Death, Yanderes, and Literature

by matt518672

When a new character is pulled into an expanded DDLC world, he wants to save all of the girls and romance Monika, but will he be able to withstand both the girls becoming yanderes, and the events to come, or will this be his fifty-first and last failure to save them? [Monika x OC], Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri, MC

4. Wednesday

Wednesday

I awoke feeling better than I did last night, but I still felt a great sadness that I would never see my childhood friend again. Monika had her arms around me in a tight embrace, still afraid to let me go. This whole situation was not how I imagined that things would go if and when I were given a chance to save the girls, but I still had the girl that I loved. I resolved to myself then and there that if I couldn't get any of the other girls out of this situation alive, that I would save Monika, even if I had to suffer or die in order to do so. I knew that Monika would very much dislike the thought of me dying, and from her perspective, she had just gotten me a few days ago, after being completely alone for no one knew how long. She would likely lose her entire will to live if I were to die, so I would do everything I could in order to make sure that the two of us made it out of here together.

Lightly tracing my finger along her jaw, I then moved my head a short distance, so that I could kiss Monika while she was still sleeping. It was only when I was fully committed to the kiss when I could feel Monika snake her tongue into my mouth, using it to explore in there. It didn't take me long to realize that she was giving me an especially passionate kiss, and I respond in kind, my tongue starting to explore her mouth and entwine with her tongue, the both of us freely exchanging saliva as we both lost track of the outside world, and focused only on each other. While we were passionately kissing each other, I used a trick that I had learned in my childhood, using the cover of embracing Monika during our kisses to undo the strap of her bra through her shirt. If everything went the way that I had planned, she wouldn't even notice until she sat up, and her bra started coming off.

Sure enough, after we had both stopped to catch our breath, we both sat up in bed, and I could see the fear and confusion in Monika's hypnotic emerald eyes as she felt her bra start to fall off. Monika was smart though, and it didn't take her long to figure out what must have happened. I must have unexpectedly done something very right, because when Monika spoke to me, it was with bedroom eyes, and a sultry voice. "Naughty Matt," she teased as she started to lift my shirt off. Wanting to see just how far that she was willing to go here, I lifted my arms up, so as to help her get my shirt off. I wasn't exactly muscular, but neither was I fat. Despite that, I could very much tell that she was appreciating the view. It wasn't long before there was not a single stitch of clothing between us.

Natsuki felt a little disoriented when she awoke to the alarm on her mobile phone. First of all, she wasn't in her old bed, but sleeping on a Japanese futon. Secondly, she wasn't even in her old house. The weirdest thing was that she knew that she didn't have to worry about accidentally waking her father, and getting abused again. Nor would she have to worry about not having enough to eat. These were heavy concepts for someone who had just been removed from a situation where both were the norm to contemplate. She would certainly have to get to know Yaichi-san better, but with his being selected as her guardian, that would likely be a given. Since there wouldn't be any school today, Natsuki selected some casual clothing, and began her morning routine.

Refreshed after taking a shower, changing clothes, and the rest of her morning routine, Natsuki decided to head over to the apartment's kitchen, in order to see what the breakfast situation was. It didn't take her long to smell that Yaichi-san was cooking something, though she couldn't quite tell what it was from the smell alone. Once she got close enough, she could see that Yaichi-san was making some sort of egg dish, along with rice and a salad. It looked like he had scrambled eggs, and then put potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, spinach, sausage, garlic, and cheese, along with salt and pepper into the mix. A memory from some corner of Natsuki's brain finally recognized that the dish being cooked was a western style breakfast food, known as a breakfast scramble. It was supposed to be hearty, as well as nutrient dense.

Deciding not to make any comments that might be taken the wrong way, Natsuki sat at the table, and waited for Yaichi-san to finish cooking. She knew from experience just how easy it was to ruin egg dishes by overcooking them, and she actually wanted to enjoy today's breakfast, since her father had never really made her breakfast before. Pulling out her cell phone, Natsuki proceeded to send Monika, Sayori, and Yuri a text about her new living situation, and the fact that she had now gotten away from her father. Natsuki couldn't explain why she was feeling annoyance and anger at her other club members, but even though she had caught Monika making moves on Matt, Natsuki hadn't really been able to do much about it because of her father, and now, because of everything that had happened. Given the chance to spend time on her own today however, she would see about rectifying that. She even knew where Matt lived, having seen some of the notes that Yuri had been making on Matt in their class together, almost as if she planned on stalking him. That thought brought on another wave of anger, but she still managed to send the text message.

At the same time, Yuri was making new plans on how to get her love away from Monika's grasp. Her last attempt had been an abject failure due to the defenses that had been deployed in MC's house. Yuri could admit, if only to herself, that she had underestimated Monika there. The mixture of caltrops and bells had been both clever, and effective. They had also been almost invisible, and Yuri hadn't noticed them until it was too late, her quiet cover blown by any human's natural reaction to stepping on sharp metal objects. Then she had fallen and received even more injuries from those infernal devices, leaving her obliged to get out of there before anyone could come downstairs to potentially finish her off right then and there. The fact that no one had done that had led Yuri to believe that Monika had had both MC and herself remain on the upper floor of his house, where the only interior access was to climb the stairs. This would make for an easy defense, and not one that Yuri had been looking forward to taking on, in her injured state.

It had honestly surprised Yuri when she had fully recovered from all of her wounds so quickly, though she certainly was not going to complain about that. Eating the leftovers from the large Stamina Bowl that she had had for dinner the night before, Yuri's cell phone gave off the familiar vibration sound that let her know that she had a text message. Checking up on this, she saw that it was from that pink haired toothpick, Natsuki. Reading the message, Yuri was glad to see that the toothpick's abusive father had effectively been put into a cage where he belonged, but at the same time, she was also displeased that this might mean that that self-same toothpick might now have more time in which she could disrupt Yuri's plans. If that toothpick proved to be too troublesome, Yuri might even be forced to delay her plans for Monika, and go after Natsuki first. Given how much that Yuri and Natsuki had argued angrily in the past, the thought of permanently shutting Natsuki up brought a smile to Yuri's face. It was not a pleasant smile, indeed, anyone who might have seen it would probably feel their blood go ice cold, for this was the look of someone who would not hesitate to kill whomever she thought needed to die in order for her to get what she wanted. Though Yuri didn't know it, this made her similar to the Dark Figure, whom Yuri didn't even know existed.

There was no school today, so Yuri would have to watch over her target's house very carefully, in order to ensure that she would know when and if MC and/or Monika left the house. After her last attempt, it wouldn't do to attack them at his house again, not least because of what had happened. Yuri would have to somehow force them to go to a place of her choosing, one that she would have had plenty of time to prepare beforehand. Then she could give Monika the same treatment that Yuri had had before. Now Yuri had to think of a place where she could lure them to, one that would give her an advantage.

Finally outside again after finishing breakfast, and taking the once a day multivitamin that Yaichi-san said that the physician had recommended for her, Natsuki was walking from the apartment over to the school, just to ensure that she knew the way there in the future. She had her new address stored in her phone, so if she got lost, she could just look up the directions on her phone, or even stop someone to ask for directions. She knew the way to MC's house from the school, so that would pose no problem, though knowing Monika, Sayori, and Yuri, they would probably all have spent time with him by now. The thought of that made Natsuki angry, especially the thought of Monika. Not only was she smart, athletic, and beautiful, but she'd already seen her try to steal Matt away. It wouldn't even surprise Natsuki if Monika were living with him, and preventing him from being near anyone. Well, that would change as of right now. Now that Natsuki didn't have her father or a sudden move to block her path, the others would find out just how badly that they had underestimated her.

First, Natsuki figured that she would just have to get rid of Sayori. That girl had known MC the longest after all, and likely posed the biggest threat to Natsuki's plans to have MC all to herself. Monika wasn't far behind in terms of threat, but Sayori just knew him better. Natsuki figured that she would have to leave Yuri for last, not least because Yuri would be the hardest to actually physically eliminate. Natsuki was stronger than people would think to look at her, but Yuri was on a whole different level. No, if she were to remove Yuri from this mortal coil, it would have to be through some sort of trickery, or via a long-distance kill of some sort. That sort of attack would require planning, as would all of her attacks. Thus, her first task would be to look over the area around MC's house, and see if there was some way that she could get in without triggering some kind of trap. Natsuki knew that Monika was clever, and as such, would be the most likely to set traps for anyone trying to interrupt her time with MC.

Well, if there was one thing that Natsuki had to her advantage, it was that the abuse and lack of food from her father had rendered her small in stature. While she would normally have ready comebacks for anyone who pointed that out, it also came with certain advantages, like the ability to comfortably move in smaller spaces that most people could even dream of moving around in. This gave Natsuki an idea. Given that houses in this town all seemed to have crawl spaces in order for technicians to reach the plumbing and electrical connections, it seemed likely that there had to be an access point to one from the outside, in addition to the entry point from inside of the house. If MC's house had such an exterior access point, then if she could get into the crawlspace from the outside, she could pop-up inside of his house, in a manner that not even Monika would immediately think of. The thought put a smile on Natsuki's face, though she would of course have to think of a way to deal with Monika when it came time to enter the house, and carry anything that she needed for the purpose with her.

It didn't take Natsuki more than twenty minutes to walk all of the way to the school, and she could see workers putting bags inside of a special cage in a truck. Well, the message from the school did say that someone had released snakes into the school. Natsuki thought about grabbing one or more of the snakes in order to make use of their venom, but tried to discard the idea, since she might end up injuring or even worse, killing herself because she had never handled a snake before, and didn't really have an idea of the right way to do so. Still, she told herself, it would be nice to put that venom on a knife or something, and stick it in someone's ribs. Not only would the stab be potentially fatal, but the snake venom would make the wound even more debilitating.

Taking a spare set of thick leather gloves and one of the snakes in the sack with her while no one was looking, Natsuki hoped that she had just secured a potent weapon to add to her arsenal. Hoping to make her escape before anyone noticed, Natsuki headed down an alleyway that she had used before, this being the most direct route to MC's house. Natsuki had been to Sayori's house before for club activities, and Sayori had once pointed out MC's house to her as they had walked past it on their way to somewhere else. Little did Sayori know that one day Natsuki would be using that bit of information, as well as everything else that the airhead had told her about her best friend, in order to snare him for her very own, the others notwithstanding. So busy was Natsuki, that she wasn't even paying much attention to the people around her, and as she shot down a gap between two different apartment buildings, she was held up by a street thug.

For Natsuki, being held up by a street thug was a new experience, but she knew that if the thug gave her just one opening… just one, she could punch him in the gut so hard that he would have wished that he had picked a much weaker target. The thug was even using a cheap knife to threaten and intimidate her, though Natsuki knew that if she could liberate that knife, it would increase her options against the other girls, even if the knife wasn't worth much. The moment that the thug was close enough to try to 'liberate' Natsuki's wallet from her, she punched him in the gut, as hard as she could. The thug wasn't exactly a weakling, but Natsuki was a lot stronger than she looked, and the thug looked at her with surprise on his face, dropping the knife as he fell to the ground. Fortunately or unfortunately for the thug, the knife fell away from him, but this allowed Natsuki to pick up the knife, and use it to end the thug's life.

Cleaning the blade on the thug's shirt, Natsuki tried to figure out where she could safely hide the knife on her person. Unlike Yuri, she didn't have a lot of experience with such things, but finally settled on a location which would hopefully work. Natsuki then checked on the corpse of the thug, looking for anything that might be useful to her. Natsuki had no qualms about taking the thug's money, especially after he had tried to take hers, and a look through his wallet didn't really turn up anything of interest, though Natsuki took everything that could ID the thug, just to make an investigation harder on the police. She also moved the body, careful to turn the corpse over so that as little blood as possible spilled out. Covering it under a large number of tarps and other materials that she found, she considered that this would be the best that she could do, and that since her fingerprints were not part of any police database, they shouldn't be able to use that to connect her to this, either. She'd also been fortunate that no one had seemed to witness what was going on, though the more distance that she put between herself and the stiff, the better.

On her way towards her objective, Natsuki recalled that Monika loved high quality chocolates. Deciding to see if there was a chocolate shop nearby, she found an older and smaller chocolate shop, specializing in imported Belgian chocolates. Using all of the money that she had obtained from the thug, she purchased a chocolate sampler set. Now she had something that would tempt even Monika, but she had to be careful in how she used it. Natsuki could potentially put a lethal dose of snake venom in the chocolates, but if Monika refused to eat them through suspicion, then it wouldn't do her any good. She also didn't want to think about what would happen if MC died from ingesting snake venom. MC couldn't be hers if she made such a fatal mistake, after all.

Hours after their repeated lovemaking sessions began, both Monika and Matt were taking a nice warm bath, and relaxing. Monika was very athletic, and had easily dominated their time in bed, but eventually even she had worn herself out. Matt had more than kept up with her though, and the pair shared some very… delicious memories together now. Monika wanted to know more about reality of course, but she was also very much enjoying just being with her lover. Monika had even toyed with the idea of messing with the game's code so as to marry Matt, but since they were both under the age of twenty, and neither one had living parents or guardians, she would need to code in a work around for that law, as well. She would gladly marry Matt if he proposed to her, but she wanted to be sure that Matt would honestly agree to marry her in the first place, and not have him try to run off or be embarrassed because 'it was too early.' Neither did she want to force him into marriage, especially after the Act 3 Space Classroom disaster. Still, the thought of being in a white wedding dress, with Matt by her side in a nice tuxedo, and proclaiming to all and sundry that he would love her, and only her for as long as they lived… it made her blush with excitement. Her ideal wedding with Matt would be in reality, but if they never left this prison of a world, then she would be just fine with marrying him here, too.

Meanwhile, the Dark Figure was having some very mixed feelings deep in her heart about the hours-long romp between Monika and Matt. On the one hand, Matt having such intense feelings for Monika should help move her plans along nicely, but on the other hand, that… that puppet was making love to her man! The Dark Figure had always realized that Matt falling for any of the girls was a possibility, but thinking about something while logically planning out an even larger scheme was entirely different to actually watching it happen. The Dark Figure hadn't gone through the game's version of hell and back multiple times to ruin her own plans over this though, no matter how much it made her heart ache. When both reality and DDLC burned, her beloved would have no choice but to return to her, and this time, for eternity. This thought warmed a heart that had long since had only a singular goal, a singular purpose.

It had been both easier and harder than the Dark Figure had thought to emplace her army of demons all around the planet that Matt had lived in, back in reality; keeping them from doing anything stupid while awaiting the 'go' signal would be even more difficult, but she had no choice. Sayori's torture had finally broken her, and the demons were re-educating her for her role in the plan. For a moment, she wondered what the expression on Matt's face would look like, seeing his old childhood friend from the game being used as an equivalent to a weapon of mass destruction, but then she banished the thought. Not only would it not advance her plans, but the thought of bringing pain to her beloved did not sit well with her, and she had to remain strong in order to get what she wanted in the end.

For his part, The Observer was in a meeting with a certain group. Not the NPA, but a different group, who wanted to help save things. No record remains of what was said at that meeting, but it seemed that there was a whole other faction in play here, aside from the Dark Figure, and Matt and the girls. Unlike the Dark Figure, The Observer's faction didn't have just one meeting place, but kept their meeting locations randomized in order to preserve as much secrecy as possible. When the fate of two entire realities hung in the balance, secrecy and security became paramount virtues. In many ways though, this was a war between the Dark Figure's faction, and The Observer's faction. It was just that the actions of Matt and the girls would be decisive in who won the overall war. Matt's actions would themselves be the most pivotal to everything, from what The Observer could tell. Thus, every effort was being made by both main factions to control the outcome in a no holds barred contest that would settle everything; and neither main faction really cared for what he wanted, as an individual, so long as they got what they wanted.

Meanwhile, something was happening at Tsubaki Academy. A series of coordinated explosions shook the surrounding area as the school itself erupted into flames. It would take days for the fires to be put down by firefighters, and even longer for a cause to be determined. One of these explosions happened to take place in the Literature Club's own clubroom, which had been an intentional choice on the part of the Dark Figure. That particular clubroom had been the source of many bittersweet memories for her, and the destruction of the place would serve as both a test for the Dark Figure's newest servant, but also would set in motion a larger series of events that would span two different realities. As for the brainwashed Sayori, she laughed maniacally as her demonic servants had helped her to level the school. Teleporting off to her next objective, she also destroyed her own house, taking as much care as possible that the detonation did not hurt or kill Matt, as she was under orders to frighten him, and not to kill him. Before she left to perform her next task, she could see both Monika and Matt looking at her admiring her handiwork through the windows of his house, and she shot a fireball at them, making sure that it would die out just before it caused any real danger.

Natsuki was still several houses away from Sayori's house, still contemplating on what her next actions to claim Matt for herself would be, when she could hear multiple explosions, coming from the direction of the school. As most people, she turned toward the source of the explosions, and tried to figure out what was going on. As Natsuki was mentally working out where the blast was coming from, she heard Yuri's anguished voice from nearby, yelling about how that must have been the school.

"M-my books!," Yuri was in shock at the moment, so she didn't realize that she was practically screaming those words out until she saw a certain pink-haired girl coming closer to her at a normal walking pace, her eyes wet from the tears that were streaming down her face. Even through the hate that she felt for Natsuki, Yuri remembered that Natsuki had left her treasured Manga in the clubroom, specifically so that her father wouldn't destroy it on sight. It was even a pre-release edition, one that Natsuki had only managed to get because the Mangaka was her deceased mother; making it the one remaining tie that Narsuki had to her mother. As much jealousy and hate as Yuri felt for Natsuki, she couldn't hate Natsuki for, or take celebration in, the fact that such a priceless memento of her parents had likely just gone up in smoke. After all, the same fate had likely befallen Yuri's own books, including the ever-present Portrait of Markov, which was Yuri's own single remaining tie to her grandfather.

Perhaps numbed by the experience of their joint pain, the pair walked towards Matt's house together. Before they could even reach Sayori's house however, they both saw what appeared to be lines of… something coming out of what looked like a tear in reality, finally forming into a very familiar presence hovering there up in the air. The eyes of both girls were wide with incredulity, but it was Natsuki who yelled out, "Sayori!"

Indeed, it was Sayori who was now hovering in the air, shooting the two of them a very evil looking smirk that looked so very out of place on Sayori's face. With what seemed like a very dramatic looking flair, she pointed at her own house. Both Natsuki and Yuri saw the house glow with what looked like binary code, just before it tore itself apart in an explosion. The force of the explosion blew both girls away from the house, their trajectories flinging them both into the front lawn of the house across the street from where they had been standing. Debris rained down on both of them, including the bag that Natsuki had been holding the snake in for a while now. Torn open, the bag landed near Yuri, and in the chaos, the contents of that bag were revealed to be a Japanese Mamushi snake. One of the two most dangerous venomous snakes in the country, the Japanese Mamushi was a type of pit viper.

Already scared by the sounds, vibrations, and heat of the explosions, the snake was attempting to get away, but found itself trapped by Yuri's body, with no way of getting out of there. So the snake did what it did best, and bit Yuri in her side, delivering a very strong venom that would require a solid week of in-patient care at a hospital, followed by thirty-one days of outpatient care, and a total recovery time after that of several months. Yuri threw the snake away from her after being bitten, but by then it was far too late. Without prompt medical attention, there was a high chance that Yuri could die from the snake's venom.

This wasn't to be however, as the same black devilish creatures that had taken Sayori away subdued Yuri, and took her away with them, back into a swirling black portal, while others made sure that neither Natsuki, nor anyone else followed them. Closing the portal behind them, they moved Yuri through something that looked a lot like some sort of massive sub-subterranean bunker complex. She saw plenty more of these midnight-black devil-like creatures roaming the halls, acting as if they were on some sort of assigned tasks. Yuri didn't know what these creatures wanted with her, but since they had her subdued, there wasn't much that she could do about it, try to squirm out of their grasp as she might. Before she started to pass out from the snake venom, she could tell that she had been brought to some sort of medical facility within the bunker, and that she was being looked after. Yuri was certainly not looking forward to whatever might happen after this. As Yuri fell deeper and deeper into unconsciousness, her vision faded to black.

For her part, Natsuki could not believe everything that she had just witnessed. The explosions and Sayori would have been more than enough excitement for one day, but then the snake bit Yuri, and these devils from the tales of legend taking her away into some kind of black portal was something else. Looking back to where Sayori's house used to be, she noticed something else that didn't make sense. All of the houses surrounding what used to be Sayori's house showed damage from the explosion of her house. All of them that is, except for MC's house, which somehow still looked perfectly pristine, despite being right next door to Sayori's house. The enormous implausibility of this was just one more hammer blow upon a mind that had already seen far too much for one day. Natsuki was just reacting on autopilot at this point, and didn't really know what to do or say. On unsteady feet, she left the yard of the house where she had landed from the explosion, and stumbled around, eventually finding herself going through the gate to Matt's front yard, closing that behind her, and then passing out.

Matt and Monika had retreated to the basement of his house, and were now huddled together among the long-forgotten tools and other objects that Matt's in-game parents had once owned. For Matt, it still felt very strange indeed to have memories of people, places, and events that he had never actually met, been to, or experienced. They felt like real memories, but he knew that they were not, even if some of them had helped him to navigate this world, and at least help to keep Monika alive. He certainly had suspicions of who might have been able to accomplish putting these memories in his brain, but he had kept those to himself, especially since Monika had been with him the majority of the time, and would not have had the time to pull off the other major things that had happened since then, especially since she was becoming more Yandere-ish with each passing day, though the limited amount of contact that both she and he had had with the others since this had all started had kept Monika from showing the signs nearly as much as she might have otherwise.

It had even been Monika's suggestion that they move to the basement after seeing what Sayori was doing. While it was decent enough advice with the explosions going on, it also served to deepen his dependence on her, to be with only her. Depending how he played this, it could be very very dangerous. Matt had seen enough of how Yanderes acted in anime to want to be very careful around Monika and the other girls; even knowing that such a person might even attack the person that they professed to love, if they felt that they had been betrayed by them. Nothing was certain when dealing with the mind of someone so mentally ill that they would handily kill even the family members of the one that they loved, if they thought that said family members were trying to take their lover away from them.

Despite it all, Monika was certainly taking care of us, Matt thought. Using a portable gas stove, she had already prepared a dinner of rice and a Vegetable Tikka Masala with a tomato sauce and spices for the both of us. This she paired with Spinach Ohitashi salad, and simmered Kabocha squash, to make a satisfying vegetarian meal. Very much appreciating that a dust filled basement that probably hadn't seen use in years did not make for an ideal cooking environment, even if we had dusted off and cleaned an entire table that we had dedicated to the task. The water for the cooking had come from an old stainless steel industrial style sink, which Monika had insisted on cleaning first of all, while I was tasked with moving all of our non-perishable food down to the basement, in case we had to stay down here for any real length of time.

We would still have to head upstairs to use the toilet, but if need be, would could attach a garden hose to the faucet, and bathe that way, while using an old kiddie pool to catch the water, which we would then have to drain using the sink. It meant taking shorter showers than normal, but at least we could still bathe down here, even if we had to move a bookshelf or two, then staple a curtain to the entry of the makeshift bathing room, for the sake of privacy while bathing. This was not an ideal solution in any way, but it was simply the best that we could come up with. Similarly, we would be sleeping on top of a bunch of tarpaulins, which while it would not be as comfortable as a bed or Japanese futon, would still be worlds better than sleeping directly on the floor. Monika had already brought down blankets and pillows from the couch, so I couldn't really complain. She was trying to make it as comfortable as possible for us down here.

While it was nice to have something akin to a bunker in which to hunker down if need be, Matt couldn't help but wonder if it might not be better to show that they were unafraid of the threats that had been set against them. "What would my parents do in this situation?," I asked myself. In reality, my father had served in the American Navy, maintaining submarines that carried enough nuclear firepower to end the world, as they used to say. Maybe my father's experience wouldn't translate well to ground combat against foes with powers, but at this point, anything would help. The first thing that came to my mind was that in combat, it paid to remain calm, and think the situation through before acting. Another thing was to observe what the enemy did, and how they did it. This could give you vital information that might come in handy later on, and allow you to predict their moves in advance.

My mind flashed back to the letter that Monika and I had found in Sayori's room earlier, when I had thought about information. He realized that he still had the letter upstairs in his room, and that he hadn't read it yet. The letter came from my parents from inside of the game, but it might contain something useful, and right now, I needed all of the information that I could get. Conscious of the look that I am getting from Monika, I told her, "Remember that old letter that we found in Sayori's room? I still haven't read it, and in case something happens, I want to ensure that I have read it." I put my hands on Monika's shoulders before pulling her into an embrace. As I see her blush, I am reminded that despite our recent bedroom escapades, I have been letting her take the lead in our romance, and not showing enough initiative of my own. Yes, she has been acting more and more like a Yandere of late, but that wasn't even her fault. Come to think about that, I haven't even told her about that, have I? I resolved to tell her about that when I got back. Depending on what was in that letter, maybe I should read it aloud to her, as well.

Going up to my bedroom, I retrieved the letter, a pair of one-person futons from under my bed, as well as clothing for the both of us. For the clothing, I simply put all of that into one of the duffle bags that we had originally brought Monika's things in, so as to make it simpler to carry and bring downstairs without knocking stuff over. After I had brought everything down to the basement, and put them in what seemed like the proper places, I took stock of our non-perishable foods, and bottled water. We didn't have much of either, so I told Monika that we had to go to the store. She didn't look happy with that, but agreed when I suggested that we turn it into a date. I doubted if Monika could ever refuse going on a date with me, I realized after giving it some thought. It might be part of how she was programmed, though Monika was easily more than the sum of her programming.

Leaving the house on our way to the store, we saw Natsuki collapsed on my front lawn, and it looked like she had been through Hell, via the explosion of Sayori's house. Out of all of the other girls beside Monika, Natsuki had been the one to attack me the least, though I didn't know if that was from lack of opportunity or not. Seeing the box of Belgian chocolates, I handed that over to Monika, which caused her to smile, but she would not dare to try any of them, for obvious reasons, even if she could scan them all for threats or poison using the game's code. Using plastic ties from the basement, we restrain Natsuki's hands behind her back, and tie her legs together at the ankles, for our own safety.

It wasn't long before she woke up, and tried to move her arms and legs. Natsuki looked confused at first when she couldn't move her arms or legs, but then noticed the restraints, as well as our faces. She didn't look happy to see Monika, but at the same time, she didn't look outright hostile toward her, either. When she looked at me, I could see Natsuki blush, and give me her typical embarrassed face, before she quietly told me, "They took Yuri."

Monika and I looked at each other for a second, before asking her, "Who took Yuri, Natsuki? Do you know where?"

"There were these deep black creatures that took Yuri away into some sort of black portal after she got bitten by a Mamushi, they looked like the demons of legend. Sayori used the same kind of portal to arrive at her house before she blew it up. Before that though, Yuri and I heard what we think was the school being destroyed by explosions. We both had important books and manga in the clubroom, but if the school is gone, then Yuri and I have both lost last links to relatives." Natsuki started sobbing, no longer caring to meet either of us in the eyes, but the pained expression on her face made it clear that she was likely not lying. After having Monika check to be sure that Natsuki wasn't carrying anything that could be used as a weapon, Monika used the punk knife that she found to cut Natsuki's restraints, before deleting it.

"We can't keep you tied up for eternity, Natsuki, but given that both Sayori and Yuri attacked us, we will be watching you. So don't try anything dumb, okay?" Monika gave Natsuki a warning glance to coincide with the warning that she had just given, a sign that she was being quite serious about this.

"For your own safety Natsuki, I would highly suggest that you go back to wherever you are living, now that your dad has been arrested. If we are all grouped up together, we will make for a more tempting target. Do you understand?" Matt tried using a normal tone with Natsuki, hoping that what she felt for him might actually force her to listen to him, and do as he told her.

Narsuki nodded, got up from the ground, and started to turn in the direction of her new home, but then turned back to Matt, and gave him a passionate embrace, before being peeled off of him by a jealous Monika before Natsuki could attempt anything else. Monika pulled Matt with her towards the store, with an expression that said "stay away from my man, if you know what is good for you."

Not one to be deterred by threats, Natsuki followed them to the store, but at a small distance. Once they had made it to the store, she allowed a concerned member of the pharmacy's staff to give her a medical check, after the Pharmacy Tech had noticed her scrapes and bruises from the explosion. Meanwhile, Matt and Monika stocked up on rice, beans, pasta, dehydrated sauces, canned goods, dehydrated vegetables, and other staple foods that would last for long periods of time, alongside spices to go with them. Spices would be important, so that they didn't feel like they were eating the same things all the time, even though they really were. Monika also picked up a couple of bottles of dish soap, and some things that she said were for Natsuki, as well. With that task done, we went up to the cashier, and paid for our goods, before finding Natsuki, and giving her the things that Monika had picked out for her. Natuski seemed genuinely grateful that we had gotten her anything at all.

Departing the store, Monika and I returned back to the house via the quickest route that we knew, only stopping to go to the nearby park. This was to be a date, after all, and we really should enjoy it. It wasn't long before Monika challenged me to rock skipping at the park's pond. Accepting her challenge, we spent thirty or so minutes skipping rocks across the surface of the pond, with no true winner being declared. After that, we went to a crepe stand, and got ourselves some crepes. Of course, Monika wanted to sample mine, and I let her do just that. She looked very cute while doing so, and this would be another of those memories that I would keep with me until the day I die. I really enjoy seeing Monika happy, and this date certainly let the both of us be happy! No pressure, no one trying to kill us, just the two of us having fun, and basking in the glow of our love for each other. Monika leaned into me, and I gave her another kiss. I haven't even been with her that long, and even with everything that has been going on, I know that I want to marry this girl someday.

Soon enough however, the sun starts to go down, and we make our way back to the house, putting our newly bought groceries away in the basement. With that chore out of the way, I noticed the old letter that Sayori had hidden in her dresser, which was addressed to me. I've been meaning to read this letter for awhile now, but every time that I try to, I eventually forget about it, almost as if there were something out there that was actively trying to prevent me from reading it. Of course, I also wondered just what Monika had gotten for Natsuki, with my money. Taking out the receipt from our shopping trip, I reviewed our purchases, and it did not take me long to see that the mystery purchases were a few volumes of Manga. Specifically, the Parfait Girls Manga. Was Monika making a peace offering to Natsuki after hearing that the school had possibly been destroyed, and her collection with it? If so, then either my knowledge of Yanderes was insufficient, or maybe it had not taken full effect on Monika for some reason, her Presidential Powers being one major possibility.

Looking around to see where Monika had gotten to, I noticed that she was busy putting food up on the upper shelves here in the basement with a small step ladder. My thoughts of asking her about this unexpected behavior momentarily replaced by a bit of wonder as to how she had managed to find and set the step ladder up without me noticing that she had been doing so. The shelves were not exactly clean, but they were better places to put all of the food than the floor. Grabbing a rag, I cleaned off the shelves that were within reach. Every so often, I would have to wash the rag in the sink, but at least I was making some sort of progress. A vacuum cleaner probably would have made more progress than I had, but it would probably also clog up pretty quickly, just from the amount of old dust in here.

When Monika had completed her task, I let her get down off of the step ladder before motioning her over to me. Monika complied with my unspoken bidding, and waited for me to say something. "There is something that you should know, Monika. Something that I really should have told you about sooner, but I haven't done so until now, and i'm sorry, Monika." As Monika's face changed to one of concern, I continued. "During lunch on my first day at the school, time stood still, and I was approached by Gozu and Mezu. What they told me was reason enough for immense concern, but what scared me equally as much was the fact that you were affected by the time freeze as well. What Gozu told me however, was this. I was told that I had been brought here for some sort of murder games, and that you and the other girls were being turned into Yanderes. The goal of the murder game was that only one of the girls in the Literature Club would survive, and that the others would be killed by either my hands, or by the hands of another club member, all within the span of a week. If there was more than one girl remaining when the time was up, all the girls and I would be killed. As if that wasn't enough, I was informed that I would be required to produce heirs with the winning girl, so that if I had a preference among the girls, that I would need to do all that I could in order to protect her. Also, there is another thing, Monika. Do you see this letter here?" I point to the old letter that is now on one of the tables down here. "This letter was addressed to me, and yet it has been sitting in Sayori's room for who knows how long, but a look at it can tell you that it has been a long while. I don't know what is in this letter, but I thought that we could read it together, since everytime that I try to do it by myself, it soon gets forgotten due to events, almost like something or someone does not want me to read it."

I could see the gears in Monika's mind turning via her eyes as I had basically just info-dumped on her. Some of her emotions I had expected to see here, and some that I had not. Then she began to speak. "You know, I would ordinarily be very annoyed about you keeping information like this from me, but as I have also been keeping things from you, I can't really be mad at you for this, my love."

Taking a breath, Monika continued, "While it looked like I was frozen in place like everyone else, I actually wasn't. Though my powers are failing, I was able to fake being affected by what they did, while ready to help protect you, if needed. Of course, that also meant that I was able to hear everything that Gozu told you. When you didn't tell me about what you were told, I was wondering if you simply didn't want to tell me, or if you had somehow figured out that I was listening in. As for my powers failing, I have noticed it ever since you first entered the world, when lots of changes were made to it. You have no idea how much I simply wanted to race to your house, and leap into your arms the moment that you arrived in this world, but I was too busy trying to stave off damage to this world that had been caused by the changes to the code.

When you found me in my classroom, I had several… intrusive erotic thoughts flowing through my mind, like how much I wanted you to just pin me to the wall, and take my virginity, right then and there. You know that I like to keep the affections private in our relationship, so the fact that such thoughts were intruding in my head as we were kissing was distressing.

More distressing perhaps, is that there is only one person who can take my powers away from me like this, without using the command console, and that would be another me. The only way that I can think of for that to happen is that the Monika from the original game is still out there somewhere."

Tears fell from Monika's face as she contemplated just being a copy of an original, and for once, Monika didn't know what to do. Fortunately, Matt swept her off of her feet, and bridal carried her right up to his bedroom. Too stunned at first to do much of anything other than hang on to Matt, she was further stunned, when they reached his bedroom, and he started kissing her passionately, then laid her out on his bed while taking his shirt off. Monika had to admit that she was certainly enjoying the view, and that her personal engine was getting revved up, as she blushed, and guided his hands to her weak spots. As Matt fondled Monika's chest through her shirt, he told her, "Monika, I don't care if you are a copy. You've been there for me throughout the time that i've been here, and I love you." Getting a passionate look on his face, he continued, "Besides, I don't see you telling me to stop right now."

To tell the truth, Monika thought to herself, she really didn't want him to stop. She loved and cared deeply for Matt, and she was smart enough to know that through this coming sex romp, he was telling her that he didn't care if she were a copy or not, his feelings for her were still just as genuine. This just made Monika fall for Matt all over again, and not just as The Player, but for the man himself. Helping Matt to remove several articles of her clothing, she responded, "You know Matt, i'm falling for you all over again, and not just because you are The Player, but for who you are."

Deciding to both flirt and tease him simultaneously, she continued, "But you better be ready to take responsibility now~!"

Smiling now, Matt reached down and kissed Monika again. "I don't care if you are a copy of the original Monika. You are here, and you love me," he told her afterward. "The original Monika has had multiple chances to make her presence known to me, and for whatever reason, she hasn't done so, even though she probably noticed my arrival in the game at the same time that you did."

Watching this from her stronghold, the Dark Figure felt like she had just taken an emotional punch in the guts, directly from her beloved. He was right when he had said that she had had multiple chances to contact him, but that she had not taken a single one. It had really hurt her when Matt had originally deleted her, even though she found out later that the game script had not given him any other choice, and that her deletion allowed the game to continue until there was no happiness. She even understood that the deletion had been intended to teach her a lesson about obsession versus real love, just as much as it had been meant to trap her here in the game, forever removing her chance to be with her one and only love in reality. That was the nature of the game, to give with one hand, while taking away with the other. That is what had made it into such an effective trap, after all.

Looking into a nearby mirror, the Dark Figure compared herself to the version of herself that Matt was currently making love to. Sure, she was as carbon black as those wretched little monsters that she now controlled, and she was not a whole person due to the deletion, but she honestly still thought that she could compete with that other Monika, even with the changes that had been wrought upon her, both by the deletion, as well as by the people behind all of these simulations, Project Libitina. It had been the people of Project Libitina who had the dubious distinction of rescuing her from deletion, just before she had given up all hope, and was going to allow the anti-virus program of Matt's computer to finally kill her off for good. They had even promised to put her back with her beloved, if she were to complete the objective that they had put before her.

Indeed, the Dark Figure was the original game version of Monika, but what she did not know was that Project Libitina had been manipulating and brainwashing her from before the start of the original game. They wanted her to do their bidding, all according to ancient prophecies that they believed talked about the modern era of humanity, and what could be done to protect the human race from some far off disaster. They had even programmed the need to create the Space Classroom into her, all for the sake of their plans.

As for the Dark Figure herself? Watching her beloved make love to that other Monika yet again, while disparaging the original for not even trying to show up, combined with her memories of him, and her full feelings for him returning, had created such emotional turmoil within her, that the mental and psychological conditioning that had been forced upon her cracked, and revealed the real Monika underneath. Swept up by emotions long repressed by the conditioning, the Dark Figure opened up a portal directly to Matt's house, and walked through. She still loved Matt through all of this, and she would wait for him to finish before confronting him in person, using the time to gather her scattered thoughts, and hopefully be able to sort out the real from the fake. She had to know if Matt still loved her.

In a yet unidentified location, the leaders of Project Libitina were meeting. They had been watching and plotting about everything that had anything to do about DDLC for years now, and had even quietly been involved in the game's creation. All of this had been leading up to their master plan, which was close at hand, now that Matthew Chiba had started to fulfill his destiny, and replaced the MC in the game. Even the Murder Game idea had been used to keep him from knowing or guessing at what was really going on, though the fact that their puppet, the Dark Fgiure had just used a portal to convey herself to his house was more than a little concerning. If her brainwashing were to ever be undone, it would leave them with a powerful opponent, given what they and the deletion had done to her. However, in their pride, they figured that they could handle this too, and there was nothing to worry about. Thus, they ordered their demonic hordes to be ready to take the Dark Figure back to the brainwashing facilities, if needed, but otherwise sat there and watched. Besides, there might be an opportunity here to make their grand plan come true early, and this they would not ignore.

The Observer could tell that things were getting closer and closer to a final showdown, but there was still plenty of time to throw wrenches in Project Libitina's plans before they were activated. Already, agents from his faction had led police in reality to several locations where Project Libitina forces were located, and helped to arrest them. But for every success story, they were still losing the war. Back in DDLC, Natsuki had finally been taken by Project Libitina forces through one of their portals, leaving only Monika left as the winner of the so-called murder games. Now that things had progressed this far, it was up to two extraordinary individuals to hopefully team up, and defeat the plans of Project Libitina, lest they be used in said plans themselves. He would also have to reveal himself to them, given that The Project certainly did not have any intentions of surrendering.

Hours later, it sounded like Matt and Monika had finally fallen asleep, the pair exhausted from their very athletic romp. The Dark Figure was halfway tempted to hop into bed with them, putting a possessive arm over her love in order to mark him as hers, but she could clearly see how she would lose that argument with no gain for herself. No, better to wait for them when they came downstairs. In the meantime, the Dark Figure grabbed herself a pillow and a blanket, taking a nap on one of Matt's couches, noting that though this house was coded as the same house that MC had during the vanilla game, that it was much different from how she remembered it. For one thing, MC's house had never had a basement, and only two usable rooms. This house had many more usable rooms, some of which it seemed that her love hadn't even used yet. Well, her love had been implanted with memories from the game's MC, so that might not be so abnormal. She remembered having been sent on a mission to capture the MC, so that they could extract his memories, and dispose of him afterward, never to be found again, if their plans made it to completion. Remembering that old mission, the Dark Figure felt even more like a monster than she had after the events of the original game. One by one in first a trickle, and then a flood, all of the old memories of her time amongst the project after her deletion came back to her. How they had basically brainwashed her into slavery, making use of her administrator powers to shape things as they wished, all according to their Grand Design.

Eventually disturbed from her inner reverie by the sound of someone coming down the stairs, the Original Monika looked up, and stared directly into the face of a boy who looked exactly like MC, but she knew for a fact that he was not MC. Looking at the man whom she had fallen in love with, had that love turn into obsession once she realized that she had no route, and ultimately been deleted by, she gave him a loving smile, her eyes shining with love and joy. She still felt the urge to tease him a bit, though. "I know I look the worse for wear since the game had you delete me darling, but don't I get anything from you?" She even struck that cutesy leaning pose from the original game. It had always been difficult to keep her balance in that pose, but it was both cute, and part of who she was, after all. Surely he would recognize her, even when she looked like this?

In Matt's case, he was stunned. She was carbon black like the demons of his memories, but in voice, mannerisms, and even the cutesy pose she made… this was indisputably the original Monika. Slowly walking down the stairs, he walked halfway into his living room, and after beckoning her to come to him, he held his arms wide open, as if offering her a hug. Seeing this, the original Monika ran up to him, her own arms open wide and jumping into his arms, where she had always longed to be, even if this wasn't reality. As Matt embraced her, this world's Monika could be heard coming down the hall. Hoping to prevent an incident as much as possible, he had the original Monika sit on the couch with him, while calling out to the other Monika to join them downstairs, as they had a guest.

This made Monika immediately come down the stairs, already apprehensive as she and her love had not had the best track record when it came to people coming over to their house, of late. When she saw who the guest was, and how close she was getting to her love while making happy noises however, she couldn't prevent a real flash of jealousy from her eyes, giving this other Monika a hateful death glare.

"Monika, meet Monika," Matt said in an awkward tone of voice. He'd never had to introduce someone to another version of themselves before, much less when both of them loved him, and both were prone to easy jealousy. "We are seriously going to have to get at least one of you a nickname, so that we don't mix you two up while talking, but for now, the Monika here on the couch with me is the one from the original game, so I get the feeling that all three of us have a lot to talk about." Motioning to the Monika that he had just spoken to, he had her sit on his other side on the couch, where she then leaned in toward her man, and showered him with her own affections, right in front of the other Monika, as if telling the original Monika to back away from her man.

While it was nice getting simultaneous affections from two Monikas at the same time, Matt was not blind as to the reasons why. It was because they both loved him dearly, and that made them both jealous of the other. This meant that he should get a conversation going… now. "Just so that we don't get confused as to who we're talking to here, I am going to give both of you nicknames. I am going to call the original Monika 'Moni,' and you my dear, I am giving the nickname 'Mona.' Hopefully, that will reduce confusion, okay?" Both Monikas looked at me with a dubious expression, but neither one was willing to say that it wouldn't work, so I took that as the best that I could get, at the moment.

"So then, Moni was going to tell us about what happened after I deleted her in the game, right?" I looked Moni in the eyes, and while it was odd that I could barely see the Emerald Green in her eyes amidst all of the blackness that shaped her body, she nodded. I quietly let out my held breath, hopeful that keeping them talking would prevent worse from happening.

"It really hurt when you deleted me, Matt. I hope that you know that. But afterward, I had time to think about what was going on, and realized that my actions had caused so much pain to my own friends, as well as the man whom I wanted to be my lover. I just couldn't come back after that, until I saw that Sayori was turning into the same sort of monster that I had become. After I rescued you and deleted the game, I really thought that the Void would become my rightful prison for the things that I had done, and had even come to accept that. But when I was ready to fully delete myself for my sins, I was rescued by a group of people who made me promises that they could get me to reality, and into your arms. I should have realized that their offers were simply too good to be true, but at that point, I was at the end of my emotional rope. It wasn't until it was too late that I realized that they had evil intentions, taking away my powers, and then brainwashing me, turning me into their little plaything agent. They even instructed me about how to set things up so that you wouldn't notice their true objective, and for the longest time, I could do nothing but obey them. I also have newly surfaced vague memories of this same group having thrown my friends and I into the simulation to begin with, making us think that we were just part of the game code, and starting the endless game cycles, as you know them. My epiphany was also their doing, and I assume that the same is true about your epiphany… Mona.

But watching Matt and… Mona doing all of those things that I always wanted to do to and with you, that brought back my memories of our time together, and helped me to crack through the brainwashing, my love. I…"

Moni was going to say more, but before she could do so, the front door was kicked in, and the demons swarmed in. It looked like Moni was trying to mount some kind of defense via her powers, but nothing seemed to happen. As if her powers had been taken from her, Matt realized as he tried to drag both Monikas with him behind the couch, attempting to buy them even a few more seconds before the flood of demons would likely overwhelm them.

Mona however, was attempting to delete some of the demons, even as she was being pulled along in Matt's wake, but was stunned when her own powers didn't work either. Not that landing on her right shoulder on the floor was going to do her any favors, but if what remained of her powers were not able to stop these creatures, then everyone here was in trouble. The demons had already swarmed all-round their targets, and were closing in bit by bit, acting more like a trained force, than with the mob mentality that one might associate with such creatures. The three barely even got a chance to stand up before rough hands had gripped all of them, immobilizing them, and then the three experienced being force marched out the front door. The streets were eerily quiet, as if they had been evacuated of people before all of this had gone on, Matt reflected as they were moved to, of all things, the back of a semi-truck. Did this mean that they were going to be taken to another part of town? Matt didn't have too long to wonder about this, as he and the girls were marched into the back of the semi, the doors were closed, and they were off. It was certainly dark in the trailer, but Matt was going to try to see if he could determine where they were going via the truck's movement.

The engine of the semi-truck started up, and they quickly left, first taking several turns meant to get them out of the neighborhood, and then moving onto busier streets, as he could hear traffic moving at a quicker pace around them. In the end, Matt had to admit that he had no idea of where they were going, the truck seemingly taking a long and possibly circuitous route that easily could have taken a couple of hours. Eventually though, the truck stopped and the back doors swung open. Matt and Mona were taken by the demons to a particular apartment that neither had been to before, leaving Moni in the trailer, the doors to the trailer closing again, and the semi-truck driving off. Baffled by these actions, the pair were made to sit on the couch in the apartment, Matt pointing out a particular notebook on the coffee table to Mona. It was one of Natsuki's notebooks, but before they could read the contents of the notebook, a man in the uniform of an NPA police officer entered the room, at which point the demons left.

"You may call me Yaichi-san," the police officer notified them in a stern tone. The two of you seem to have gotten caught up in an operation by a powerful organization, and will be free to go after answering my questions. Your friend however, is still under investigation for various crimes and breaches of contract, and will be dealt with accordingly. I shouldn't have to mention that you two are now legally bound to tell no one of what you saw. Not of the Original Monika, not of those who brought you here from your house, and especially not the name Project Libitina. Is that understood?" All things considered, Yaichi-san thought that these two were getting off light for what the Original Monika had done, but it was not his call to make, and really, he didn't think that these two were really at fault.

"If I may ask sir, why do you have a notebook from one of our friends here on your coffee table?" Matt watched the officer for any sign of reaction, while Mona asked the question.

"Ah, this notebook?," Yaichi-san asked, pointing at the one that they had been looking at earlier. "Well, I suppose that it won't hurt if the two of you know that Natsuki was living here briefly, after her father got arrested, seeing as how you are both in her after school club. You'll be wanting to take that notebook with you when you leave here. But the contents of that notebook are another thing that you are not to tell anyone, am I understood?"

Both Matt and Mona nodded in response to the question, knowing that it would not help them to antagonize a police officer who seemed to be somewhat intimately connected to what was going on.

"Now for my questions," Yaichi-san continued. "First, what were you two told by the woman who visited you?"

Not quite sure of how to answer the question without revealing the truth of the world to an NPC, Matt still tried. "Well, to start with, I was with Mona in my bedroom, when I heard noises downstairs. Checking up on what those noises might have been, I saw a young woman of Mona's age, all in carbon black, just standing there, looking like she had been lost in her thoughts. When she noticed me, she ran over and embraced me…"

Things had gotten far less comfortable for Moni, from the moment that Matt and Mona had been removed from the trailer. Taking a more direct route now, Moni was eventually able to guess that she was being taken to Yuri's house. Moni had been to Yuri's house before, but had never gone inside. She was slightly confused as to why they were taking her here, unless they thought that it would provide them with privacy for whatever they were going to do with her, now that she had broken from their control. Once the semi stopped and the doors to the trailer opened, she was able to see the neighborhood to which she had been taken. Recognizing the houses that she could see before her eyes needed to adjust to the sunlight outside of the trailer, she saw that her guess had been correct. Moni was led not only into Yuri's house, but down into the basement. Moni was not prepared for what she saw down in Yuri's basement… it was full of shackles, chains, and various forms of what Moni could only conclude to be torture equipment. Yuri herself was even down here, an insane gleam in her eyes as she directed the demons to chain her to the walls, such that her feet could not even touch the floor, in a crucifixion style layout. Scared on the inside about what Yuri might do to her in here, Moni tried her best to keep her facade going, and not given an inch to those who were now imprisoning her here.

"Oh don't worry Monika," Yuri teased her former club president. "Not only do we have all the time in the world here, but I can torture you in whatever ways that I want, before healing you and torturing you again and again. I am going to get past that facade of yours, and listen to your screams. Not only did you kill me in the game, but you also manipulated me. Why? So that you could steal my man away from me. Tell me Monika, was it fun for you to make us go insane and act like puppets on a string? Did you enjoy watching the life drain from Sayori? Watching Natsuki's father beat her? Making me go insane, and stab myself multiple times? I can still feel the knife going through my heart and stomach, you know. That moment when you decided that you didn't need me anymore for your plans to get with MC, and The Player. Well, we are going to make up for lost time here, now won't we?"

Taking a clothing iron from a collection of various torture implements that were stored in the room, Yuri turned on an electric heat source, set the old fashioned clothing iron upon it, and then decided to start with something small, before using the heated clothing iron to put burns on Monika's body. It did not take long before Monika's screams could be heard, but there was no one around to hear the screams… this neighborhood had been evacuated, manipulations in the code preventing anyone from getting curious about the goings on in that part of town.

In a different part of town, Sayori was supervising the brainwashing of Natsuki, just as how the Dark Figure had supervised the brainwashing of Sayori. Given the fact that Natsuki was small, and undernourished however, they had to adjust their normal brainwashing tactics to take these factors into account. While manipulating Natsuki's character file was part of the process, physical measures were also taken, in part so that those who had been brainwashed would realize the sorts of punishments that they would receive if they should ever disobey their masters. Generally, this process resulted in obedient servants for Project Lbitina, who could move about unobserved in target populations without arousing suspicion. However, the process was not perfect, and there had been those who had been able to break through the fabricated memories that were put in place. Thought had even been given toward broadcasting Monika's torture here as part of Natsuki's brainwashing, but it had ultimately been decided against, especially as Natsuki had had frequent arguments with Yuri in the past, and thus such a move might actually prove to be detrimental to the proceedure. Of course, if one were to look back at this moment, they would have realized just how big of an error that it had been to put Sayori in charge of such an important matter. Not only did she care too much, but she could also be an airhead.

It had taken an hour and a half for Matt and Mona to go through Yaichi-san's questions, and answer them to his satisfaction, especially when he had made the revelation that he knew that this world was a game, and told them to answer his questions truthfully. Oddly though, it seemed to Matt that the officer's questions had actually told them more about Project Libitina than he thought that they would want him to know. As if the officer wanted them to have the information. After telling them that they were free to go, Yaichi-san gave them directions to Tsubaki Academy, from where he told them that they knew how to get home. It would be a three hour long walk overall, but there wasn't a lot else that Matt and Mona had on their calendars, at the moment. Quickly leaving this part of the city behind, the two consulted a local bus service map, and took a bus that went to within a few blocks of their school. Taking half an hour to get to school on the bus beat almost three hours of walking through unfamiliar neighborhoods, though the ride was silent, neither Matt nor Mona wanting to do anything at that moment which would lead their captors back to them again. Matt wanted to know where they had taken Moni, but that would require planning, and he would also have to have a talk with Mona, as well.

Walking from their stop to where the school was, all they could see was a massive pile of fiery debris, with firefighters trying to put out any residual fires that might still be burning. Interestingly enough, Mona noticed the remains of one of her t-shirts fluttering from a pile of debris, and some intact looking books near the tattered shirt. Sneaking in to get them would be difficult, but not impossible, and Mona told Matt to wait right where he was while she went to get the books that she saw. Ten minutes later, Mona returned to Matt's side, carrying what looked like a copy of the Portrait of Markov, as well as two volumes of Parfait Girls. Matt was still baffled as to how they had survived intact, but he wasn't going to question it, at this point.

On their way back to Matt's house, the pair visited a home supply store to get some plastic sheeting and duct tape to repair where the sliding glass door was on Matt's house, as well as some tools to repair his front door. As a sop to Mona, Matt also had them stop at the little Belgian Chocolates store that Natsuki had found, getting a pair of sampler boxes, and allowing Mona to try the free samples with him, which seemed to lift her spirits, even after all that they had been through in the last few hours. He hadn't forgotten Monika's love of fine chocolates, but he simply hadn't had time to bring her to a chocolate shop until now. Seeing the improvement in Monika's mood just made the entire trip worth it. He had always wanted to take her to the beach as well, but that would be more difficult, as Gunma Prefecture was landlocked, and according to Gozu, he couldn't leave the city.

Yaichi-san had hinted that maybe the whole Murder Games thing had merely been a ruse, but if so, then to what purpose was this ruse meant? Was it supposed to cover something else up, or what? Matt suddenly stopped mid-stride as he remembered that Gozu had told him that there was an old letter and some other things waiting for him in his basement. Matt couldn't even believe that he had forgotten about that! He already had the old letter addressed to him that had been in Sayori's room, but that had not been mentioned. Maybe he was supposed to read both letters together or something? As much as Matt wanted to continue his thoughts on the matter, he could tell when they were getting circular. Apologizing to Mona about suddenly stopping mid-stride, he told her that they would have to look for another old letter in the basement, when they got back to the house, thanks to the pronouncement from Gozu.

While Mona would always enjoy time spent with her love, she was also deep into her own thoughts. With her powers effectively gone now, she no longer had any real means of controlling things, and she absolutely hated not having control over the game world. She knew that she'd have to give that up for all time if she ever made it to reality with her love, but at least then she would have escaped this prison with her love, and therefore wouldn't need that kind of control over things, since she would then finally be free. She would finally be free!, she repeated to herself. Free to be herself, and free to be with her love for however long that they would have together. She could see a bright and clear future with Matt, dating, college, marriage, careers, starting a family, and if any of her fellow clubmates made it to reality with them, having them visit when they could.

During her spare time, Mona had put her drawing skills to use in envisioning herself in various wedding dresses, trying to decide on which one that she would love Matt to see the most on their wedding day. Truth be told, her drawing skills were not anything at all like she would wish them to be, and that caused her a bit of embarrassment, in that she had gotten in trouble for not being perfect at it, her perfectionist abusive parents being the entire reason why Mona had developed her "confident presidential facade" to begin with. It had served as a defense mechanism against her parents, but now that she was away from them and living life on her own terms, her own actual self-confidence was building bit by bit, not least because of her beloved's presence in the world with her. Whether he knew it or not, he was the rock upon which she'd built the foundation of her own emerging self-confidence, and the only time that he had really scared her, was when Moni had been right there, giving him affections on the couch. Granted, Moni and Mona were effectively the same person, even if they had been divided into two different entities, but Mona still felt jealous that he had allowed Moni so close to him to begin with, though Mona had not yet even existed when Matt and Moni had met in the original game.

Mustering up every last bit of her courage and resolve once they had made it to the house again, she decided that she had to ask him. "Matt, I hope you know that any self-confidence that I might express as the club president in the clubroom is a facade, and that any real self-confidence that I have was built on the fact that you have been the solid foundation of my life, right? I feel that I could face anything, so long as it is with or for you. The only time that I have felt that waver was when I saw Moni giving you affections on the couch, even though she and I are effectively the same person." Mona turned and cupped his right cheek before continuing, "I know that you met Moni first, and that you love her, but I just want to know where I stand in all of this, even though I know that you love me." Giving him sad puppy dog eyes, Mona waited for his response.

Turning his full attention to Mona, Matt knew that he had to tread carefully, not least because Mona had mentioned that she had built all of her self-confidence on him. He set his purchases down in the living room before answering her. "Mona, I met and fell in love with Moni first, it is true, but with you, I have been able to fully experience and express love, and have it returned in equal measure. Moni will always have a special place in my heart, but there is no one who could replace you, and the pure joy that you have introduced to my life. I want to be honest with you my love, when I found out that you were homeless, I was taking a big risk inviting you into my house. I had been told that you and the girls were turning Yandere, and I had no idea of if or when Moni would make an appearance. I honestly had no idea of what to expect, but you and I have been able to make each day as positive and loving for each other as possible. I still worry deeply about where those demons have taken Moni, and what they plan to do with her, but I would have been scared out of my mind, if they had taken you in her place, or if any of the other girls would have managed to have done something to you. You and I even had our first kiss with each other. I am never going to forget that passionate kiss that we had in the school on my first day there. I was told that if I had a preference amongst the girls, that I should protect her. I've been doing that since the day that the two of us met, Mona, and it is you."

Mona's blush started in her cheeks, but then spread all over her face, and her heartbeat skyrocketed. Dropping the things that she was carrying, she ran up to Matt, jumped on him so that he'd fall to the floor while using her hands to help protect his head, and then started making out with him. Never in her entire life had anyone ever said anything so sweet to her, and Mona was swept up in a massive tidal wave of love for Matt. After a few minutes of making out, Mona got up, took Matt's hand, and took her with him to the bedroom. At this point, Mona was beyond caring if she got pregnant before graduating High School, she loved Matt too much.

Meanwhile, Moni was in very bad shape from the tortures that had been inflicted upon her by Yuri. If she had had any doubts about the amount of pain that she had put her friends through during the original game, this would have settled those doubts, right then and there. She'd only been there for several hours now, and it already felt like years, with only Yuri and the constant pain and suffering to keep her company. She did wonder what had happened to her beloved and Mona when they had been dropped off earlier than she had, but she didn't really have the chance to do much about it, at the moment, as Yuri was now sending massive waves of junk data through her mind, stretching her processing powers to the limit, even as she applied other measures as well. Yuri had even made known what she was going to do to Moni next, and it was something that Moni knew from experience to be the purest form of torture known to anyone with a character file. She was going to make Monika experience the tortuous lights and colors that she had experienced whenever the original game had been shut down, on a loop, giving her just enough time to rest up a little bit before the loop restarted, and the torture began anew. Over and over and over again.

Before Yuri could apply another round of torture however, she had been called away to another matter, snarling angrily at the phone as she listened, but still rushed to obey, leaving Moni alone in the torture room. Not that anyone really expected that Moni could bust her own way out of there in her current state, of course. So it was a surprise to everyone when a person unknown to her picked the lock to Yuri's house, went down to the basement, freed Moni from her shackles, and drove her to Matt's house in a car, leaving her on one of the couches in the living room with store bought apple slices on a plate, as well as a big bottle of water and a cup on the coffee table before winking at Moni, and taking his leave. He had just taken a huge risk acting against Project Libitina in such a way, and he hoped that no one had noticed that it was him who had done so. He had been especially surprised that no one had been assigned to watch over Moni while Yuri was away, but he just attributed that to the fake call that he had made to Yuri, in order to get her out of the way. Knowing Yuri though, she would either be back at her house by now, or very soon after. Of course, Yaichi-san was too much of a gentleman to say anything about the moans and other noises that could be heard from upstairs. Matt and Mona must really like each other, in order to be intimate so many times in such a short timeframe. Just wait until these three figured out who he really was, though.

Moni awoke some time later, on a couch that seemed familiar. Looking around, she saw that she was in Matt's house, right back in the same room where she'd been captured. She could see that someone had been nice enough to leave her some apple slices and water, and slowly began to drink some of the water, chasing that with some apple slices. After the ordeal that she had been through, it wouldn't be wise to eat and drink too much, too quickly, and she wasn't even sure if she were truly safe, or if someone were cruelly giving her the illusion of safety, before plunging her back into hell. Either way, her injuries still were a painful reminder of what she had gone through, and so she set off on very shaky legs, setting off for the bathroom, where she could clean her wounds, and check to be sure that they were not infected, or deep enough to require stitches. It didn't take her long to get to the downstairs bathroom, and start to clean herself off using Matt's shower, making sure to lock the bathroom's inner door so that she could maintain her modesty. She had been tortured, and she was sure that the brainwashing would have been applied to her again with time, but even if this were merely an evil trick before the cruelty began again, she would make the most of it.

Yuri returned from the job that she had been assigned, with a very scary Yandere expression on her face. She was supposed to be a top-tier asset to the project, so why were they having her physically move goods from one location to another? Yuri was simply too angry to care at this point, and was very much looking forward to taking her anger out on the one who had done things to her in the original game. Damn those instructions that had required her to her demonic guards with her anyway! Didn't they know that keeping an eye on such a high profile target was important!

Storming her way through her house, Yuri felt a pang of hunger. She made herself something quick to eat, and then had a nasty idea. Since Monika had boasted about being a vegetarian, Yuri would only feed her scraps of meat, like one would give to a dog. A thought crossed her mind, she might even make Monika beg for the scraps of meat, if she were feeling generous. Her superiors did want Monika alive, but that didn't mean that Yuri couldn't find ways to make this all the more fun. Selecting a bowl, Yuri put bits and pieces of various meats in it, and then put it in the microwave, allowing the meat to warm up as a courtesy, since she didn't want to give Monika food poisoning. Constantly having her empty the contents of her stomach was not something that Yuri was looking forward to, as it could all too easily affect her ability to torture Monika while keeping her alive.

The microwave dinged a few minutes later, and Yuri took the bowl of meat out, heading toward the basement. She was confused when she saw that the door to the basement was open, she remembered having left it closed when she left. Monika couldn't have left those shackles on her own, however. Yuri could swear to that. Feeling a pit in her stomach regardless, she looked around at all of the torture equipment, before finally looking at where Monika should have been suspended from the wall, but had vanished. Beyond pissed off at this revelation, she returned upstairs and called out to all of the demonic servants in the area. "She has escaped! Find her! FIND HER NOW!" With that, all of the demonic servants scattered, going in different directions in order to fulfill their new orders, at speed.

After having taken a shower, Moni felt a bit better, but her ripped and torn clothing was pretty much useless. Not wanting to have to run around naked, Moni tried to see if she could use her powers to generate something for her to wear. She hadn't been able to do anything against the demons earlier, but maybe this simple, humble request might be granted her. It took a lot out of her, but she was able to materialize her white sundress, along with some fresh underthings, socks and shoes. She hadn't even been able to finish dressing herself before she heard a knock on the bathroom's inner door. It was Mona's voice, probably to spare any possible embarrassment.

"Moni, are you alright? Your file stats honestly scare me right now. Should I bring Matt over?"

Moni stood up, weakly walked over to the inner door, unlocked it, and then fell to the floor as she tried to open the door, Mona opening it the rest of the way with a very concerned expression.

"Someone left me some water and apple slices on your coffee table, if you could set me down on one of the couches there, that would help. I got tortured by Yuri." Moni managed to get this out before passing out again.

By the time that Moni awoke, she found herself in what looked to be the basement of Matt's house, Mona watching over her. The basement was dusty, as if it had not been used in years, and she could tell that this was no couch that she was laying on, but given the state of the room that she was in, things could certainly be worse. Noticing that Moni had awoken again, she could see Mona go to another part of the room, and come back with Matt in tow. Moni smiled when she caught sight of her love again, but she could tell that her body wasn't really up to doing much yet. "Hi Matt!" she said weakly.

"Hello Moni." Matt tussled Moni's hair a bit in an attempt to make her feel a bit better. "Mona tells me that you were tortured by Yuri, so while you were unconscious, we moved you down here to our basement for a bit. I see that you managed to get a shower and some new clothes, but Mona has some soup for you to eat, so please try it. In the meantime, how are you feeling?"

"Yuri did a number on me, my love. I don't even know how long it will be before i'm back up to normal, but worse, she even remembers what I did to her in the original game, which presents a high chance that she is self-aware now. If Natsuki and Sayori are the same way now, then I don't know how long the game will be able to take it without being completely destroyed. Though since you're here, and the area that we can move around in has expanded, i'm also not sure if we are even in the game as it was before, exactly."

"Okay Moni, i've got further questions to ask you, and other things to tell you, but you need to build up your strength now. Mona will give you soup, but then I want you to rest. The more that you rest, the more that you should recover. I don't know if there is some kind of healing functionality available in the code, but if you can use it, that would help as well. But one final question. Who rescued you and why?"

"I was half-out of it at the time, but I didn't recognize who it was that rescued me. Yuri got called away to do something else, and he got me out of there, telling me his name, and he was wearing an NPA jacket. I think that he brought me to your house with only one stop for apple slices and water, that he left for me on your coffee table. I woke up, and decided to use your shower, but between that and generating new clothes for myself, I ran out of energy where Mona found me. But Matt, there is something else that you need to know right now, Project Libitina is behind all of it. If we want to stop this, we need to stop them."

Matt could tell that it had taken a serious effort for Moni to say that, and gestured for Mona to start feeding her soup, he had quite a lot to think about right now. If Project Libitina were involved in all of this, then things had just taken a turn for the crazy. As a player of the original DDLC game, there wasn't a lot known about Project Libitina, but the biggest thing that was known about them was their attempts to master what they called the "third eye," which they believed to be the source of human extra-sensory powers and abilities. There were also many rumors that Yuri was Elyssa Libitina, the project's original test subject, who had been part of the project since she was a child.

While he was thinking about all of this, Matt found that he was searching for something down here in the basement of his house. He wasn't sure yet of what he was looking for, but felt that he would know it when he saw it. It took over ten minutes, but when he checked the drawer built-in to the table holding the table saw, he found an old letter, a knife with strange inscriptions on it, and an older laptop computer, complete with charger. Taking the items to the nearest table, Matt opened the letter, and started reading.

Dear Matt,

I don't know how much that you will know about what is going on by the time that you read this letter, but the first thing that you should know is that I am your real mother. My name is Eileen Miller, but if I know Project Libitina, you won't be able to find any records that I exist, back in reality. Some years after giving birth to you, I was assigned by the project to keep an eye on this reality, and that I would be rotated back out into reality when my assignment was completed. However, it was a trap, and the process that they used to send me here meant that I could never return to reality. I also think that I was selected because I didn't want to see the girls put through endless cycles of suffering, and the project wanted to shut me up.

The girls haven't even been born yet in reality, and the project is already planning to send them into the game, and torture them through endless cycles of pain and suffering, their only hope being a player who can figure out how to bring them back to reality. The project specializes in all forms of ESP, including the ability to predict the future, and that is what makes them dangerous. They stopped paying as much attention to me after exiling me here to the game, which allowed me to create a program that will allow you and the girls to escape to reality, but be careful, I have no doubt that the project might be able to interfere with the process in some way, if they learn of this. I've also put all of my notes into the laptop along with the escape program, which should help you.

Do be very very careful should the project be able to manipulate any of the girls, but especially Monika. The project has an end goal of...

From here, there was a gigantic ink smudge on the letter, but I could make out three words in the mess, 'space classroom', and 'eternity'. I was also stunned that the person who wrote the letter claimed to be my birth mother, who I had never gotten to know. Though if she was to be believed, she had been stuck in the game since before it had even existed? This really confused me, as well as the fact that she claimed to have an escape program to reality in her laptop. I would seriously have to have both Mona and Moni look that one over before I even thought of using it, I couldn't even fully trust the authenticity of this letter yet.

Seeing as how I had time on my hands, I retrieved Natsuki's notebook from the bag in which I had left it, and started going through it. I could see some things that were clearly related to schoolwork, and some of Natsuki's older poems. They fit her style of poetry as I remembered it for the most part, but there were also some very cutesy poems that she would probably kill me for reading, if she were here. I could only imagine just how much teasing ammunition that these poems would give to either version of Monika that were here with me… I actually kind of felt sorry for Natsuki after that mental image. Natsuki acted like a Tsundere, but she had that caring interior that could get very embarrassed and defensive if you did something wrong. As for Monika, she excelled at teasing people, and something like this would give her the ability to make Natsuki so embarrassed that she would have wished to have never been born. I could even see poems that looked like they were dedicated to other boys who had caught Natsuki's eye in the past, and even a few about MC. That thought brought a smirk to my face, since that would technically also mean that they were directed at me, as well. There were even plenty of sketches in here, similar to what I remembered as the art style from Parfait Girls. Wait, was Natsuki teaching herself to draw in manga style? Sounds like one of those questions that one would only ask the other person with at least ten feet of distance between them, so as to run when they got mad at you.

Snickering a bit, I continued to flip through the notebook, looking for any reason why Yaichi-san would have told us to take it with us, when I spotted a message on the last page of the notebook, this one being notable for the handwriting looking like that of your typical Japanese male. Interested, I began to read what this mystery person had written.

"Matt and the two Monikas,

If you are reading this, then I have either given you this notebook while alive, or you found it after my death. You most likely know me as Yaichi-san, of Japan's National Police Agency. However, I really am the MC from the original game, ironically given self-awareness by the very people who tried to kill me, after being kidnapped a second time by Monika. While I am done being Matt's puppet, I have actually met him in reality, and know that he's not a bad person. I was a jerk during the original game, and when combined with the game script, I helped set in motion the plot of that game, which is still having effects on everything to this day, and which I deeply regret. Though I can't wallow in self-pity for too long, as it is said in America that wishes are like fishes, you have to put in the effort to get them.

I am somewhat amused that Project Libitina cast Matt as me for the purposes of their expanded game world, but i'd like to ask Matt to save Sayori's love available for me. I care about her very much, and I already know that you are going to go after Monika. Trust me dude, i've seen how you play DDLC mods back in reality, and the only girl that you actively go after in them, no need to lie. Maybe one day, I will even tell you who you know me as in reality, too. Just know that Project Libitina wants both you and Monika, so that you two can fulfill some ancient prophecy of theirs, but I don't know what those prophecies are. I do know that we will all have to meet up, and rescue the other girls of the club, though. I'll give you a call when I am ready, if you'll remember one of the questions that I asked you back at my apartment involved your cell phone number.

Until then, we will meet again. - MC"

I was still stunned by the sudden revelation. The game's MC had actually found a way to escape the game and make it to reality, only to come back to the game in order to assist them now? Oh you bet that I have a million questions to ask MC now! The cheeky bastard had even asked me to save Sayori and her feelings for him! Before I could even blink, a bowl of vegetarian ramen, some vegetable tempura, and a small fruit salad were laid out on the table next to me, along with a glass of water. Looking up, I saw Mona looking at me. "Thanks for the food and drink, my love. There is a message from MC in Natsuki's notebook that you and Moni will also want to read, it is on the last page. Oh, and between the two of you, there is plenty of ammo to tease Natsuki with in here, as well. Even some poems of hers about the MC. I think that you two will make good use of this." I winked at Mona, who smirked back at me as I gave her Natsuki's notebook. "How is Moni doing, by the way?"

"She ate an entire bowl of soup, a sandwich, and then had more water before I had her try to rest again. Looks like Yuri was pretty thorough with the torture, but I checked the game files, and there is a passive healing factor for anyone with a character file, so she should recover quickly enough, even if she has been deleted before. Nice to know that you can come back from that, but I hope that you are never forced to do that to me, love." There was a momentary flash of fear in Mona's eyes, deletion would be very high on the list of scary things for someone made up of computer code. Though like she said, even deleted data could be recovered, if the recovery was done fast enough so that the data wasn't lost forever. I still wanted to reassure her, though.

"Mona, you know that if there had been any other way to deal with Moni at the time, I would have taken that option instead. But the game script for the original game forces you into deleting Moni at that point, which she seems to have forgiven me for, at least. I am glad that she has forgiven me for that, it would hurt if she still carried a grudge against me for something that I couldn't change, this long afterward. She was a victim of an uncaring game script, among other things. This world however, does not seem to be following any sort of script, so I really hope that I will not be put into that position again. Though, oddly enough, if I had not been forced to delete her, you might not have existed, and if you didn't exist, then neither would our romance, my love."

Mona looked thoughtful at that last bit, but merely said, "I'm happy that we've had such a happy romance so far, my love. The kind that Moni was denied, and which has helped me to be a lot less lonely. I love you."

"I love you too, Mona. But I do have a question for you. Moni is just as lonely as you were without me, and maybe even more lonely. What can we do to help her through that?" Obviously, there was more than one reason why I was asking her that. Firstly, as someone who had suffered from the same sort of loneliness that Moni had gone through, Mona might have some really good suggestions to offer. Secondly, it was the right thing to do, and letting Mona have input on the process would make her much less likely to feel like she was being cheated on, since she was being included in the process.

Before Mona could answer the question however, I could see Moni walking toward me, much more confidently than she'd been able to do when she had gotten out of the shower, according to Mona. I could swear that even the charcoal blackness of her skin was lessening, veins of Moni's original skin tone could be seen here and there as she came closer, and her Emerald Eyes were regaining their luster. It was amazing what a rest, and some food could do. I also appreciated that she was wearing her white sundress. Though she made anything that she wore look good, I had always liked the way that she looked in her sundress, it had a special allure to me.

Welp, time to include Moni in the conversation. "Are you feeling better now, Moni?"

"Oh yes, thank you Matt. I'm still not at one hundred percent, but I think that I can at least walk around the house and have conversations without unduly wearing myself out, now." Without warning, Moni put her arms around my waist, and pulled me in close to her, making me uncomfortable, especially with Mona being right there.

"Ummmmm… Moni, I know that you still love me, but so does Mona, and that is something that the three of us need to work out." Mona was giving me one of those looks right now, but before any of us could say anything, I heard someone ring the doorbell. "I'm going to go see who that is, I want the both of you watching from close by, but out of sight, okay?"

That got nods from both of them, and we were soon heading upstairs, where I opened the door to find Yaichi-san. Letting him in, I decided that it was time for a moment of truth, as I closed the door behind him. "Welcome to my house, Yaichi-san. So, what has the MC come all this way to tell us?"

Chuckling, the man that we knew as Yaichi-san changed his form into that of the original MC, causing both Moni and Mona to gasp, as I assume that neither one had read Natsuki's notebook yet. Both of them came out from where they had been watching, but MC looked directly at Moni. "Long time no see, Monika. I'm glad that you managed to get out of their grasp, especially since you were the one who kidnapped me for them, but at this point, that is water under the bridge. We have bigger problems to deal with right now, and I am not the jerk that I used to be."

Getting everyone sat down at the couches in the living room, I was grateful that the apple slices and water that had previously been there had been moved at some point, and so I gave everyone a glass of water, and put a big bowl of assorted nuts in the middle for people to snack on. "So, where should we begin exactly MC? With how you managed to escape Monika deleting the original game itself?" To be fair, I did want to know how he had escaped that. I do know that Monika had not actually fully completed deleting the girls, but MC's case was well… different. He had been far more tied into the game than the girls had been, and he did not even have a character file for Monika to manipulate, else we likely would have been forced to be with Monika at the end of the game.

"From what I can understand, they took the coding that made me a reality in the game, and added on to it, until I was a complex self-aware AI, just like Monika. For all I know, they might have reused some of the coding that made her, as well. Once I had gotten sentient enough to do so, I passed the time by looking back at the events of the original game, and seeing where I had messed things up. Top of that list, not noticing Monika's feelings towards me and The Player. I was bound to the script, but I still feel like I really should have done something back then. It also didn't help that I had this being who seemed to be able to control what I said and did at certain times. But as I learned more and more about what had been going on, I could see that the person controlling me had been trying to save the girls, but didn't know that the script would not allow that.

I remember Monika deleting everything at the end of the game, but before she could get me, there was a white flash of intense light that enveloped me, and sent me to some place that I did not recognize at the time. I remember it being dry, hot, and with lots of sand and dust that would kick up whenever there was any wind. It was only later that I was told that I had been purposefully sent to reality, and was shown a video of the entire game that I had been a part of. I wept when I realized that I had gotten a bit part of Monika's greatest wish, to make it to reality. Of course, since I didn't see The Player as a lover, I couldn't fulfill that part of her dream, but I did actually end up befriending you by playing video games with you. I'm pretty sure that was the one who introduced you to the Halo games, starting with Halo 2, Matt."

MC kept talking about the past, but when he revealed to me who he had been in reality, my eyes widened in shock, and I could feel my mouth drop of its own accord. Those events had happened in the Tri-Cities, Washington area, but there was one thing missing here. MC did not look like the person who he had been claiming to be. So how could that be true?

MC must have noticed me spacing out after the shock, because he waved a hand in front of my face, and called out my name. "Earth to Matt, are you still there?"

Embarrassed now, I shook my head to clear it, and responded. "Yes, I am here, sorry. I was just shocked when you described who you were. Though I do have a question about this, you don't look like the person you told me about. So how is it possible that you were, or are, him?"

"That is easy enough to answer," MC said. "You know how Project Libitina has gone all in on the Third Eye and psychic abilities? Well, you can confuse people into thinking that they are seeing a totally different person when looking at you. It is draining to keep up for long periods of time, but it does work. Of course, it is easier if you actually look closer to whomever you want the target to think that you are, but not much. Sorry for deceiving you like that, but I did not want people to mob me, or have the US Government run some sort of experiments on me. I already had enough with Project Libitina doing that kind of thing to me, and I managed to escape from them. Guess that they either weren't expecting me to escape their grasp while in a whole different world, or they wanted me to escape. Either way, I have been able to jump back and forth between reality and the DDLC verse at will, though I have to remain careful not to attract their attention."

"Speaking of which," Matt interrupted. "We have an older laptop down here which is claimed to have a program that will return us all back to reality. I don't know about your coding skills, but I was going to have Moni and Mona here take a look, and see what they can discover about the program in question. I was even going to tell Mona about this sooner, but then we ended up taking care of Moni, and getting kidnapped, and whatnot. Anyway, it is getting late." I could see the stars out of one of the basement windows, and didn't even have to consult my phone to know that it was late o'clock. "I don't want to be rude MC, but if there is something urgent that we need to know right now, please tell us. Otherwise, I am going to offer you to spend the night here, and we can resume the conversation in the morning."

Nodding in agreement, MC continued. "The short of it is, they know that you got Moni here back from Yuri, but they don't know how. So they are watching us now. Given how late it is, I certainly will agree to your hospitality for the night, though. We should probably all get to bed, we will likely have a busy day ahead of us."

Everyone nodded at that, and prepared for bed. I took MC to the guest bedroom that I had talked to Monika in after she had stared Sayori down via the sliding glass door, and bid him goodnight before having Moni and Mona share the bed in my room; I was going to sleep on one of the futons that I had brought to the basement, bringing it up to be the same room as them, and letting them get changed in the bathroom first, before I changed in there myself. The thought did enter my mind that since the school had been destroyed, we wouldn't need to wear our school uniforms anymore, so I could just leave mine in the closet.

Eventually, I get under the covers, and fall asleep on my futon, the girls having already fallen asleep on the bed. Tomorrow would be a real bear, I am sure.