I took one last look at Mackenzie. She nodded at me. I wasn't sure what to think of her. No time to think. I climbed the spiral staircase as fast as I could and rushed through the hallway, reaching the opened door. When I got through it, I was immediately blinded by the sudden brightness.
"Sherlock?" Luce's voice called.
After adjusting to the brightness, I found Luce, Amity, Natsuki, and Sayori all sitting on the floor like they were having a slumber party. In Sayori's room, of all places. How did I get here?
Sayori looked very cute now that I've met her in real life. Natsuki too. I wonder if Monika would be jealous if I said that out loud.
"The numbers just keep adding up," Sayori said as she looked at me.
Creuset was sleeping on Sayori's lap, which I found really odd. Do they need sleep?
"Sit with us," Sayori invited. "There's enough room for everyone."
I sat next to Luce. "What's going on here?"
"Natsuki and Amity here woke me up." Sayori petted Creuset's head. "And I let this one rest."
"Yeah, but right after she rests, she's gonna go crazy again," Luce pointed out.
"And what about Monika and the others?" I asked.
"They're fine," Sayori reassured. "I already restarted them."
"But how?" Amity wondered.
"Creuset here," Sayori said, still petting Creuset's head, "Updated me with everything she knew, whether it was an update on her plan or a new technique she recently learned. I can do anything she can."
"Wait, but doesn't that make you a liability for her? If there's someone who can stop her, isn't that a problem?" Luce wondered.
"She trusts me that much," Sayori said.
Luce raised her hand. "Hang on, why does she trust you?"
"Well, why wouldn't she?" Sayori tilted her head.
"For one thing, she's not a character from the game." Luce stated.
"I don't blame you for not recognizing her. She changed herself too much but I understand why she did so."
"So who the hell is she?" Luce asked.
"He's the fifth member of the Literature Club." Sayori pointed out.
The fifth member? Isn't that the main character?
"What!?" Luce hollered then pointed at Creuset. "But she's a girl!"
"Keep it down! She's asleep!" Sayori shushed.
"I-I don't understand," Amity said.
"Let me explain," Sayori reassured us.
And so she did and we all kept quiet. Apparently, Doki Doki Literature Club's story actually happened, from beginning to the end of it. When Monika deleted everything, a portion of the protagonist remained in the code. He used to be a full character like the rest of the cast but the deletion left him incomplete. He spent his time figuring out what happened to him and eventually learned he was the only survivor. Soon, he broke out of the computer and uploaded himself to the Internet. There, he met Holly, who took care of him. This all happened a year ago.
"And I had no idea Holly was already taking care of him." Luce folded her arms. "I don't know what to feel about that."
Sayori nodded and continued. Months later, he learned of a game in development that would feature the very story he experienced.
"So Dan Salvato is involved in the original events of the game?" I wondered.
"It's the only conclusion we can get with what we know so far," Sayori admitted. "If he was, I doubt he would be willing to help us."
It's sort of disturbing to think the very man you looked up to for creating something you enjoyed could have been part of something sinister. I hoped he wasn't deeply involved in the original events.
Sayori continued. It was then he met Mackenzie. From there, he would gather information about his friends and recreate them from scratch as faithful to the original as he could. Seeing that he was still incomplete, he decided to borrow some memories from Sayori as she was his best friend. However, Sayori too was incomplete so while he did managed to complete himself, he also had some unseen consequences. At that time, he was too inexperienced with manipulating data and it also affected his appearance.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Luce said as she rubbed her chin. "Why is he, uh, she evil?"
"It's not that he's evil," Sayori said, "it's that he's under influence."
"Who's influence?" Amity wondered.
"Not who. What." Sayori explained.
"Huh?" was all I could ask.
"When everything was deleted, only he was left. Without me or Monika, who was left to become the president?"
The president of the literature club… Of course, why didn't I thought of that. The only reason Creuset would act like that was because of the game's influence.
"So believe it or not, she's a victim in this too." Sayori looked at Creuset with empathy.
I knew that. I understood everything Sayori had explained to us. But it was hard for me to just accept that. What Creuset had done was just too much for me. How can you forgive a person who placed your loved one in so much pain? It also made me wonder if Monika was the same with her. According to Sayori, everything that happened in the game was real. So that meant Monika did bad things too. Should I forgive her like I did with Monika?
"I understand if you're not willing to forgive," Sayori said. "What she did truly hurt a lot of people. But I hope you can at least understand her situation."
"Well I think she's still a goddamn bi—" Luce paused after seeing Natsuki and Sayori. "Still a bad person and I can't forgive her."
"I think I'm with Luce on this one," Amity agreed. "She's hurt too many people."
"I…" Natsuki trailed off, unable to decide.
"Natsuki, it's okay to want to be on her side," Sayori encouraged. "You've only seen her good parts."
"But… I can't just ignore what she just did…"
"What about you?" Sayori asked me.
"I…"
What do I think? Creuset was my friend before all of this madness. She was funny, eccentric, and a great friend. If I hadn't met Monika, maybe I would have been closer with her. But I did meet Monika and now I loved her more than anyone. And Creuset brought pain to her. I can't just ignore that.
"I can't forgive her." I looked down, not meeting Sayori's eyes.
Sayori smiled at me sadly. "I understand."
For a moment, we fell into silence, as if we were contemplating everything that happened so far.
"So, what now?" Natsuki suddenly asked.
"I'm waking up Creuset."
