On the plus side, Natalie found that the Literature Club session went by pretty smoothly, with very minimal if any hitches, and certainly none that had caught her off guard. The bad news was that, thus far, things were following the script a little too close for her comfort, and especially after the fight between Yuri and Natsuki—which they now insisted was nothing, but Natalie wasn't entirely convinced—she couldn't exactly be blamed for feeling so on edge.

"Okay, everyone!" Monika handed Natalie's poem back to her and stood up. "We're all done reading each other's poems, right? I have something extra planned today, so if everybody could come sit around the front of the room . . ."

Natalie winced. "Not the poetry reading . . ."

"Is this about the festival?" Natsuki asked. "Do we really have to do something for the festival? It's not like we can put together anything good in just a few days. We'll just end up embarrassing ourselves instead of getting any new members."

"That's a concern of mine as well," Yuri piped in quietly. "I don't really do well with last minute preparations."

Monika fought down her disheartened appearance. "Don't worry so much. We're going to keep it simple, okay?"

"You've decided exactly what we're doing?" Natalie asked. "Let me guess: it involves no one showing up as we recite a bunch of poems with handmade posters."

"I don't remember you being so cynical before," Monika remarked. "It's not a good look on you, Natalie. Come on, this will be fun, everyone. We won't need much more than a few decorations. Sayori has been working on posters, and I've designed some pamphlets we can give out during the event."

"Okay, that's great and all," Natsuki placed her hands on her hips, "but that doesn't tell us what we're actually going to be doing for the event."

"Reciting poems," Natalie repeated. "We'll each choose a poem, one we enjoy, or can at least somewhat tolerate," She ignored Monika's unimpressed look, "and then we recite them."

Natsuki could not be less interested, judging by her facial expression. "That's it?"

"Natalie, you left out the cool part," Monika reminded her.

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "There's a cool part?"

"Well, it's all cool, really, but the coolest part is we're also going to let anyone else come up and recite poems too!" she announced jovially. "Sayori's putting it all on the posters in case anyone wants to prepare ahead of time."

Sayori immediately held up the poster she was busily colouring in the corner. Natalie then joined her, picking up a pink pen to begin colouring the bubble lettering she'd done.

While Monika and Yuri both smiled at the sight, Natsuki was doing quite the opposite. "Are you kidding me, Monika? You didn't . . . you didn't already start putting these posters up, did you?"

Monika paused. "Well, I did . . . Do you really think it's that bad of an idea?" she asked genuinely.

This seemed to catch Natsuki off guard, and she attempted to backtrack. "Well, no. It's not a bad idea, but I didn't sign up for this, you know!"

"Hey, you joined the club through your own free will," Natalie retorted with a scoff. "Talk about not signing up for things."

"Don't act like you're the only one Sayori messes with," Natsuki argued. Sayori giggled as she continued using her pink glue stick. "There is no way I'm going to be performing in front of a group of people like that."

"I . . . I agree with Natsuki," Yuri added. "I could never, in my life, do something like that . . ."

Sayori sighed and closed her glue. "Guys-"

"No, Sayori, I understand where they're coming from. Remember that Natsuki, Yuri, and Natalie had never shared their poems with anyone until just a couple of days ago," Monika reminded her. "It's a lot to ask them to recite their poems out loud to a whole room full of people. I guess I kind of overlooked that, so I'm sorry. But I still think we should give it our best," she advised. "If we start the event and each put on a good performance, then it will inspire others to do the same, and the more people who perform, the better we'll be able to show everyone what literature is all about."

"Yeah," Sayori agreed. "It's about expressing your feelings, being intimate with yourself . . ."

"That's unfortunate phrasing," Natalie muttered.

"Natalie!" Sayori drew a line in a thick black marker pen across her arm since she'd had her sleeves rolled up. "Don't ruin my metaphor!"

Monika laughed. "I see where you were going with it, Sayori, it's okay. But it's those reasons that we're all in this club today. Don't you want to share that with others? To inspire them to find the same feelings that brought you here in the first place? I know you do, I know we all do, and if all it takes is standing in front of the room for two minutes and reciting a poem, then I know you can do it."

The room remained silent for a very long moment. Yuri stared anxiously at the floor, while Natsuki seemed to be doing anything possible to draw attention away from herself.

"Natalie?" Monika asked.

Natalie placed down the pen she was holding to glance up at Monika. Her emerald eyes were lit up in anticipation, but it seemed that she wasn't feeling too hopeful judging by her tone.

"You know what? Monika's right," Natalie said. They exchanged a smile for a moment. "Surely it's not too much to ask to say a few words, right? Just try not thinking about this in terms of yourselves, but instead about the club. We're all seniors, and I'm sure the last thing we'd want is for the club to die out when we leave. And besides, isn't this what Monika and Sayori have been working towards?"

Natsuki's hands balled up into fists by her side as she growled. "Okay fine! I guess I'll just have to get it over with."

"And Yuri?" Natalie asked.

"I, um," she started, "I-I guess I don't really have a choice."

Natalie beamed at her. "That you do not. I'm so glad we got that sorted."

"I'm confused. I thought you were against all this crap, Natalie," Natsuki noted. "Why are you so on board now?"

Natalie went quiet as she attempted to come up with an answer, an answer she really didn't have. "It's . . . probably better for me to be a team player than be the stick in the mud," she excused.

That excuse would have to do for the time being, anyway.

It was as they walked home that Natalie noticed Sayori becoming eerily quiet. She wasn't entirely sure if she even remembered the game correctly at this point, but regardless, her silence didn't exactly provide any comfort.

"Sayori?" Natalie asked. "Is something wrong?"

Sayori rapidly shook her head to wake herself up and then smiled. "Sorry, I just spaced out. I was . . . thinking about something from earlier."

"About what? My terrible poetry-reciting skills?" she quipped.

"No," she laughed. "I like how we, I-I mean . . . so let's just say that one day, Natsuki asked to walk home with you-"

"Why Natsuki?" Natalie questioned.

Sayori shrugged. "No reason. You just seem more comfortable around her, o-or maybe her around you. Anyway, what would you do if she asked?"

"If Natsuki asked to walk with me?" Natalie clarified. Sayori nodded in confirmation. "Oh . . . I don't know, I've never put that much thought to it. I think if all three of us weren't able to walk together instead, I'd probably just walk with you as usual, unless there was a specific reason to walk with Natsuki."

Sayori blinked rapidly and opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out from between her lips. "B-but why would you choose me? Natsuki's funny, and she's good at baking, and she's cute, and she likes you more than me . . ."

Natalie shook her head. "I'd walk with you because it's our tradition," Natalie answered. "And besides, as much as Natsuki's . . . something, for sure, she doesn't make me laugh nearly as much as you do. What kind of friend would I be if I just abandoned you like that?"

"Don't be silly, Natalie," Sayori giggled. "You think about me too much sometimes."

"Maybe I do," Natalie half agreed, "but if I didn't, I worry you wouldn't think about yourself enough. Unless it comes to stealing my money for vending machine snacks, of course. I still can't believe you spend the entire thing, even after the cookie."

"I was hungry," she whined. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Maybe not buy 10 whole bags of pink gummy teddy bears?" Natalie suggested teasingly.

"I'm worried about Sayori," Natalie said as she sat down on the sofa in her living room. Within the house she'd been living in for the previous few days, while her bedroom remained identical to the one she was used to, all the rooms around it had somehow changed, completely altered. The house she was in now was very open plan and spacious, something she really wasn't used to.

Monika shifted beside her to face her better. She placed the mug of coffee Natalie had made her down on the coffee table. "What happened?"

"She's doing what she did before," Natalie explained as she pulled her legs closer with her feet curled up beneath her. "The distance, the insecurity, the apathy . . . I'm worried it's going to happen no matter what we do, a-and I don't want to be there when it does. I saw it once, and now seeing her in person, I don't want to see it ever again . . ." Her sentence trailed off as she felt a tear begin to run down her face. She briskly wiped it away with her sleeve. "A-and I don't want to tell Sayori, I don't want to make her feel any further pressure or panic or anything, and she said before that she doesn't like it when people care for her, that it hurts when people do, but I don't know what else to do. I just feel . . . useless . . ."

"Natalie, you're not useless," Monika reassured her. "You're far from it. Without you, we'd have no chance at all of helping the others, but with you it might—no, it will—happen. You're the least useless of any of us right now, even if you don't realise it. Okay?" She tilted her head to the side as Natalie wiped away another tear using her sleeve. "Come on."

Natalie began to glance back up as Monika wrapped her arms around her to pull her into a hug. She didn't bother to object, but instead simply let her head rest against her shoulder with her arms caught between them.

She sniffled and lifted a hand to her nose. "Th-this might come off as weird, but you give really good hugs," she whispered.

Monika nodded with a quiet laugh. "I've been told that before," she responded. As she felt Natalie's arms finally encircle her torso, she smiled to herself and rubbed her shoulder. "You can't give up yet, Natalie. Not until we've done everything possible."

"Y-you're right," she agreed. "We can't stop now."

"Hey," Natalie said as she reached the door and closed it behind her, "sorry I'm . . ."

She froze. Sayori was sitting at her desk, staring absently into the distance. There was no expression on her face. It was as if there was no thought or emotion there in the first place.

She took a steadying breath and continued. "Sorry I'm late. I was just caught in people-traffic on the stairs and I couldn't get up here."

"People-traffic?" Natsuki questioned, hands on her hips. "What the fuck is that?"

"Natsuki, be civil," Yuri reprimanded.

Monika shook her head humouredly. "I think she means there were so many people in the stairwell that it was tremendously difficult to reach our clubroom, correct?"

"Mhm, yeah," Natalie answered distractedly. She began to make her way towards Sayori, placing her bag down under a desk as she did so. "I'll be a moment."

The other three continued to talk amongst themselves about the festival as Natalie left, Monika with the least amount of interest in their conversation and the most interest in Sayori.

"Um," Natalie cleared her throat, "Sayori?"

After a few seconds, Sayori blinked rapidly before staring up at her. "Oh, er, sorry," she laughed, flustered, although there was an undeniable stiffness to the sound. "Don't mind me. You can go talk to everyone else."

"Well, I kind of wanted to chat to you, really," Natalie admitted. "I haven't seen you around all day today, and there was a strange lack of tiny gremlin stealing from my purse, so that definitely had me worried just a little."

"Oh, you don't need to worry, Natalie!" Sayori insisted. "Everything is fine. Maybe I'm just a little tired today." She forced a yawn, which took a few seconds to become genuine. "See? I'm just sleepy."

Natalie crouched beside the desk and took Sayori's hand. "Sayori, seriously, if there's something wrong, you can talk to me," she told her. "Anything at all, as dumb or silly as you might think it is. I mean, that's what friends are for, after all, and the last thing I'd want is for you to be anything less than your bubbly self."

Sayori's eyes didn't leave their joined hands. "Look, Natalie, I know you mean well, but y-you're too nice to me . . ." She quickly retracted her hand again and cradled it to her chest. "Why are you doing this? I-If you had fun with everyone else instead, this would be so much easier."

"No, Sayori." Natalie briefly glanced over her shoulder and was glad to see that Monika was keeping the others distracted. She began to reach for Sayori's shoulder but decided against it at the last moment, instead allowing her hand to fall lamely at her side. "I'm doing this because you're my friend, and I can see that there's something wrong, and I just want to help, in any way I can, anything at all to genuinely help you. I'm worried about you, really."

Sayori shook her head and wiped her runny nose on the edge of her sleeve. Natalie forced herself not to wince at the childlike sight and handed her a tissue.

"It's nothing, Natalie." Sayori was smiling again, though her eyes were still slightly reddened and bloodshot due to her tears. "It's just a little rain cloud. I'm sorry you had to see that," she laughed. "I promise it won't happen again. Just smiles from everyone, okay? That's all that matters."

"That's not true," Natalie disagreed, trying to keep her voice soft. "It's okay to not be okay, if that makes sense, but the important thing is that you do what it takes to make yourself feel okay again. I think you know what I mean by that," she commented, mildly accusingly. "More than making you smile, it's important to me that you're healthy, and safe, and happy."

Sayori continued to gaze at her for what felt like minutes, as if contemplating all that had been said to her over that short period of time. Very soon, something seemed to click, and she picked up her backpack from the floor and put it over her shoulders in a hurry.

"Go play with everyone else, Natalie," Sayori said. "Have fun. I'm gonna go home a bit early today."

"S-Sayori, come on," Natalie protested. "I'll give you snack money. You can go and buy more of those strawberry gummy teddy bears, and I promise not to judge this time, at least not to your face."

Sayori shook her head and giggled quietly. "You're so silly. Tell Monika I wasn't feeling well, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."

Monika's attention was abruptly pulled from the conversation she was having with Natsuki and Yuri. She subtly attempted to block Sayori's path to the door. "Off so soon, Sayori?" she asked. "We haven't even had a chance to properly share poems yet."

Despite Monika's efforts, Sayori simply swerved around the desks in the room and opened the door to the clubroom. "I'm just not feeling well," Sayori excused. "I'm sorry, I'll be back tomorrow. Save the poems for me, I can't wait to read them," she called over her shoulder happily as the door closed.

Natsuki scrutinized the door with a raised eyebrow. "That was odd. Sayori's always the last to leave."

"Y-yeah, well," Natalie fought down the shaky edge to her voice, "I think she's just not feeling too good. I guess that's what happens when your diet is almost entirely composed of vending machine snacks."

"I did try to warn her," Yuri humoured. "Oh well, I certainly hope she feels much better by tomorrow. It would be awful if she were too ill to attend the festival on Monday."

"Or maybe it's good," Natsuki interjected, "because then that's less people going at the fried squid-"

"Again with the fried squid?" Monika questioned.

Natsuki placed her hands on her hips. "I love fried squid, Mon-ika."

"Like I said, that doesn't even work in translation!" Monika paused for a moment as she registered her argument. "Actually, forget it. Let's just share poems, yeah? I'm sure we'll all feel much better after that."

"It's just getting worse," Natalie said. Both her and Monika had found a space in the corner of the classroom to exchange their poems and talk, though in truth they did more of the latter. "I tried, I really did, and I even gave her subtle advice to go and get proper help, but she just dismissed me like it's nothing. I'm not sure what else there is for me to do now."

Monika shook her head and shuffled up to sit closer to her. "Oh jeez, this is getting crazy. You're blaming yourself so much for this, and it's not fair on you at all." She placed an arm over her shoulders and felt her head come to rest against her shoulder. She rubbed the side of her arm with her thumb. "This isn't your fault. If it's anyone's, it's mine-"

Natalie began to sit up properly. "Monika-"

"And while it may not be a present version of me, it is me who was originally responsible for this happening. At least some of the blame is on me," she reasoned. "But you know what? We could play this blame game for the next few hours, and it won't make any difference. The important thing is that we're there for her."

"And next Monday?" Natalie asked.

Monika sighed heavily. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, yeah? Whatever happens, as long as we do everything possible, that's all that matters."

Natalie nodded her head. "And Natsuki? I know you've been keeping an eye on her, but how's she been?"

"I want to say better," Monika started, "but I'm not so sure if I could believe my own words if I were to claim that to be the case. Nothing has changed, I wouldn't say, but considering her circumstances, that's hardly a positive thing. Part of me wants to reserve the school's supply of fried squid especially for her sake."

"Maybe you should," Natalie agreed half-jokingly. "I doubt she'd refuse."

"Hey, love birds-"

"Natsuki!"

Natsuki's head appeared from over a desk. She watched Monika and Natalie disentangle themselves from one another with disapproval in her eyes. "We've finished sharing our poems now, so if you could please move your butts, that would be great."

"Natsuki," Yuri scolded. The top of her head was visible to Natalie for a brief moment. "Let's not make those two feel uncomfortable in their own Literature Club. It's not very nice."

Monika laughed and stood up while helping Natalie to her feet in the process. "Don't worry, Yuri. I don't think either of us took that too personally."

Natsuki scoffed and turned around. "You know we're all thinking it though . . ."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: I'm not entirely sure where I found the time to write an entire 3000-ish word chapter in less than 24 hours, but I suppose that's not a bad thing at all.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, my knowledge on depression as a whole is minimal, so hence I've had to do a lot of research on the subject to write these next few chapters to make them at least somewhat realistic. I just hope I've reached some level of accuracy when dealing with themes as difficult and dark as this.

I hope Natalie isn't coming off too mary-sue either. I tried to make her realistically flawed, with little things such as her struggling to wrap her head around the concept of depression, the fact that she does struggle academically, and her getting emotional/irritated every time she fails to change the script significantly enough.

But in anyway, I'm so glad people are enjoying this story so far, and I can't wait for you to see what I have in store for Natalie and Monika coming soon. It's gonna be a thrill ride, to say the least.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!