Chapter 17: Know your friends

As the sands of time draws nearer. The sky bloody red. The clouds pitch black. MC finally made it home in search of The Portrait of Markov. He hoped that it would be a clue to what's happening. The last time he read them, the character's name in the books changed to their names. Perhaps there's more to them than what he thought.

He immediately went to his room to grab them. When he got them from his drawer, he looked through them one more time. He quickly read some of the pages and tried to remember what Yuri told him when she was talking about them. After he looked through them, he took the time to think about them. He looked at the two Manga covers he brought with him from school and looked at the book again. He read through the pages one more time.

A religious camp that turned into a human experiment prison. The people trapped there have traits that turn them into killing machines, the lust for blood, but the facility gets worse, as a bunch of selected people's limbs are cut off only to be put back together. One girl is targeted by them and must find someone she could trust. Despite this she would break off all her relationships.

One member of the camp found the girl and forced her to join. She was soon turned into one of them. Together they caused destruction and chaos wherever they go. In the end one member of the camp turned on his creator and took over. Soon after the religious camp fell, and all members died. There are sightings of them still being around, but yet to be discovered.

MC: (Hmm the religious camp? Could they be related to The Ultimate Despairs? Its seems far fetch, but the story of this book along with the two Manga's could be connected?) As he thinks about how they could all connect, a page fell out of the book. "What's this?"

He picks up the paper and realized it was the poem Yuri gave him. The one that he couldn't read, but as he turns the page and saw nothing in the back, the words on the front changed. "What the?"

If your reading this then that means you did it. I know you didn't want to leave without receiving your punishment, but I know they wouldn't want that. However, I will give you a punishment and that's to find the safe. All you need to do is find the safe and enter the password. If you manage to find it then you have the right to leave. I'm sure everyone would be happy to see you again.

I can't just tell you, but I will give you a hint. It's located at a place where you share your love alone with the one you love. Once you find it enter this password. The password is 092217. Enter this and your given a special gift and the right to leave of course. Well we're be seeing you soon.

MC: "What? Why would Yuri have this? 092217 is the password to a safe. Where could this safe be?" He grabs his spare backpack since his other one is still at Monika's place and puts the books and Manga's in it. He looks at the Revolver gun hidden in his drawer. "I really wish I knew why I had this?" He puts the gun on his bed and looks at his favorite card. Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend. With no reason MC took the card and put it in his jacket.

He left his room and was just about to head downstairs. However, he notices something was off with the guest room. He decided to check it to make sure if there were any clues, but when he got near the door he felt uneasy. He entered it and almost puked at what he saw. The room had blood stains and the corpses of small animals hanging on the wall. The smell of rotting corpses in the air. (Oh my God what happened here? The room was never like this the last time I checked?) As he continues to fight the urge to vomit, he notices a piece of paper on the bed. He walked towards it with the squishing sound of the floor and picked it up. (Hmm a poem?) He reads what it says.

Despair

The world is full of Despair

We are all worthless

Our deaths are meaningless and so are you

There is no Hope behind closed doors so give up

My heart is pitch black and no soul

Death will come for you with no remorse

Pathetic humans can't expect it

You ask for the truth not knowing the true reality

True Despair is behind you

The truth will lead you to Despair

There is no Hope for you

Just give up

MC: (This poem seems familiar, but who wrote it?) He puts the poem in his backpack and quickly leaves the guest room. With the sweet freedom of leaving that horror show MC now knows a little of what goes on. (Where should I go now? I wonder if there's anything in Sayori's house? Wouldn't hurt to check it out?) He thinks to himself as there is nothing left to finding his house.

With his decision MC left his house and ran to Sayori's house. By the time he reached there Sayori called him. "Hello?"

Sayori: "Oh good your safe. Hey, Natsuki told me you went to your house?"

MC: "Yeah and I'm about to go search your house."

Sayori: "I prefer you don't?"

MC: "What? Why not?"

Sayori: "I don't want you going through my panties."

MC: "I'm not going to do that! How are panties going to be any help with our investigation?"

Sayori: "Fine, Fine, but you better not look. I'll poke you in the eyes and it will hurt."

MC: "Fine bye." He hangs up the phone and enters Sayori's house. To his surprise the door was unlocked. "Seriously Sayori?" Ignoring that he enters. When he enters, he notices a couple of pictures hanging on her wall. "Wait were those photos always there?" He takes one of them and saw that it was a picture of him and Sayori when they were kids.

"Oh, I remember that. We went to the beach that summer and somehow Sayori made a huge sandcastle?" While looking at some nostalgic photos one caught his eye. "What's this?" He takes the picture and it was a photo of him and Sayori with some other girl. By the looks of it MC and Sayori are annoyed by this girl. The girl shown in this photo concerns MC a lot. The girl had long brown hair similar to him and she also had gold color eyes.

"Who is she? She kind of looks like me if I was a girl?" He put the photo in his backpack and continues to look around Sayori's house. When he saw there was nothing that could be a clue downstairs he went upstairs. In the hallway he saw more photos that weren't there before. "When the hell did, she put up these photos?"

He looks at them and sees that they are pictures of Sayori when she was young along with her parents. He looks at them as he walks to Sayori's parents' room. When he reached the edge of the hallway where Sayori's parents sleep he saw a strange picture hanging on the wall. "Hmm? Wonder who she is?" He turns on the light to see it better and saw who it was.

"Sayori?" He sees a picture of Sayori with long hair wearing a blue dress, smiling. "Wow she's very beautiful in this picture. Wonder when this was taken? Bet it was taken when we weren't seeing each other." He opens her parent's bedroom and searched around the room. He was disappointed to see nothing and left.

He went to Sayori's room as it was the last place he hasn't checked. "I hope she cleaned up or I'll be wasting too much time searching her room?" He enters her room. To his surprise her room was actually clean. Most likely Natsuki keeping an eye on her. "Thank you Natsuki." Despite Sayori's room being cleaned there was a book on the middle of the floor.

He picked up the book and saw that it was Sayori's Diary. He felt tempted on reading it. However, he felt dirty just thinking about reading it, but he felt he must. He wasted a couple of minutes debating whether to read it or not. In the end he decided to read it and will just owe her back for it. Rest in peace wallet. He skimmed through it not wanting to read all of them, but one page did catch his interest.

November 12 2017

Dear Diary,

I'm so happy to see MC finally opens up to me and the others. I never knew how much pain he went through because of his dad, but I'm glad that he finally opened up. Here I thought I had depression, but MC suffered more. I'm a really bad friend to him, but I want to help him. Even after all these years that we didn't hang out I still loved him.

MC: "?" He looks at the date one more time of when she wrote this and looked at today's date. "What the how did she write this in November when its October? Not only that, but I don't have any problems with my dad. Did she get the dates wrong? Was she mistaking me for someone else?" He looks back at the previous pages to see what she wrote on September.

September 22 2017

Dear Diary

MC Finally agreed to join the Literature Club. Yesterday he needed time to think about it, but now he made his decision. I'm so happy that my old friend joined us. Now we're going to have so much fun. Although I hope he does something about his hair. The other girls wonder what kind of eye color he has since half of his face is hidden within his hair.

MC pulls on his hair. "The fuck she means my hair covers my eyes. My hair is short enough for them to see my gold eyes. Wait … I could've sworn I joined on September 21? Is she really bad at checking the dates?" He looks at the other pages and notices that everything that has occurred up to now are written differently. Almost like a retelling?

He decided to look at one more page of what occurred during their time when they weren't hanging out. This is something that's been bugging him for a long time and was hoping to see if she remembers.

August 15 2015

Dear Diary

It's been another year that me and MC haven't seen each other. Everyday when I walk past his house my heartaches. Why did he leave me alone? Was Michelle right about MC? Does he really find me annoying?

"Who the hell is Michelle? By the looks of this I must of abandoned her? Damn I really am a bad friend to her. I'm sorry Sayori, but who is this girl?" He goes back a few pages to see what she wrote when they were playing together.

July 14, 2012

Dear Diary

Michelle's been really mean to me. She torn my favorite Duel Monster card and started saying mean things about me. MC slapped her for say rude things to me and those two got into a fight. I was crying when MC started bleeding in his nose. Why is Michelle like this? The only good thing is MC took care of me even when he's hurt. He even called me a little cinnamon roll and that made me happy.

"What the? I don't remember that? Is she sure it was me? I don't remember who Michelle is? No matter I got to continue my search, but where to?" Without knowing where to go next MC raced out of Sayori's home with her dairy in his backpack. When he went outside and thought that maybe Natsuki's house might have something. It wouldn't hurt to check at least. After all he did find something in Sayori's house and his. It wouldn't be odd if Natsuki's house had some clues?

Knowing where to go next MC went to Natsuki's house next. By the time he got there he notices the front door is barricaded. "Oh, that's right I broke down the door the last time I was here. Wonder how Natsuki and Sayori got in when they had to pick up Natsuki's stuff?" He opens the door to his amazement as it opens up just like a normal door would. "That answers my question."

When he entered the first thing, he saw was a photo. He never had the chance to look around her house as he was too busy fighting against her dad. He picked up the first photo he saw and it was a picture of Natsuki and her mother. Her mother looks just like her with pink hair, but she had blue eyes. "Aw look at little Natsuki and that must be her mother. She must've been a great person to talk to?" He looks at another photo next to the one he just picked up. The photo contained Natsuki and her dad. "Wow they look very happy together. Guess she was telling the truth when she said that he was nice before his wife's death. Wait he looks a bit different then when I fought him?"

He sees the same man with brown hair and pink eyes but looks way thinner. "Must have been hitting the gym?" He takes a look at another picture this time containing all three of them. "It breaks my heart to know what happens next." He puts them down and continues to search around. When he was looking around the kitchen, he saw another photo hanging on the fridge.

He went ahead and looked at it. "Huh Natsuki?" He sees Natsuki with longer hair tied in a ponytail. To him it looks good. After looking at Natsuki he saw her dad right next to her. Just like the previous photo he looks scrawnier than before. He turns the photo around to see when it was taken. "What!?" The photo was taken in March 6 2018. "How? Her dad should be in prison? Furthermore, what happened to him? How do you go from skinny to buff and back to skinny?" The dates bothered him more, but he decided to take the photo with him, by putting it in his jacket and continued to look around.

He found nothing until he went to her old room. It was a mess, but he saw something on the floor. It was another piece of paper. He read through it to see what it said.

To Yuri from Natsuki

Hey still having problems with your big boobs? Ha ha, but still how are you and Michael doing? Don't get me wrong it's not like I care or anything, it's just, nevermind. You two seem to get along, but can I be honest with you? I really don't like Michelle. She's a bitch to him and Sayori. Not only that she revealed your secrets to everyone in the club and mocked him and Monika. Just who the hell does she think she is? You agree right? Monika asked me to tell you that we're going to kick her out of the club. To be honest with you. I'm terrified of her. She seems sick and a thorn to Michael's side.

"There's that name again. Just who is Michelle?" He folded the paper and slid it in his pocket. He continued to search around Natsuki's room but found no other clues. With no leads he decided to leave and search somewhere else. While he walks down the stairs he wonders where the safe could be. He didn't see one at his house or Sayori's nor Natsuki's house. When he walked out, he saw Someone outside at the front.

Yuri: "Michael? What are you doing here?"

MC: "Yuri? What are you doing here?"

Yuri: "I just searched the park but found nothing. What about you?"

MC: "I found a lot of things, but I'm not ready to share them just yet. I was planning to go somewhere else to search, but I don't know where?"

Yuri: "I see, neither do I?"

MC: "Hmm? … Say Yuri can I check out your place?"

Yuri: "M-my place?"

MC: "I was able to find clues at my place along with Sayori's and Natsuki's houses. Perhaps there might be one at your place?"

Yuri: "W-well I guess we could try? But I'm coming with you."

MC: "Very well then, let's get going and quickly." Yuri nods and follows MC as he runs.

Yuri gave him directions on where they could go to reach her house faster. With time ticking they both managed to reach her house. MC's heart beats wondering what else he could find. Will it connect more with the other clues or will it be no help? The hour of death draws closer and Libitina still waits.

End of Chapter 17