"Oh, you're back!" Yuri exclaimed in relief as Monika and Natalie entered again. "Oh my, sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable there or anything. I've finished making the tea now."

Natalie glanced down at the two undoubtedly appealing cups of steaming hot tea on the table. "Oh, thanks Yuri," she responded. "You are a little tea connoisseur, aren't you?"

Yuri blushed. "I suppose I am. Natalie, I have another request." She held her hands together behind her back, refusing to make eye contact throughout her next sentence. "Do you mind if we sit on the floor today? It's a little bit easier on my back. I can read with my back against the wall rather than bending over at my desk."

"I understand that," Natalie agreed. "I've always had slight shoulder and neck problems due to posture at my desk and the way I sleep, so I can sympathise. Come, let's sit."

"Oh, let me get the tea!"

Yuri carrying a teacup in each hand, the pair moved across the room towards a spot beneath the window and sat beside each other, their shoulders just brushing against one another. Natalie reached for Yuri's book on the desk in front of them and held it open across their laps.

She relaxed quite quickly and allowed her tense neck to relax. She rolled her shoulders and slightly leaned into Yuri as they continued reading silently. On the plus side, Yuri's breathing seemed to reach an even, regular pace, and presumably her heart beat had done the same. She seemed to be so absorbed into the book that she hardly noticed the fact that Natalie was no longer particularly focused on the content.

Natalie shook her head rapidly to dispel any irrelevant thoughts and then turned her attention back to the book. She wanted to be able to take away at least something from this reading session, whether that would be some of the content of the novel or Yuri's sanity.

"Hey, Yuri," Natalie interjected as Yuri reached for the page to turn it over, "gimme a few more seconds."

She'd never seen someone's concentration break so fast in her life. Yuri's confused doe-eyed gaze landed on her and the fact that she was leaning quite comfortably against her shoulder with her legs extended out in front of her, one crossed over the other.

Natalie hadn't even stopped to think about the fact that she was sitting so close to Yuri. It was like second nature, sitting very near to a close friend or someone trustworthy. Not that Yuri was exactly either of those, but she just had a such a sweet and genuine nature that it was difficult to not be comfortable in her company.

"Did I . . . did I just . . ."

"Flip the page too fast?" Natalie finished. She knew that wasn't the sentence Yuri had been planning to say, but diverting what would inevitably happen next seemed logical. "Almost."

"Um . . . Natalie?" Yuri's breaths became significantly heavier all of a sudden. Natalie hurriedly sat up, leaving a few inches of space between them. "I . . . I can't . . . Natalie . . . Natalie . . ."

"Yuri, ssh, just breathe," Natalie murmured. "Don't-"

Natalie couldn't say anything more when Yuri abruptly yanked her to her feet so fast that her tea spilled across the floor, which narrowly missed staining her white socks.

"Yuri, what the-"

"Natalie . . ." Yuri interrupted. They stood beside each other near the closet, away from Natsuki and Monika's view. "My heart . . . my heart won't stop pounding, Natalie . . . I can't calm down. I can't focus on anything anymore!"

Natalie took a very slow step back. "Yuri, it's going to be okay, just take a deep breath in-"

"Can you feel it Natalie?" she asked.

Her pupils visibly began to shrink, which generally wasn't something people noticed, but due to the lighting that was hitting her violet eyes, it was difficult not to. Yuri took her hand by her wrist and pressed her palm against her chest, rather awkwardly against the cavity between her two breasts. Natalie was too stunned to move.

"Why is this happening to me?" Yuri questioned breathlessly. Her grip didn't loosen from Natalie's wrist in the slightest. "I feel like I'm losing my mind . . . I can't make it stop . . . It even makes me not want to read . . . I just want . . . to look . . . at you."

Yuri's eyes grew so much wider than before, an unsettling grin spreading across her lips. Natalie backed up quietly until she was pressed against the door to the closet, while Yuri matched her steps by closing in on her.

She was sure her expression showed nothing but pure fear and discomfort. The way Yuri was staring, the way her irises and pupils had completely altered, it was just so unnatural. Yet she couldn't bring herself to make any noise. The moment she opened her mouth, nothing but a short and terrified gasp was made.

Somehow, in that time, Yuri didn't blink, not once. If it was possible, her grin only broadened as she stared into her eyes so deeply that it felt as though Yuri was entering her soul itself.

This was a complete out-of-body experience, in the worst way possible.

Natalie felt the door move behind her. She saw Monika step around it, which immediately prompted Yuri to stagger backwards and release Natalie's reddened wrist. "Um, is everything okay here?" Monika asked. "You guys went awful quiet suddenly."

Yuri refused eye contact. It was as though she were speaking to herself when answering. "I-I need a minute. Actually, I think I'll leave early," she said briskly, scooping her book off the floor. She tucked it under her arm and swiped her bag on her way out. "Bye you guys."

The door closed behind her. Natsuki finally glanced up from her manga, and then around the room a few times in confusion. "Where did Yuri go?"

There was silence as Monika waited for Natalie to answer, but that answer never came. "Oh, well, she just went home early," Monika explained. "Natsuki, just give us a minute, okay?"

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Take your time, love birds."

Monika ushered Natalie out of the clubroom and closed the door. Natalie leant back against the windowsill as she stared blankly at the floor.

"Natalie, what just happened back there?" Monika asked. Nothing. "Natalie, come on, what happened?"

"Y-Yuri's . . ." Natalie stammered. "Yuri's . . . i-it's . . . oh God . . ."

Monika's eyes widened in alarm. She'd never seen Natalie in this state, even when Sayori had been struggling so much during the previous week. She pulled her down by her shoulders so that they were both seated on the floor facing each other. The colour had drained from Natalie's face. She leaned sideways into the wall, her dazed brown eyes focused on something over Monika's shoulder.

"Natalie, are you alright?" Monika asked her. "You seem feverish. What did Yuri do to you back there?"

"She—she's gone 'round the bend," Natalie droned in response. "It's my fault. I triggered her. It's a steady decrease from here . . ."

Monika clicked her tongue and pressed the back of her hand against Natalie's forehead. "You don't seem so good. Come on, let's get you home early. I'll visit Sayori in your place," Monika insisted as she gently pulled her back up to her feet. "I'm sure she'll understand. You just get some rest. You seem to need it-"

Monika said no more before Natalie hurled herself at her, her arms wrapping around her neck and her face pressed against her shoulder. She stumbled back but quickly regained balance before they could topple over.

"I don't like this, Monika," Natalie whispered against her neck. "I don't like this at all."

Monika sighed and surrounded her waist with her arms. "I'm sorry," she responded lamely. "If it distresses you less, I can take over for this one-"

"No," Natalie quickly interjected. "I want it to be me. It has to be me. Just keep an eye on Natsuki."

"Of course," Monika replied. "Just know that I care, I really do. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. You're my . . . my friend, Natalie."

Natalie's hold tightened at her words.

Due to being held back at the end of her calculus class thanks to a failed paper, Natalie found herself being 5 minutes late to the club, much later than she usually was. Without any hesitation, she pushed open the clubroom door and entered.

"Sorry I'm—hold on, where is everyone?"

The clubroom was almost completely deserted. Not even anyone's bags were left under desks, only Natsuki's. Natsuki herself was sitting alone at a desk at the back of the room with her feet propped up on a desk and a manga book in her hands.

"They're all late," Natsuki replied distractedly. "They'll show up eventually, not that I care."

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "That's weird. Monika especially is almost never late, so—HOLY FUCK!"

She leapt out of the way of the door so fast that she tripped backwards over her own two feet, her bag rolling to the side. She'd heard very heavy breathing by her ear, enough to scare her silly, but it was when she looked up at the doorway and saw a hysterically laughing Monika that she scowled.

"The hell was that for?" Natalie snapped. "You scared the crap out of me, Monika!"

Monika exhaled deeply, gasping for air, and placed her handbag down by the door. "I wanted to scare you so I left the room with my bag so you'd think I was just late, but that was-" She paused to wheeze-laugh again, "that was incredible!"

Natsuki clapped her hands and hid her little sniggers behind her hand. "I've never heard anyone scream like that before," she taunted.

Now finally regaining her breath, her heart rate steadying, Natalie frowned. "That wasn't funny," she muttered bitterly.

"Oh, come on," Monika teased, crouching down to help her back up to her feet. "Don't go all sad puppy on us, that was funny. It was Sayori's idea, actually. Last night, she said you scare very easily, so Natsuki and I decided to test that theory out." She glanced around the almost empty room, as if in search of something. "Still no Yuri then, hm?"

"Did someone say my name?" Yuri entered the room timidly and closed the door behind her. The moment her eyes locked on Natalie's, she looked away again. "I apologise for my tardiness, everyone."

"That's okay, Yuri," Monika replied. "Okay everyone, let's resume whatever we were doing before and see if we can have a calm, nice Literature Club session today, yes?"

Natsuki scoffed. "Jeez, no need to be so patronising all the time."

"Natalie?"

Natalie turned around to find Yuri standing behind her. A smile had returned to her face—fortunately not the terrifying grin from the previous day—and she held their book from before under her arm with a box of tea leaves in her free hand.

"Are you ready to continue reading?" Yuri asked eagerly. "I brought my best tea today."

Natalie shrugged, hiding her uneasiness as much as she could. "That sounds great."

"Okay! Actually, before we start, I have a request." Yuri began to blush. "Do you mind if I make some tea first?"

Natalie didn't even know how to begin to reply to that question. "Didn't you . . . just mention the tea a moment ago, Yuri? Of course you can make it," she replied hesitantly.

"Thanks very much!" Yuri replied, ignoring Natalie's bemused expression. "If there's one thing that can make my reading time here any better, it's a nice cup of tea. I'll just go get it!"

"Actually, Yuri," Natalie interjected, "I'd rather not have tea today if that's okay . . ."

Yuri froze. Her breathing started to become ragged and shallow, yet quick and uneven. Her eyes widened, and her pupils shrank. A wide grin slowly ebbed its way onto her face as her eyes darted back and forth erratically.

Natalie took a wary step back. In the corner of her eye, she saw Monika slowly stand up from her chair, as if ready to step in if anything got out of hand.

Everything went silent. Yuri stopped breathing. Her eyes rolled back into her head. It remained that way for a few seconds at least, although no one was timing.

However, it was the moment Natalie's heel hit the floor as she took another step back that a scream ripped through the room. It wasn't a scream of pain, or sadness . . . no, it was a scream of complete insanity and hysteria. Yuri's trembling hands grasped at her hair, and she didn't stop until her lungs were completely empty.

The room was encompassed by silence again. Even Natsuki had placed down her manga and was gaping at the scene, puzzled yet somewhat fascinated.

Yuri blinked and then glanced back at Natalie. Her eyes were beginning to water, and she winced as her eyelids fluttered a few more times.

"Yuri," Monika began slowly. "Are you okay?"

"Um . . . wait . . . how did I . . ." Yuri looked down at the tea leaves she'd dropped onto the floor which had spilled out of their container during the chaos. "Sorry, I just had a really weird deja vu . . . This hasn't happened before or anything . . . right?"

Natalie wanted to lie to her by replying with a no, but she knew it was probably for the best if she didn't. "Um . . . maybe you should step outside for a moment, Yuri," Natalie suggested gently. "Take a break and come back when you feel back to yourself."

"O-okay, I'll do that," Yuri complied instantly. Without an ounce of hesitancy, she opened the door and left the clubroom, ensuring she closed it behind her softly.

Monika shook her head and moved in to clean up the spill of tea leaves on the floor. "Oh jeez, what a mess," she sighed to herself. "Are you two okay after that?"

Natalie nodded and took a heavy swig of her water bottle. God, she wished she'd filled it with vodka instead. "I've never been better."

Natsuki finally closed her mouth again. ". . . What the fuck was that?" she whispered.

"I think Yuri's just not feeling so good," Monika excused. "I don't think it's a good idea to talk about her issues behind her back, though, but maybe you should ask her yourself." She set the tea leaves down on the table along with Yuri's discarded book. "Okay . . ." She turned to Natalie and noticed her faraway expression. A hand came to rest reassuringly on her shoulder. "When Yuri returns, we'll exchange poems and then plan Sayori's welcome back party tomorrow," Monika announced. "I'm sure we could all use a moment to relax."

Natsuki rolled her eyes and rested her head against her hand. "This group is so weird . . ."

Yyyyyyy

Maybe I didn't choose to be stuck here . . .

Living this endless loop . . .

This limitless loop . . .

Again . . . and again . . . and again . . .

It doesn't change . . .

I fight it, but it doesn't change . . .

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

sometimes i wonder if that's for the best

…

Natalie sighed. She was running out of poetry ideas, but at least her life was currently unbelievable enough to sum it up in a poem that, to any other person, would simply seem odd and abstract, the concept itself just a bunch of meaningless nonsense.

Natsuki had read it half-heartedly, in fact pretty much skim-read the entire thing. Her lack of interest was something she'd clearly attempted to hide, but she simply wasn't doing a very good job of it.

She handed the poem back to her. "This one's alright," she confessed. "About as good as any of your others, anyway. Here, read mine too. I wrote it a few minutes ago, but it'll make sense once you read it."

A poem was thrusted hurriedly into Natalie's hands. She unfolded the piece of lined paper and read it over to herself.

…

I don't know how else to bring this up. But there's been something I'm worried about. Yuri has been acting kind of strange lately. You've only been here for a week or two, so you may not know what I mean. But she's not usually like this. She's always been quiet and polite and attentive . . . things like that.

Okay . . . this is really embarrassing, but I'm forcing myself to suck it up. The truth is, I'm REALLY worried about her. But if I try to talk to her, like I did this morning, she'll just get mad at me again. I don't know what to do. I think you're the only person that she'll listen to. I don't know why. But please try to do something. Maybe you can convince her to talk to a therapist.

I've always wanted to be better friends with Yuri.

(Natalie noticed that the phrase 'and maybe more' had been crossed out vigorously.)

And it really hurts me to see this happening. I know I'm going to hate myself later for admitting that, but right now I don't care. I just feel so helpless. So please see if you can do something to help. I don't want anything bad to happen to her. I'll make you cupcakes if I have to. I know that you like lemon flavoured ones. Just please try to do something.

I'd ask Sayori, but she's not here so it's not easy to get her to help. Maybe try asking her about what might be happening? I remember Yuri and Sayori are quite close friends, so maybe she'll know something. If you could ask her when you visit tonight, that could help. I don't know, I'm getting desperate here, I know, but something needs to be done at least.

It's a little annoying that Monika's acting like she knows what's wrong but she's refusing to tell me. Like, if she knows, surely she could help, but she's not really letting me find out what I can do to help Yuri.

Can we keep this note between us though? I really don't want Monika or god forbid Yuri to know that I'm talking about them behind their backs like this, so just DON'T LET THEM KNOW I WROTE THIS! Just pretend like I gave you a really good poem, okay? I'm counting on you, Nat. Thanks for reading.

…

"It's not my kind of style," Natsuki admitted once Natalie had finished reading, "but I think you can see what I was going for there."

Natalie smiled softly as she folded the note up again and placed it in her pocket. "Thanks for the tip with Sayori," she murmured. "I didn't think of that."

Natsuki raised an eyebrow. "So . . . you don't just think I've lost my mind too?"

"No, no," Natalie replied quickly. "I've noticed it too. Yuri's been off recently, but I don't know her well enough to figure out a way to help her. And . . . while I do understand where you come from about Monika, she's just trying to keep respectful towards Yuri." At that, Natsuki looked at the floor dejectedly. "You get that, right?"

After a moment, Natsuki huffed. "I guess. But you'll try to help though, right?" She winced at herself. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation," she muttered.

Natalie hid a laugh. "Oh, Natsuki. Yes, I'll do what I can, I promise," she assured her. "For now . . . just try to act normal, okay? If Yuri's really not opening up to you, I think the best thing to do is to try to go along with it, and we'll see where that takes us."

Natsuki nodded her head. "And do you still want the lemon cupcakes? I thought you'd need more persuading than that."

"It's alright," Natalie insisted. She remembered why Natsuki often avoiding making cupcakes at her own home, and wouldn't want to put her through that unnecessarily. "We can all have cupcakes tomorrow anyway, remember?"

"Huh?" Realisation suddenly hit her. "Oh, yeah, right! Okay, fine, you've read my poem, I've read yours. Finished bothering me now?"

Natalie held her hands up in mock surrender. "Done, done, goodness me," she replied snidely.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: I somehow found time today to write this. I don't know how, considering I've been at college all day, but somewhere within that time frame I wrote over 3k words.

As you can see, I messed around with poetry again, but more importantly, we have some Yuri mental instability coming through. I wasn't entirely sure how to go about writing in such a glitch to make it more realistic, but I'm hoping that replacing things like the static noises with screaming and making her pupils dilate constantly make sense at least a little.

Next chapter stuff's really going down though. Not only do we get the return of everyone's favourite ray of sunshine, but there's also some crazy angsty shit involving Monika and Nat that I had a disturbing amount of fun writing.

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