I wake up in class. No idea how. I glance my surroundings. I apparently showered and did my hair, and made the walk to school. Miss Noma is using her expert communication skills to teach the plebeians of the classroom about derivatives. I chuckle to myself. I look down and realise I've apparently been doing notes, as well as a couple poems. So even though the last thing I remember was collapsing on the couch at 5pm (without eating) and the very fabric of reality slowly deteriorating, I have been fully functioning completely absent-mindedly throughout the day. I glance down at the floor. My bag sits neatly next to my desk with my umbrella lying down next to it, despite the fact that it's not raining outside.

"Must have rained earlier." I mumble.

Miss Noma gives me an odd look, but considering how I've been this past week, she doesn't want to pry. I take that as a good thing. She must have heard about my panic attack. Can't imagine why it wouldn't spread among the staff. I sigh. I want nothing more than a cup of tea in my hands right now. Sitting next to the love of my life, chatting about poetry and other trivial things. I can't stop thinking about Natsuki and how she was holding both Yuri and Sayori's hands. Is there something blossoming between the three? I simultaneously hope so and hope not. I love them and I want them to be happy, but I also don't want to be alone. The odd one out. And that's when I think of him.

Mike.

That stupid, wonderful, well-meaning boy. With those piercing brown eyes that stare into my soul, unmasking all my secrets. It's very alluring. When I look at him, I know he can tell what I'm feeling, and more than just on a close personal level. I mean he literally knows. God my heart just won't stop pounding. Just like that my mind begins to wander. I start daydreaming about an all-manner of things that we could do together and-

"Hey Monika."

I quickly whirl my head around and Mike is standing next to me, leaning his ass on my desk. Everyone else is in the classroom, but they clearly cannot see or hear him. The room is suddenly a lot darker than before.

"Can we talk?"

I nod slowly. I'm very scared and just a tad too excited. He gets up and motions me to follow him. I gather my things and walk out of the classroom. I watch his movements as he walks. He use to walk all hunched, keeping his head down. Now he's walking with much more confidence. Upright and with proud strides. My eyes glance downwards and I start chuckling to myself.

"That boy has the flattest ass I've ever seen." I whisper.

Mike turns around and gives me a very odd look, and I remember he doesn't need to hear me to know what I'm thinking. I stare at the ground in shame.

"I have some not bad news and some bad news." He says. I notice we're walking towards the Literature Club, despite the final bell not going yet. "The not bad news is I've encouraged Sayori to tell her parents about her depression. She went to the doctor's and it turns out she has ADHD as well, which, because it went undiagnosed and unmedicated for so long, destroyed certain cells in her brain, which soon developed into Major Depression."

"Oh God." I reply. "It makes sense, but poor girl." He nods in agreement.

"So now she's on medication for both, and she's writing a diary for how she feels every day."

"If that's the good news, and the bad news?"

"I think you can already guess what that is." He says solemnly.

"Ah." I breathe. This is not good. This means my house glitching yesterday was not just a one-off, and it very well could get worse. "Can we stop it?"

"Possibly, yes." Mike says. He stops at the foot of the staircase and turns to face me, the first time since we left the classroom. "Problem is, the more we deter from the original story, the more we mess with the script and this world's capabilities, the faster our world will deteriorate."

"How long do we have?" I gulp.

"Hard to say." He scowls and looks up at the ceiling. "Our biggest priority is helping our club members. But that may speed up the process."

"You also said something about messing with the world's capabilities. You mean like you're doing right now with time?"

"Oh yeah forgot about that." He clicks his fingers, and the students frozen in the hallway start moving again. One waves at us as they walk past. "Yes, that too. But the point is, we have a countdown on how long we have to help them. Which means we have to act FAST. You got ideas?"

"Not really as such..." I mumble. "But I can tell there's some sort of relationship forming between Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki."

"All of them? Together? Like polyamory or whatever?" Mike asks with a raised eyebrow.

I nod. "Exactly like that. This could be good for them, it means they can take care of each other as well in ways that we cannot."

"But it could also mean arguments." Mike frowns.

"With Sayori?"

"Not a bad point." He shrugs. I notice how he deliberately didn't say 'good'. "You're right." He continues. "This means I don't have to work so hard watching Sayori so much, assuming Yuri and Natsuki will want to spend more time together."

"It also means Natsuki has a place of solace and shelter on bad nights." I add.

He nods. "Speaking of which, we have to do something about her piece of shit Dad."

"Difficult to do." I frown. "Because he's a cop, we have to approach this carefully. He could easily arrest us, or worse."

"Poor girl..." Mike whispers. "What do you think the worst nights would be?"

"Fridays and Saturdays, probably. I'd have to ask Natsuki. I assume whatever days he's not working too late or too early the next morning, so when he can get drunk."

"He doesn't have to be drunk to be abusive." Mike replies.

"That's true, but I feel like he'd beat her more when he is drunk." I say. He shrugs.

"So you're saying we should approach her first? Because we need the most time with her?"

"Correct." My voice is almost drowned out by the bell. Mike turns and begins walking up the stairs. I notice there's no blood on the stairs, must have been cleaned up since I last saw these stairs. It also means whatever happened there has not happened since. I hope. Students start pouring out of the classrooms. Third-years, most likely. They pass us in the halls without even looking at us. I feel so dwarfed next to them, even though I'm taller than most of them. Some 6"4 jock walks past us, and I can't help but stare. Mike raises an eyebrow at me and I blush.

"Lmao." He says out loud.

"What? Just because he has a nicer ass than you." I stroll past him and open the Literature Club door, which is now empty, save for the teacher cleaning up the blackboard. I thank him for doing so, and he just waves as he leaves the room. Aside from the muffled bustle from the halls, the club is silent. I sit and start thinking while Mike moves the desks. I need a strong game plan for Natsuki, as well as the other two. There's no way she can stay at her house, but we can't just kidnap her either. He's a police officer - we can't really do anything to him unless we have solid proof, and even then the justice system will favour him. The bruises she currently has won't be enough. We need proof that he caused them. Problem is, I can't currently think of a good way to do so without putting Natsuki's life in mortal danger.

"Speaking of mortal danger," Mike says. "We need to think about the other two as well. They're on suicide watch after all."

"Please stop reading my mind." I admonish him. "But yes, you're right." He blushes, and I realise he wasn't aware I wasn't speaking. "You're right next door, you can keep a good watch on Sayori." I continue. "My plan is to get Natsuki to move in with Yuri. Natsuki can watch Yuri, and Yuri can make sure Natsuki's dad never finds her."

"Does he know who Yuri is?"

"Not as far as I'm aware - I can imagine Natsuki doesn't tell her dad very much about her life. She probably just calls her a friend."

"Hmm. But wouldn't he be sort of controlling? Considering he doesn't give her food."

"Curfews, maybe?"

"True. I remember her saying she had to be home for dinner in that one timeline." He says. I shudder.

One by one, the girls arrive, Yuri first, then Natsuki, then finally Sayori. Each of them have a similar dead look in their eyes, like all the life had been sucked out of them. Sayori's was worse, however. I guess I'm not used to our "bundle of joy" being reduced to a mess like this. Yuri looks pale, like she's lost a lot of blood. I sigh. Natsuki, although she's clearly upset too, looks the most well. I guess she was right about Mondays. I do my best to remain cheerful, I have to lead the group after all.

"Okay everyone!" I call out as cheerily as I can muster. The other three look at me with a mixture of hatred and dread in their eyes. Oh boy. I lower my voice a little, clearly my false cheeriness was uncalled-for. "We have a lot to go over today. So we should get started straight away. Thank you all for coming here early, especially after yesterday."

The girls just simply nod and take their seats at the arranged desks. Natuski moans low enough that I can barely hear. But I heard it. Mike looks at me. He doesn't have to say anything for me to know what's on his mind.

"Should we tell them?"

I shake my head. I think clearly my response hoping he'll get it.

"Are you kidding? After yesterday? Look at them now."

He shakes his head as well, but more at himself than me. We both know we need to find a way to do the things we need to do in time.

"So. Discussion time." I sit down at my desk. Mike's arranged them so we can all clearly see each other. Mike is to my left, Sayori to my right, and Natsuki and Yuri are sitting opposite me. A faint ray of sunshine rests on Sayori's back. Creating an eerie shadow on Yuri and Mike's faces. "How did everyone go last night?"

Sayori is the first to speak. "Pretty good. Mike helped me with a lot of things. Having him there really made it easier."

"That's great! And what did you do?" I smile at her. Mike has already told me, but I want to hear it from her. For her sake.

"Well we went to the doctor's to get an official diagnosis, and apparently I also have ADHD."

Yuri nods, and Natsuki swears under her breath.

"Which, because it went untreated for so long..." She trails off.

"Damaged parts of your brain which lead to Major Depression." Yuri finishes.

Sayori nods, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Yuri leans over and pulls Sayori in for a hug.

"What about you, Yuri?" I ask, turning my gaze.

"Well..." She starts sweating, and lets go of Sayori. Natsuki rests her hand and Yuri's good arm.

"It's okay. You can say it."

"I had a bad relapse."

I nod. I suspected as much.

"I couldn't sleep. It was 3am and my mind was racing. I needed something. Some sort of stimulant. I couldn't think of anything else." She starts crying.

"It's okay, Yuri." I say, also resting my hand on Yuri's good arm. She holds her other arm up beside her face. "This is a slow process, it's going to take time."

"I can hardly blame you after yesterday as well." Mike adds. "This is a very emotional time for us all, but that's why we -" He takes my hand and puts it in his own. "-are going to do whatever it takes to make you guys better."

I smile, and I can feel my heartbeat increase. I quickly let go of his hand and turn my attention to Natsuki. "And how about you? Did everything go okay?"

Natsuki nods. "I was already in bed by the time he got home. Apparently he was in a pretty intense car chase."

I so badly wanted to ask if he caught the person, but I felt like that was a little insensitive and besides the point. "And what about this morning?"

"He was still asleep before I left. I managed to grab some extra food without his knowledge." She smiles.

"That's very good Natsuki!" I smile in return. Finally some good news. "If I may ask, when are the typically bad nights?"

She shudders. "Wednesdays and Saturdays. He doesn't work at all on Sunday, so Saturday he's up all night drinking."

"Okay. Mike and I are currently forming a plan of getting you out of there. There's no way you can continue living there." I say firmly but not unkindly. The response I receive was very predictable.

"And how on Earth are you going to manage that!?" Natsuki cries. "You know he's a cop! You guys could get in serious danger!"

"We know. That's why we're approaching this carefully and slowly. First of all: Has he met Yuri?"

"God no. He doesn't even know who she is."

"Good. We can use that. Our plan is for Yuri to hide you somewhere in her house. That way you can look after each other."

The two girls smile at each other. Sayori looks slightly upset.

"It's going to take a lot of time we don't have." Mike says. "For one, if he catches onto any of us, we will be in very grave danger. Especially Natsuki."

Natsuki gulps.

"And second, we still have to help everyone else. Which reminds me:" He turns to... me? "Monika, have you been eating?"

My heart stops. I swallow. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean, how often do you get home and go straight to sleep? Or just do your homework, or watch something. How often do you eat dinner?"

I can't answer. I just can't. Natsuki gives me a very sad look, and I can tell her eyes are navigating my body.

"You're thinner than normal." Natsuki says with sad eyes.

"Well I'm on a new exercise regi-"

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Natsuki has tears in her eyes. "I can recognise malnutrition when I see it. Believe me."

"I'm not-" I stop myself. Malnourished? I knew it was bad, but god... It's not like I think I'm fat or anything... "I just... forget to eat. That's all it is I swear! That can't be that bad, right?"

Mike shakes his head. "It is. The more you 'forget' to eat, the less you think you'll need to eat. It's a slippery slope, Monika. Before you know it you'll pass out in class and be taken to the emergency room."

Out of the corner of my eye, Yuri shudders. I can't help but stare at my lap now. My thighs aren't definitely as strong as they used to be. I am having less energy when I work out. I used to blame it on the fact that it was off-season for rowing but now that I think about it-

"You're right. I have a problem."

"And that's why we're here." Mike says surprisingly soothingly. "We'll help you get through this, just like I know you'll help us." He smiles and takes my hand again. Sayori rests her hand on my shoulder and smiles at me too. Just before I start crying, I shake myself off and stand up.

"Okay everyone! We need a game plan."