Natalie had never been so nervous to approach someone in her entire life. She gripped her poem so tightly that she was sure it would tear and walked hesitantly towards Yuri. She glanced down at her feet. Was she even walking normally? Was this how people walked?

Monika tapped her shoulder. "Um, Natalie?" she whispered. "You seem a little off-balance. I know you're nervous but just try to walk normally."

Apparently, Natalie was oblivious to the fact that her weight seemed to teeter from left to right. "This isn't normal?" she hissed. "I thought this was normal."

The moment she was facing Yuri, she thrusted the poem to her and edged backwards so that she was leaning against a desk behind her. Across the clubroom, Monika and Natsuki were already eagerly exchanging poems—well, Monika anyway.

Yuri made it clear when she was done reading by holding the paper to her nose and taking a deep breath in. "I love it. I love everything about it."

"You do?" Natalie asked sceptically. "Even the abstract concept of it all?"

"I do," she confirmed. "Natalie, I want to take this home. Will you let me keep it?"

Natalie sadly knew exactly where this conversation would lead. "If you must," she replied reluctantly. "Although I'm not sure if-"

"Oh, thank you, Natalie! You're too nice to me. I've never met anyone as nice as you," she professed. "I could die. N-not really, but—I just don't know how to describe it! It's okay to be feeling this way, right?"

"Honestly? Absolutely not," Natalie responded. She realised how catty her voice likely sounded, but that wasn't really an issue to her at that point in time. "Yuri, it's just a poem. Feeling like you could die over something someone else wrote is . . . to be polite, weird."

Yuri sighed and then held it to her chest. Natalie remembered that her hand had been there the previous day and cringed at the questionable memory.

"I'm going to take this home with me and keep it in my room," Yuri told her. "I hope that it makes you feel good when you think about me having it. I'll take good care of it," she promised. Her voice began to gain a lilt, her eyes reverting to the state they'd been earlier that hour. She smiled broadly. If not for the situation, someone would believe she was just acting. "I'll even touch myself while reading it over and over," she murmured with a dark chuckle.

"Y-Yuri," Natalie stammered. "Please, don't-"

"I'll give myself paper cuts so your skin oil enters my bloodstream," she continued as she reached into her pocket. It was like speaking to an entirely different person. "You can have my poem too. Besides, after you read it, I know you're really going to want to keep it. Hurry, read it!"

Yuri extended her arm with the poem in her hand. From there, Natalie could already see the stains left on the sheet. Pinching a corner with her fingernails, she held the poem up a short distance from herself to read.

Not that she could read it. She already knew there was nothing to read. After a moment of pretending to be riveted by the contents, she placed the poem down on the desk behind her and held her hands out a short distance from her body.

"Right, I can't do this anymore!" Natalie snapped. "Yuri, you need help! You're obsessive, you're being creepy, and you need to see a motherfucking therapist! I'll refer you to Sayori's new therapist, I'll cover it, but one more creepy ass stunt like this and I might just kill myself! Do you understand me?! I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, YURI?!"

Yuri's eyes suddenly shifted back to normal. She glanced at the poem beside Natalie and gasped. "Did I actually . . . I . . . I think . . . I'm going to vomit."

With that, Yuri sprinted out of the room, a hand covering her mouth, yet still somehow she kept that perfect elegance as she ran. Natalie was physically trembling. She walked away from that corner of the room towards the door, leaving the poem behind. Just as she reached the door, she noticed Monika and Natsuki gaping at her.

"Problem?!" she snarled. "Didn't think so."

The door slammed shut behind her. Her hands still held out in front of her, she took the stairs down towards the bathroom furthest away from the clubroom, glad to find it empty, and began running the cold water tap.

She leaned forward against the sink for a moment, and then glanced up at herself in the mirror. Her breathing was still uneven, her eyebrows drawn together in anger.

Just as she heard the bathroom door swing open, she placed her hands under the running water and scrubbed at them furiously. Any harder and she was sure she'd leave her skin red and sore, not that she was bothered.

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist, a chin coming to rest against her shoulder. Natalie rolled her eyes and slammed her hands down against the side of the sink.

"Do you mind?" she snapped. "I'm trying to wash my hands here."

Monika's hold didn't loosen. "I just wanted to check on you," she replied calmly. ". . . I've never seen you that angry before." Natalie felt as she pressed her cheek against her shoulder blade. "What did Yuri do?"

"Yuri's been creepy as fuck," Natalie muttered bitterly, "and I'm absolutely sick of that shit."

Monika sighed. "Do you think there might just be a little chance that this outburst of yours isn't to do with Yuri, but rather with yourself?" she asked, her tone slightly accusatory.

"I didn't ask for some psychoanalysis," she retorted.

Monika stiffened. "I'm not going to be annoyed because I know you're just lashing out," she said evenly, "but I'm serious, Natalie. What is it?"

"I'm fine," Natalie answered coldly. "I'm just fine."

"Go and see Sayori, Natalie," Monika said as she pulled away. She leaned forward against the sink beside her. "I'll finish up here. There's only 10 minutes left anyway. You need some time to clear your head."

"As I said, I'm fine," Natalie repeated.

"You know I'm just worried for you," Monika explained. "Really, I'll go talk to Yuri. Just check on Sayori now. It'll be good for you."

Natalie shook the excess water off her hands over the sink without bothering to use the hand dryer. "Fine. Only because you asked me to. And you might want to get rid of that "poem"—that stuff's a biohazard."

Natalie arrived at the hospital and was very soon led to Sayori's room. With a pack of strawberry gummies in one hand, she opened the glass door gently and closed it behind her. "Sayori?"

"Hm?" Sayori turned her head. She was still laying in bed with her hands bandaged, but her neck brace had since been removed. The TV played some kind of sitcom in the background. "Natalie! You actually came to visit! . . . You look sad. What happened?"

As she walked towards the bed, she tossed the candy into Sayori's lap. "I'm fine," she replied, distracting herself with the TV.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Sayori lean forward to peer past her hair. "Come on, I know you're not," Sayori giggled. "Did Monika do something? Is that it?"

"What?! N-no, it's, er, it's not Monika," Natalie replied stiffly.

"Natsuki? No?" She gasped. "Is it Yuri-?"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Stop guessing, Sayori."

"It is, isn't it?" Sayori guessed. "Wow, I'm good at this. But what did Yuri do? She's usually a ray of sunshine."

After a moment, Natalie shrugged. "Sayori, can I ask you something about Yuri?"

"Sure."

"How do I put this?" Natalie tapped her fingers against her thigh. "You've known Yuri for a while, right?"

"I mean . . . yeah, kind of," Sayori answered. "We used to go to the same middle school. Why do you ask?"

"So . . . you know about her, well, her . . ." Natalie trailed off. "She's not completely mentally stable, is she?"

Sayori looked up at the ceiling in thought and fiddled absently with the bandages covering her fingers. "Er . . . I'm not sure if I should really be talking about this without her permission, but I know she used to suffer a lot from some kind of behaviour illness. I don't remember the name, but she takes medication for it. Why are you asking me about that? Did something happen?"

"No, nothing specific," Natalie lied. "She's just been acting off, so I thought it would be best to check. It was Natsuki's idea to ask you, actually."

"Oh. Well, I wish I could be more help," Sayori responded. "I know Yuri well, but not that well. I can try talking to her tomorrow if you want, but she doesn't really like talking about herself like that."

"Tomorrow?" Natalie asked. Her eyes widened in realisation. "Oh right, you get to leave this place tomorrow, right?"

"Well, tonight, actually," she corrected her. "I still need to finish packing a few of my things. My parents have already moved most of my stuff back to my room." She smiled at her, and for the first time in a while, there was a flicker of warmth behind her eyes. "I'm so glad you came to visit, Natalie. If anything, though, I thought you'd come with Monika yesterday."

Natalie sighed. "Yeah, but . . . something came up, unfortunately. How long did Monika stay for yesterday then?"

"Oh, an hour or so," Sayori explained. "She brought a movie for us to watch too, and she gave me ice-cream, because honestly the food here is awful, and that's coming from me, the person who could eat anything!"

Natalie laughed under her breath. "You seem a lot better, Sayori."

"Yes, well, I decided to take a bit of your advice," she told her. "I've started seeing one of the therapists on that list you gave me, and he said if I improve significantly enough over the next two weeks with behavioural therapy, he won't put me on anti-pressants-"

"You mean antidepressants," Natalie interrupted, amused.

Sayori nodded and pointed at her. "Yeah, that. So I really want to get better this time. Properly. I . . . I don't want to make you or Monika do that again."

Natalie smiled. "I'm glad, Sayori. Will you be at the club tomorrow then? Because I don't want to blow the surprise, but-"

Sayori gasped so quickly that she sent herself into a coughing fit. Once she'd quite finished, she grimaced and grabbed the side of her neck where prominent bruising still remained. "That hurt a bit. But I get a surprise?! Is it food? Is it a puppy? Is it-"

"You'll see tomorrow," she replied. "For the meantime, maybe you should finish packing." She looked down at her open suitcase, clothing lazily tossed inside. "That is, unless you want to stay here-"

Sayori sighed at the thought and began to grudgingly climb out of bed towards her suitcase. Her bare feet tapped against the linoleum floor quite noisily with each step. "Jeez, you sound like my mom," she whined.

"I'm back," Natalie announced as she entered the clubroom. Both in her bag and in several carrier bags were the 75 cupcakes Natsuki had helped her bake, all in the same perfect quality as before. "And I brought the cupcakes—whoa, you guys really outdid yourselves!"

The entire room was decorated as fully as possible in such a short space of time. There were streamers, several helium balloons because Sayori loved balloons, and already confetti was sprinkled on the floor.

Natsuki was standing on a desk at the back of the room, pining another balloon to the wall. "I've been sorting out these balloons for the last hour since I had a free period earlier," she told her as she climbed back down. "And how do we know Sayori will even appreciate this?"

"I'm sure she will." Monika entered the room with a jug of fruit juice and a few paper cups. "You brought the cupcakes, right Natalie?"

With a tired groan, Natalie shoved the cupcakes down onto an empty desk and began emptying them out of their bags. "All 75 of them," she replied. "Where's Yuri?"

"She'll be running a little late today," Monika responded, "and Sayori isn't-"

"OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS!"

The three gasped in unison. Somehow, Sayori had arrived much earlier than expected. She jumped a few times in the doorway and then ran into the room, unsurprisingly directly to the cupcakes.

Natsuki facepalmed. "Sayori, we weren't finished! You can't just ruin your own surprise party!"

"It's fine," she replied, her mouth still full of cake. Seeing the crumbs falling out of her mouth, Natalie handed her a napkin. "Nat kinda made it obvious what it would be, anyway."

"Seriously, Natalie?!" Natsuki angrily placed her hands on her hips. "All this effort, and for what? Look at her!" She motioned wildly to Sayori. "She's eating her third cupcake already!"

"Now, now, Natsuki," Monika laughed. "It is her party, after all, and I'm sure there'll be enough cake to go around. But Sayori," Sayori glanced up from the food in acknowledgement, "I thought you had another appointment today."

Sayori nodded affirmatively. "When I told my therapist that I had a surprise party coming now, he saw how distracted I was and let me leave 15 minutes early. Ooh, strawberry!"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Sayori, don't make yourself sick," she cautioned. "We don't need you hospitalized for a second time this week. Just put that cupcake down and give your stomach a minute or so to settle."

With a sigh, she dropped the cake onto the desk. "Okay . . . but that one's mine, so no one touch it!"

There was a soft knock on the door. Yuri walked in hesitantly, shyer than usual, and placed her bag down beside Sayori's. "I see the party has already begun," she noted. "Welcome back, Sayori."

Sayori smiled broadly. "Thanks, Yuri!"

"Sayori, how's your neck doing?" Natalie asked her. "I noticed it was hurting you a little yesterday."

Now that she was paying attention to it, she noticed that the marks were still present. The reason for the lack of obvious bruising, however, appeared to be that she'd covered them with foundation, and a lot of it by the looks of things. On the positive, at least it looked very natural.

"It's alright I suppose," she replied, "as long as I don't move my head too much. The aching really bugs. But at least I can still eat cupcakes!"

"Well, okay everyone! I suggest getting to the cupcakes while you can," Monika humoured, "but I also brought juice too. Natalie, while I remember, would you mind . . ." She reached into her bag and removed another plastic jug, "filling this up with water?"

"Um, sure," she agreed as she took the jug from her.

"N-Natalie?" Yuri tapped her on the shoulder. In her hands was her own plastic water bottle. "May I come too? I need to fill up my bottle if that's okay."

Natalie nervously looked to Monika, who nodded in encouragement. At that, Natalie forced a smile, though she wasn't entirely sure how convincing it was coming off. "Sure. Let's go."

Neither of them said anything as they walked down the hall. Natalie remembered that there was a water fountain somewhere on that floor, but she wasn't entirely certain where. Regardless, she simply continued to silently follow Yuri's lead. That was until Yuri stopped.

Her eyes were closed, and her grip on her water bottle tightened. Her breaths could be heard quickening, as though she was hyperventilating.

"Yuri?" Natalie asked as she stepped around so that she was standing in front of her. "Yuri? . . . Yuri, come on, this isn't funny." She reached for her shoulder. "Yur-"

Yuri's eyelids suddenly burst open. Her eyes had rolled back into her skull, only showing the whites, with her purple irises nowhere to be seen. She grinned, and then began to giggle, an unhinged and without a doubt unsettling sound.

Natalie backed up a step. "Yuri . . ." she said cautiously. "Yuri, can you hear-"

Before she could be stopped, she grabbed fistfuls of her hair in her hands and screamed at the top of her lungs. Natalie grimaced and placed her hands over her own ears. She didn't remove them until she was sure that Yuri had stopped.

Natalie finally looked back at her. Yuri was gasping for air, her eyes back in their normal position though still bloodshot and watery. In the commotion, she'd dropped her empty water bottle to the floor where it had rolled a short distance away.

"Um . . . wait . . . how did I . . ." Her eyes flickered to her water bottle. "Sorry, I just had a really weird deja vu . . . This hasn't happened before or anything . . . right?"

"It has . . ." Natalie replied cautiously. "Yuri, what's happening to you?"

"My head's been a little fuzzy lately," she explained. "I hope it hasn't really been showing or anything. I would hate for you to think I'm weird just after we started spending time together. I mean . . . everyone has a few unusual things about them."

Yuri spoke fast, leaving no chance to interject. She barely even took a moment to pause for breath every now and then.

"But expressing those things so soon after meeting someone is usually seen as inappropriate or unlikeable," she continued. "At least that's what I discovered. When I was younger, I think I would come on really strongly and get a little too intense. It made people not want to be around me. So I started hating those things about myself. My obsession with certain hobbies. And the way I can't control myself when I get too excited about something. So I eventually stopped trying to talk to people. But Natalie. Is it just me or has Monika been acting a little off lately?"

Natalie's eyebrows furrowed. "Monika?! What?! No!"

"I'm not crazy, right?" Yuri asked. She laughed and smiled, showcasing her pearly white teeth which in that moment appeared like razors from the roof of her mouth. "Please tell me I'm not! I couldn't say anything before, because she's always listening!"

"Yuri, what are you talking about?" Natalie demanded.

Yuri ignored her and began to advance on her, one bit at a time. "But we're finally alone! Can we just stay here for a while? I just want to stay here. Just the two of us. We can stay here until the club ends. And then we'll have the clubroom all to ourselves. Nobody to interfere with our reading time. Nobody to make me feel like stabbing myself in the throat!"

Natalie was lost for words. She'd never felt such genuine fear in her life, the kind of fear that bubbles up in your throat and leaves every limb in your body feeling numb and immobile. She couldn't even move anymore. She lamely held the jug in her hands.

Yuri cackled and touched the side of the face, her eyes rolling up towards the ceiling. "That was a joke! Just a joke. I do like knives though. It sounds strange, but you wouldn't understand if you've never seen how beautiful they can be."

Natalie shook her head. This was too much for her to handle. She did the only thing left she could possibly think to do.

She walked confidently up to Yuri, raised her hand, and slapped her hard across the face.

Yuri's head was thrown to the side. When she finally lifted it again, her manic grin had vanished. She frowned and looked down at herself. "Wh-what . . . did I say something? Why does my face hurt? Did you slap me, Natalie?"

Natalie sighed. "I need to go and speak to Monika. Go back into the clubroom, I'll fill your water bottle in a bit. And bring Monika out here. Tell her I need to talk to her."

Monika suddenly ran out of the clubroom and closed the door behind her. She found Natalie standing in the hall by the window that overlooked the school.

She approached her slowly. "What happened just a moment ago?" she asked. "Yuri's cheek looks red. Did you . . . did you slap her?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Natalie countered. "I was running out of options. I didn't bring you out here to debate my methods. I wanted to ask you about something, and I want you to be completely honest and truthful with me."

"I always am," Monika told her.

Natalie shook her head. "I just—I just wanted to ask if you still have the same control over this universe that you did in the game. Yuri . . . she said something about you acting off, you always listening. I just wanted to make sure-"

"That I'm not the villain, right?" Monika stepped away and turned around. "That I'm not the one doing all of this to the others?"

Natalie looked at her over her shoulder. Her back was turned. "Monika, I don't-"

"No, I think you've made yourself perfectly clear," she interjected. "You still think it's me, don't you? You still think I'm the one doing all of this."

"I just . . ." Natalie paused. "I just needed to be certain."

"All this time, and you still believe this could be my doing. After all we've been through, you still think it could be me?"

"I needed to be sure," Natalie repeated herself. "And I don't think I can exactly be blamed here, Monika. Considering the game, and what Yuri said, it seemed like too much of a possibility-"

"Natalie, answer me this honestly and truthfully." Monika finally turned around. Her emerald green eyes had gained a tearful shine to them. "Did you ever fully, 100%, without a doubt, believe that I'm on your side?"

Natalie remained quiet. She gripped the windowsill tightly. She could have said yes to her question. But she'd been told not to lie.

Monika sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Th-that's what I thought." She turned back towards the clubroom. "I'm going home."

Natalie didn't move. She watched as Monika picked up her bag from inside the clubroom and turned down the hall to leave. Just as she began to walk past, Natalie reached for her arm, but Monika quickly dodged her hand.

"Don't touch me," she muttered.

". . . Monika-"

"I'll tell the others that the club is cancelled tomorrow," she said. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glanced at her one last time with disgust in her eyes. "Just go home, Natalie . . ."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: Honestly some angst like this was coming, but I was just looking for a good place to fit it in. It would be unrealistic to expect Natalie and Monika to perfectly get along, especially with their current circumstances, and when you consider Nat's mental state, it was only a matter of time before they fell out.

But, I mean, on the plus side, Sayori's back! Sayori's loss always hit me hard in the game, so maybe this is me just writing this whole healing process for my own benefit more than anything, but if at least she didn't get a happy ending after all, I'd probably cry.

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