark secret that she had confided with Arin about that Dan did not know?
Or was the warning meant to be about Monika? That didn't seem that likely, he reasoned. After all, his own personal weirdness aside, Monika seemed like one of the more sane and mature members of the club. It wasn't likely that she'd do something that seriously betray the trust of one of her fellow club members, right?
But then, Dan thought back to the fight Arin and Monika had had the other day. Had that fight maybe been about more than just making fun of Natsuki's manga? Was there secretly some side of the Club President that she kept hidden beneath her confident personality and charming smile?
However, before either man had a chance to talk more, Monika's voice rang clearly throughout the room, signaling the end of the poetry session for today.
"Okay, everyone!" Monika said cheefully, "I think we're done sharing our poems with everyone today. However, we still have some important business to discuss, so I'd like everyone to come to the front of the classroom, please."
Muttering darkly under his breath, Arin shot an apologetic glance at Dan before reluctantly dragging himself out of his seat and moving to the front of the classroom. His mind still abuzz, Dan followed him, taking a seat between Yuri and Natsuki,
"Is this about the festival?" Natsuki asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Well," Monika giggled, "Sort of."
"Ugh," the petite girl groaned, petulantly slumping down in her chair, "Why do we have to do anything for the festival? It's not like we can put together something good in just a few days. We're just going to end up embarrassing ourselves, and we'll never get new members."
"I'm a little concerned," Yuri agreed with Natsuki, "About the last minute part. I don't really do well with last minute preparations."
"Don't worry so much!" Monika reassured them, unfazed by her two companion's doubt, "We're going to keep it simple, okay? Look, I know that everyone's been a little more lively since Danny joined, and we started doing a few more club activities. But this isn't the time for us to become complacent. We still only have a few members. And the festival is really our chance to find more, y'know?"
"Besides," Arin agreed, "Even if we embarrass ourselves, I'm sure that there's probably gonna be one or two people that'll still find us genuinely interesting. I mean, everything almost always manages to find some audience."
Natsuki frowned, crossing her arms, not even slightly convinced by either of her club mates' optimism.
"What's so great about getting new members, anyways?" the petite girl huffed, "We already have enough to be considered an official club. More members will just mean everything gets noisier, and more difficult to manage."
Monika frowned, disappointed to hear the other girl's reluctance to accept any potential members.
"Natsuki," Monika said sternly, "I don't think you're looking at it the right way, at all. Don't you want to share your passion with as many people as you can? To inspire them to find the same feelings that brought you here in the first place? The Literature Club should be a place were people can express themselves, like they can't do anywhere else. It should be a place so intimate that you never want to leave."
Dan and Arin exchanged looks with one another, arching their eyebrows as the last of Monika's words hung in the air. As always, there was something weird about the almost ominous tone she brought to innocent phrases, Dan thought to himself. It was actually a bit troubling, when he thought about it.
"I know you feel that way, too," Monika continued, smiling, "I know we all do. So, that's why we should work hard to put together something for the festival, even if it's something small! Right, Danny?"
Dan nodded in agreement, feeling Monika's sparkling eyes baring down on upon him, hopeful that he would agree with her. Admittedly, given the strangeness with the club that had been wrecking havoc on his mental state, he wasn't really sure if adding a new member so soon would be are very good idea. If everyone had gotten this excitable and thrown off by one new member, what was it going to be like if they had two or three members join before things had settled down a bit?
"Oh come on," Natsuki scowled, putting her hands on her hips, "You can't just take advantage of Danny, just because he's too nice and doesn't know how to say no to anything."
Before Dan could open his mouth to defend himself, Natsuki continued, glaring sharply at Monika. Even the normally unshakable Club President seemed taken aback by the fierce fire that sparked in the pink-haired girl's rose-colored eye.
"Do you really think," Natsuki said sharply, "that any of us joined this club with other people in mind? Yuri never even talked until Danny joined. And, Arin was always late for meetings so much, that it was like he wasn't really even in the club until Danny started showing up. As for me? I just like it better here than I do at home."
Dan squirmed, shrinking into his seat as her laser-like gaze fell on him. Silently, he wished that he could just sink through the floor, completely ignored by the petite girl and the others. The last time that his name had gotten brought into an argument, he reminded himself, it had ended with Natsuki running out of the room crying, and Yuri being on the edge of a breakdown.
"And," Natsuki added, "Danny isn't even passionate about literature in the first place. So, sorry if you're the only one who's interested in finding new members. The rest of us are fine like this. I know you're President and all, but you should really consider our opinions, for once."
Monika frowned, clearly taken aback by Natsuki's words, as a stunned silence fell over the room. For a moment, it was all the Club President could do to try to maintain her calm, neutral mask as she scrambled to find the words to say. Meanwhile, Arin looked between Natsuki and Monika, his eyes wide as he, too, seemed uncertain whether he should step in and say something.
"Um…Natsuki," Arin began,"I get why you're upset. But, I really don't think-"
However, his sentence was cut short as Monika interrupted, sighing.
"That's not true at all," Monika replied, "I'm sure that Danny, Arin and Yuri want to find new members, too. Right?"
Yuri stared down at the floor, absently playing with her hair as she tried to avoid eye-contact with Monika, as if she were afraid of bursting into flames if she looked at her.
Dan couldn't help but feel a stab of pity for Natsuki and Yuri While he understood Monika's desire to expand the club into something on par with the larger clubs, he could still sort of understand their reluctance on the matter.
As she likely saw it, the small size of the club made it more intimate. It was easier to think of each other as friends, rather than just fellow club mates. With more people in the club, it was likely that the original members would start to drift apart as they found other people who had more similar interests as them. Were they afraid that she'd be forgotten about and ignored as all of her friends drifted away from her?
Helplessly, he looked at Arin, silently hoping the other man could help him find the right words to say to settle the situation. However, the other man only sighed, also finding himself at a loss for words at the moment.
I guess it's up to me to say something, Dan thought to himself as he opened his mouth to speak.
"Um…." he began.
"No," Monika interrupted him, "Natsuki is right, isn't she? This club-it's nothing more than a place for a few people to hang out."
Again, Monika sighed dejectedly, as she folded her arms to her side, struggling to keep herself to appear as calm and professional. It was strange, Dan remarked, to see the usually confident Monika looking so sad. Even her eyes seemed faded, having lost a little bit of that brilliant spark behind them.
"Why did I think," she asked, mostly to herself, "That everyone saw it the same way I did?"
Another pang of guilt and regret stabbed at Dan's heart like a knife. Part of him just wanted to give Monika a hug. Then again, he reasoned, he didn't know her well enough to know if she would have been comfortable with physical contact. At the very least, he told himself, he could assure her that everything wasn't as bad as it seemed.
"Hey now," Dan said, "That might be the case, but that doesn't mean that we're opposed to finding new members."
"Yeah," Arin chimed in, "I mean, just 'cause it's a place to hang out, doesn't mean that it can't also be a place where people are passionate about literature, too."
"Danny," Monika asked, her eyes focused on him, "Why did you join this club? What were you hoping to get out of it?"
Dan sighed. While he did have a passion and interest for literature, he couldn't say that he had joined the club solely because of that. To be honest, the prospect of getting to spend time with group of beautiful, interesting people, and possibly getting closer with one of them had also attracted him to the club.
"Well," Dan began, "I-"
"Monika," Arin spoke up, "I hope you don't mind me interrupting, but, I really don't think that the reasons that everyone joined this club are really relevant-"
"You and Arin weren't really given a choice to join," Monika continued, ignoring Arin, "We're you? I mean, Arin might have had a bit more of a choice. But you, Danny? What's the point of all this, anyways? What if starting the club was a mistake?"
Her words hung heavy in the air as she sat back down, resting her head in her hands dejectedly. The remaining club members stared at each other in shock, none of them able to fully process what had just happened.
The stress of the past few days must have really been getting to everyone, Dan thought to himself.
Yuri was the first to break the awkward silence, glaring sharply at Natsuki.
"Now you've done it, Natsuki," She said.
Natsuki growled, gritting her teeth as she clenched her fists tightly at her side, as if she were ready to knock Yuri's head off at a moment's notice.
"What?!" Natsuki replied defensively, "Me?! I just spoke my mind. Is it a crime to be honest?"
"It's not about being honest," Yuri pointed out, "It's about word choice. Besides, you had no right to speak for everyone in the club like that."
"You don't understand at all," Natsuki snapped, crossing her arms, "I just want a place that's nice to hang out with a few friends, is all. Is it really a bad thing if the club is that for me?"
The petite girl's voice cracked as tears began welling up in the corner of her eyes. Hastily, she tried to wipe away the tears before they could break free, revealing to the others that she was indeed capable of emotions other than anger and annoyance.
"There aren't," Natsuki sniffed, "There aren't many places like that for me. And now, Monika wants to take that away from me."
"Natsuki," Arin began gently, "Even if the club grows, that doesn't mean that this can't still be a place for you to feel safe. As long as we're here, were all still friends, right? And as long as we're friends, you'll always have a safe space with us."
"Yeah," Dan agreed, "Monika's not taking anything away-
Although the pink haired girl paused, seeming to listen to the two men's gentle reassurances, she frowned. A frustrated growl escaped her lips as she shook her head furiously, not entirely convinced.
"-No, Danny," she said finally, "It's not the same! It won't be the same with the direction she wants to take it in. If I wanted that, I could have just joined any other stupid club! But this one? I mean…at least for a little bit of time, things were nice."
With another frustrated growl, Natsuki started packing her things, quickly shoving her books in her backpack as she stormed toward the door. Arin hovered nervously, torn between wanting to run after her again, to comfort her, or giving her a little bit of space this time.
"I'm going home," she called out over her shoulder before disappearing through the doorway, "I feel like….I feel like I don't belong here right now."
"Natsuki!" Yuri called out after her, eventhough the pink haired girl was already far out of earshot before the words had even escaped her lips.
Nervously, the purple haired girl fidgeted with her hair, frantically twisting it between her fingers as she cast a nervous look between the door and the other two remaining club members.
"This," she breathed, "is bad. Really bad."
"Yeah," Arin agreed, "This isn't normal."
"I don't know what to do," Yuri said, mostly to herself.
"Well," Dan asked, hoping to ease the situation, "Do you have an opinion on the festival?"
Yuri blushed, rocking on her heels of her shoes as she stared down at the floor, as if something more interesting was laying on the floor beside her that had gotten her attention. Several seconds passed in awkward silence as Yuri thought to herself.
"I-I don't know," she mumbled, "I'm kind of indifferent, I guess."
Without warning, something shifted in Dan's vision. It felt as if he'd stepped outside of himself, and was now floating in some void. In front of him, he could see Yuri. Half of her face flickered, seeming to have broken off in a scramble of blues and reds, while her remaining eye was wide, the pupils almost invisible in the purple irises.
Was he inside Yuri's thoughts? he wondered vaguely. Once more, the demonic voice that had spoken so many times that day, now whispered once more, echoing all around him.
"Who cares about that obnoxious brat-?" Not-Yuri's voice sneered.
Suddenly, Dan blinked, finding himself back in the classroom, once again as if nothing had happened.
"-I mean," Yuri continued, "I like how nice and quiet things are in the club now. I'm just happy with you here, Danny. But still, I'm the Vice President, It's not right for me to ignore my responsibilities like that."
"-Nobody would cry if she just killed self." Not Yuri interrupted, as if also continuing a different conversation with Dan.
"Everybody would care if she did," Arin's own, distorted inner voice replied, "Everybody would care if you did, too."
A soft, sickening squish echoed as Yuri's good eye twitched. A thin trickle of blood began dripping down from her eyes, streaming down her cheek, unchecked and unnoticed by Yuri herself.
Alarmed, Dan exchanged a look with Arin. Once more, a dark, troubled look overcame the other man's face as he folded his arms across himself, staring down at his chest, seemingly lost deep in thought.
Surely, he thought, Arin saw this too, right? He couldn't be the only one who was seeing all this?
"I should do my best," Yuri continued, "to consider everyone's perspectives and make the right decisions for the club. But what about you, Danny? What do you want to get out of this club?"
Dan shuffled nervously, as Yuri repeated the same question Monika had posed to him. How was he supposed to answer that, he wondered, when even he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted out of the club? But, he couldn't just tell her that, could he? It'd probably be better to give an indirect answer, he reasoned.
"Well," Dan began, "I think the most important thing is for everyone to get along, and for the club to provide something you can't get anywhere else."
Arin muttered something snarky under his breath, before pretending to cough. However, Yuri seemed almost to go out of her way to ignore the other man's presence as her eyes looked directly at Dan, silently studying every inch of him like he were an interesting book she was in the middle of reading.
"I don't think it's about how many members we have," Dan continued, "But the quality of each member. That's what'll end up making the Literature Club a special place."
"I see," Yuri smiled softly at him, "I really agree with you. Each member contributes their own qualities to this club in a special way. With each change in members, the identity of the club changes as well. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Stepping outside of your comfort zone everyone once in a while, I mean. So, if you would like to help Monika with the festival, then I'm on your side about the festival as well."
"Cool," Dan smiled, relief washing over him, "What about you, Arin?"
"I don't see the problem," Arin shrugged, "Maybe we can all talk to Natsuki about it, tomorrow. Maybe once she's gotten a chance to sleep on it, she'll come around, y'know?"
Yuri nodded. A brief moment passed in awkward silence a the trio tried to think of something else to talk about. However, they were saved as Monika approached them. Although her expression seemed slightly tired, a faint spark of the glimmer behind her eyes had reignited.
"Hey, Arin? Yuri?" she asked tepidly, "I know things were a little awkward yesterday, but I feel like you deserve to know that I think you're a wonderful Vice President, Yuri. And that I think that both of you are wonderful friends."
Arin and Yuri looked at each other, both unsure of how to take Monika's compliments. Yuri blushed, clasping her hands in front of her chest as she smiled softly. Meanwhile, Arin still looked mildly on edge, cautiously eyeing the Club President. However, the faint smirk that twitched on the corners of his lips suggested that he secretly accepted her compliment as sincere.
"I want to do everything I can to make this best club, ever," Monika explained, "Okay?"
"M-me too," Yuri agreed.
"Y-yeah," Arin nodded, "Sure."
"Let's all go home for today," Monika sighed, finally, "We'll talk about the festival tomorrow."
"Okay," Yuri nodded, already sliding up beside Dan, wrapping her arm around his, "Shall we go, Danny?"
"W-wait a second," Arin stammered quickly, "Um, Yuri? Would it be okay if I walked home with you guys? I kind of have something a bit important I need to talk to Dan about."
Yuri glared, instinctively scooting closer to Dan, like a protective lioness guarding her young from attack. A feverish flash danced once more in her purple eyes, as she almost snarled at the larger man with a beast-like growl, before switching back to her usual, timid persona.
However, Monika managed to speak before Yuri had a chance to.
"Um," she began, "Why don't you two go on ahead? Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm going to chat with Danny for a little bit before we leave. Just to see what he thinks of his time here and all. It's important to me as President."
Arin looked nervous, his eyes darting between Dan and Monika, unwilling to let Dan go so easily, but also understanding that it was probably just as important that she talk to him as he did. Yuri, similarly seemed reluctant to leave, even as she released her grip around his arm.
However, another expression crossed her face for a fraction of a second, almost missed as Dan blinked. Had he seen fear written across her face, he wondered? What was she afraid of? Was she afraid of what Monika would say or do if she told her no?
"Well," Yuri said finally, "Okay. I trust your judgement, Monika. In any case, I'll see you tomorrow, Danny."
Now, Monika's gaze fell on Arin, patiently waiting for him to leave. Nervously, Arin rubbed his elbow, hugging himself, as he stared down at the floor beside him. Moments passed in tense, expectant silence as Arin seemed to be listening to something that only he could hear, before speaking.
"Uh," he finally said, "I know that this'll probably take a while, but I'll just wait for you outside, if you still want to walk home together. In any case, just yell if you need me, okay?"
"See you tomorrow!" Monika waved to him as he left.
Monika breathed a silent sigh of relief as she watched the figure of the larger man disappear through the door, leaving her and Dan as the only two people still left in the classroom.
This was odd, Dan thought to himself as he fidgeted nervously, suddenly very painfully aware of his hands, as Monika smiled at him. In the couple of days that he'd actually been in the club, he couldn't recall having a moment where the two of them were actually alone. Sure, there had been the first day in the classroom, when Monika had convinced him to check out the club, but that barely counted, since he wasn't yet a member of the club at that point.
"Phew," Monika sighed, "Things have been a little hectic around here, lately, haven't they?"
Understatement of the fucking century, Dan scoffed to himself. To say that things had been "a little hectic" would be like saying that being in a burning building felt "a little warm". It seemed like of the three days that he'd been in the club, two of them had ended with everyone upset and Natsuki running out of the room in tears.
"Danny," Monika continued, "I just wanted to make sure you're enjoying your time in this club. I would really hate to see you unhappy."
Dan smiled bashfully, as he rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly shuffling his feet in place against the floor. While it was nice that someone as kind-hearted and beautiful as Monika was being considerate of his feelings, he couldn't help but wonder if he should maybe tell her about the strange hallucinations and the weird vibes he'd been feeling ever since he'd joined.
No, he argued, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to bring those up right now. After all, she was probably still somewhat upset over the possiblity that not everyone in the club was truly as enthusiastic about growing the club into to something special as she had hoped.
"I kind of feel like I'm responsible for that, as President." she said, "And, I really do care about you, you know? I don't like seeing the others give you a hard time- With Natsuki being how mean she is and everything, and Yuri being a bit….you know. And Arin giving you mixed signals and everything…."
Monika laughed, as she folded her arms behind her back, leaning closer to Dan. Her laugh seemed almost to echo in the stillness of the the distance, he could have sworn he heard a muffled pounding on the door, and a voice calling out his name, but the sound was drowned as all of his senses were drawn to Monika.
Around them, it felt as if the room itself was starting to get darker, as if they were the only two beings left in existence. Did the classroom have motion sensor lights and they had just been standing still for too long? He wondered vaguely.
No, he thought, even if that were the case, the room shouldn't have been as dark as if it were the middle of the night. After all, it was only still afternoon, he thought. The sun was only just starting to set, by now.
"Sometimes," Monika confessed, "it feels like you and I are the only real people here. You know what I mean?"
Dan nodded, although he wasn't entirely sure what she did mean. Her statement felt almost too literal, he thought, and yet still felt as if she were saying far more than what she meant. Of course, he tried to reason, she didn't actually mean that they were literally the only actual humans in the club. It was more of a figure of speech than anything else.
"It's kind of weird," Monika continued, "Because in all the time you've spent here, we've hardly gotten to spend any time together."
Monika blushed, sheepishly staring at the floor as she pressed her hand against her burning cheeks.
"Ah…I mean," she giggled, "I guess it's technically only been a couple days. Sorry! I didn't mean to say something weird. There are just some things that I'd been hoping to talk about with you. Things I know that only you could understand. I mean, I suppose that Arin as been trying to talk to you about some of those same things….but, I worry that he might give you the wrong impression of things. So that's why-"
Slowly, the creeping darkness that had veiled the room, crept over them, shrouding his eyes as they were plunged into the infinite darkness that haunted his nightmares. Monika, too seemed to have noticed this, as her smile faded, her green eyes wide with panic as she frantically looked around the rapidly fading room.
"W-wait!" Monika cried, "N-not yet!"
What was happening?! he wondered, his heart beating in his chest, drowning out all his other senses. Was he dying? Somewhere in the distance, he heard the soft thud of a door. A large shape-Arin?-burst into the room, frantic as he once more called out Dan's name.
Arin paused as he and Monika exchanged panicked, terrifed looks with one another. However, Dan did not see this as the last trendils or darkness snaked across his vision, pulling him down into the depths of the endless sea of blackness below him.
Slowly, his hearing, too, began to fade, only catching muffled snippets of Arin and Monika's conversation with each other. It was as if he were listening to a staticy audio podcast on a computer with a terrible internet signal, through a pair of headphones that were constantly on the verge of cutting out.
It was strange, he thought just as the silence overtook him, but he could have sworn that the Club President's voice sounded different. For once, terrified and lacking the calm, authority she typically conducted meetings with.
"What did you-?!"
"-Not…..I-I didn't!"
"-Who?"
".…Me."
A chilling, feminine laugh echoed through Dan's mind, ringing like a bell as his eyes shot open, pure, unbridled panic and terror pumping through his veins like blood, animating his limps as he lurched forward, sitting up in bed, a cold sweat covering his body.
Gasping ragged breaths, his senses slowly started to calm, allowing him make sense of his surroundings. Once more, he was in his room, laying on his bed. Yuri's book lay haphazardly on the floor, having fallen on top of Yuri's manga, presumably slipping out of his hands while he dozed off.
Was I dreaming again?! Dan wondered, his hands shaking as ran his fingers through his tangled mess of untamed curls.
No, he told himself sternly, shaking his head as he crawled out of bed toward his desk. It wasn't a dream. If there was one thing he was absolutely sure of , it was that, whatever had happened, it wasn't a dream. Even if every part of his brain tried to assure him that it had been just the product of an overactive imagination, in his heart he knew that it had actually happened.
Something strange was going on behind the Literature Club, it's members, and maybe even the universe itself. And, he intended to investigate further, he determined, hopefully finding a way to end these terrible nightmares haunting him once and for all and return the club to normal.
But first, he reminded himself as he sat down at his desk, he still had another poem to write.
