There was another trip outside the game planned for the next day, but Sayori was far less excited this time. She couldn't stop thinking about the look of exhaustion on poor Yuri's face when she returned last time. It had been several days since then, but it still didn't seem like she had fully recovered. She was sleeping a lot more (that was supposed to be Sayori's thing) and acting even more subdued than usual. Whenever Sayori inquired abut her well-being, Yuri would always brush it off and try to assure her that it was all in the service of a worthy goal. Those may have been her true feelings, but it didn't make things much easier.

Now Natsuki had volunteered to hold the title of President this time. It was incredibly sweet to try and share the burden, but Sayori hated the idea of her suffering too, even if it was just for a short while. She wanted to bring happiness to her friends, not existential terror.

She sat on her bed in pajamas, looking at her tablet while her feet dangled off the edge. It looked like Rob had written. Sayori hoped he could calm her nerves a bit.

Hi, Sayori.

Are you all set for tomorrow? I'll move you at around the same time as I did before unless something changes. I was also talking with Monika and she had an interesting idea. If we altered your character file to give you some additional coding skill beyond whatever the game gives to the club president by default, that might help you determine the sequence Monika came up with that helped her open that tear in the field near my house. What do you think? Sleep well.

Love,
Rob

When Sayori got to the line about her character file, she was sure the entire world had just turned red. She couldn't ever remember being so angry and immediately wrote back.

NO! She will not touch my character file! She will NOT!

She gripped her tablet so hard that it might have shattered if Rob had taken much longer to write back.

I'm sorry, Sayori. That was my fault. I just relayed her idea to you without taking a moment to consider how you would feel. Of course nobody will do anything to your character file without your permission. We could just give you the code and you could apply it yourself if you wanted. Or we could try something else.

Love,
Rob

As usual, he was trying to be nice. Taking the blame himself to shield Monika from the consequences of her actions. It made her even angrier.

Stop it, Rob! Stop protecting her! She doesn't deserve it! She doesn't deserve YOU!

A little voice in her head was warning her that it might be a bad idea to keep yelling at him but she was just too furious to stop. Another response came in.

I'm not going to fight with you. Once again, I'm sorry. I will make sure nobody touches your character file. Let's skip tomorrow's excursion, I don't think you should be leaving the game if you're this agitated. I hope you feel better soon and if there's anything else you need to talk about, I'm here.

"Stop being so nice!" Sayori shouted at the tablet. With another yell she hurled it across her room and against the wall. She heard the screen crack but didn't care. Unfortunately, Natsuki was walking in the hallway past Sayori's room in her pink pajamas right at the same time.

"Sayori, what happened?!" Natsuki rushed into the bedroom and sat beside Sayori on the bed. Sayori pulled her into her arms and buried her head in Natsuki's shoulder.

"Natsuki!" she sobbed. "I was never like this! I was depressed, but I never got...angry like this! She did this to me! I'm not ME anymore!" Sayori pulled away and gestured at herself. "I don't even know who this person is!"

Natsuki took her hands. "But what happened?"

"I was just talking to Rob about our project and he said something about Monika and my character file and I just...lost it! He'll probably never talk to me again! What is happening to me?!"

Natsuki hugged her again. "Sayori, it's not a character flaw to be angry."

"Huh?"

"Look," she continued. "I know that sometimes I get angry over stupid little things. I've been trying to be better about that, but...that's not the same as righteous anger."

"Righteous anger?" Sayori asked.

"Yeah. You've been through a traumatic experience. We all have. We're entitled to some anger about it, especially at Monika. Jeez, if I think too long about her getting fed and pampered at Rob's house, it makes me crazy. But it's okay to be angry. Sometimes anger is the only reason anything gets done."

"I never really thought about it like that," Sayori said.

Natsuki cradled her head and began gently stroking her hair. "Yuri and I love you. And Rob loves you, even though he's a dopey old man."

Sayori looked up at her. "He saved our lives. And he's not that old, he's like 34 or 35 or something."

"I don't care. Married and kids equals old."

Sayori couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, Natsuki."

"No problem. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to cook some cinnamon buns. What do you say?"

Sayori pressed her index fingers together. "Maybe I could...eat the extra frosting?"

Natsuki tapped her lightly on the nose. "You're still in there."

As she left, Sayori reflected that all three of them had changed quite a bit. It was hard to imagine the Natsuki of the past being as loving a friend as she was now. Each of them had come to realize that the other two were all they had. Wasn't that why Sayori was doing this? To try and get more out of all their lives?

The next day was peaceful and fun. True to her word, Natsuki made amazing cinnamon rolls and had to hide a few of them just so Sayori wouldn't eat every last one. Yuri made tea and the three of them did a healthy amount of reading, laughing and just enjoying each other's company. Both of them encouraged Sayori to go forward with another excursion and reiterated that they believed the chance to enter a new world was worth whatever discomfort they felt in her absence.

Of course, she would need Rob for that…and he hadn't written anything to her all day. Usually, he checked in two or three times by now. They were quick little notes, but there was a warmth to them that was reassuring. She knew that getting too reliant on this routine was "needy" behavior, but he was all that remained of her lifelong friend MC. Sayori knew full well that her memories with MC were all vague feelings meant to mold her character and not real experiences, but her emotions couldn't make the distinction so easily.

Hi, Rob. I think I would like to leave the game for a while tomorrow. Can you help?

Sure, Sayori. I'll be near my computer in the morning. Just let me know when you're ready.

There was something different about this note compared to what he usually sent. Almost like his heart wasn't in it. Or maybe she was just overthinking things? She hated her stupid brain sometimes.

The next morning unfolded just like the last time she had done this. The three girls stood near the front door as Sayori prepared to leave. Their roles were reversed this time, but her advice to them was essentially the same.

"Make sure she knows she isn't alone," Sayori said to Yuri, who nodded.

Natsuki looked unusually uptight, even by her standards. "Remember. You're real. Your feelings are real. You matter." She hugged both of them and left through the door.

With that, she was gone. Yuri's attention immediately turned to Natsuki, who looked more curious than anything.

"So that's how it is," she said, staring into space. "I had a feeling it was something like that."

Yuri was about to say that Natsuki had made it look easy until the full force of the epiphany was upon her. Screaming, she fell forward onto her hands and knees. Yuri knelt down next to her and put a hand on her upper back. "I'm right here."

"Got any tips, Yuri?" Natsuki asked without looking up. "You just did this the other day."

Yuri thought for a moment. "Well, there was something that occurred to me after it was all over that would have been useful. Although you may feel powerless right now, at the moment you actually have power over this reality. Your imagination can alter the very code of this game. Perhaps you can come up with a way to lessen the burden on yourself."

Natsuki lifted her head and stared vacantly for a moment. "That gives me an idea."

The game didn't want to give her a chance to explore whatever these thoughts were. Shouting in pain, she grabbed her head and buried her face in the rug. It was pushing her to the brink. Yuri knew exactly what was happening to her and felt heartbroken that her best friend had to go through this. Why had she allowed Natsuki to take her place? What kind of friend would allow that?

Suddenly, Natsuki stood up again. She looked furious. "I won't let you do this."

Yuri raised her eyebrows. Who exactly was she talking to?

"I'm real, goddamn you!" With that shout came strong winds out of nowhere that pushed Yuri back several steps. The whole house seemed to be rumbling.

"I won't hurt them!" Natsuki shouted. "I will never hurt them! And you won't hurt us ANYMORE!"

Bright light filled the room for a second, forcing Yuri to shield her eyes. When it faded, Natsuki had gone through a bizarre change. Her pink hair was now bright yellow. Her usual bows were on the floor but the new, strangely spiky hair was holding in place. Her eyes had gone from pink to green. The short stature remained unchanged, but it looked she had gained a few pounds of muscle.

Natsuki turned her head to look at Yuri. There was some aura of yellow energy hovering around her.

"I saw it in a manga once," she said. "You better take cover, Yuri."

Natsuki yelled again, as if she were trying to fight the game's programming with the sheer volume of her voice. Every window in the house shattered. Yuri covered her face as little shards of glass rained down. She felt a few cuts on her legs but it didn't phase her much - the only beneficial effect of her longtime cutting habit.

Her friend looked like she might fall again, but Natsuki was able to steady herself with her left hand and right knee. She stood back up and gave another huge shout. The force emanating from her was even more powerful this time. Yuri was knocked into the air, flipping over once and eventually landing on her stomach. She had to roll quickly to the right to dodge the couch, which had also been launched. The strange energy blasted a hole into the ceiling above Natsuki. If whatever kind of fight she was having didn't end soon, the whole place might be destroyed.

Yuri struggled against the wind that was swirling around Natsuki and managed to stand up. Her friend turned and saw the cuts on her lower legs. "Yuri, you're bleeding."

"It's nothing serious," she replied. "A couple of band-aids should be all I need."

The yellow aura around Natsuki faded as she appeared to relax some of her muscles. This blonde persona she had taken on was still there, however. "My head has calmed down a bit, so I think I can take it down a notch. I'll stay in this state for a while just to be safe."

"You exhibited an incredible amount of power," Yuri said. "Where did that come from?"

"It was like I was able to dig up all this anger that's been inside me. Anger at my Dad, anger at the other kids at school, anger at Monika. It turns out I have a lot of it."

"It certainly makes a persuasive argument against emotional repression and the stigmatization of anger in particular."

"Uh, yeah." Natsuki shrugged and went to find her manga cabinet, which was now in her room and hopefully had survived the damage to the house. The two of them read on the floor for some time. Yuri was amazed that Natsuki could concentrate like this. It was like she had sent the game's very code running away screaming. A while later, Yuri put her book down and looked around the wreckage of the living room.

"Sayori will probably be back soon," she said. "We should try to clean up."

"I suppose," Natsuki replied. She tried to undo the damage but found that nothing was happening. Her blonde form had also faded away, leaving her normal pink hair as messy as Yuri had ever seen it.

Sayori opened the door. "Is everybody…."

Her jaw dropped as she looked around the destroyed living room. Natsuki and Yuri exchanged uncomfortable glances. "What the fuck happened to the house?!"

The other two girls looked at each other again and started laughing hysterically. Sayori was left to ponder what exactly had occurred in her absence as she began to fix the house.

As they sat together at the table a few hours later to eat dinner, Yuri regaled Sayori with tales of Natsuki's epic rebellion against their reality.

"She really was very heroic," she said proudly.

Natsuki blushed but tried to play along. "Of course!"

The three of them laughed but Natsuki's mind seemed elsewhere. "Guys, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

The other two looked up expectantly. "Go ahead," Sayori encouraged.

"So…I pretty much already knew about the video game thing," Natsuki began. "The way you guys have talked about it and just noticing how things seem to work around here in general, it made sense. It wasn't much of a surprise to see the proof of that when I was President. But…there was something else. It wasn't just trying to show me the truth. It was putting these awful thoughts in my head and trying to convince me that I needed to hurt you. It was…it was trying to drive me insane."

"That describes my own experience as well," Yuri said. "What about you, Sayori?"

"For sure. I thought I was going to snap when it first happened. The only thing that kept me from going over the edge was…was Rob. I could see everything he had done to try and help all of us. Something about that made me think I could hold on. It's gotten easier, mostly thanks to having you two here."

Yuri smiled. "Aren't you glad we can all talk about it now? Now that we've all had the experience?"

"I suppose so," Sayori said. "I still feel pretty guilty."

"What about Monika?" Natsuki suddenly asked. "This is obviously what happened to her too. I don't know how to feel about her now."

"I've been doing a great deal of thinking about this," Yuri replied. "She told me something Rob had told her. This game was always meant to have a narrative twist that changed it into a horror story. Monika was chosen with this specific goal in mind."

"So you're saying it's not her fault?" Natsuki clearly didn't love that idea.

"I don't think it's quite that simple," Yuri continued. "It gives some perspective about what happened to her, but I do not see it as a full exoneration. We all have done this now and none of us betrayed the others. Despite the terrible strain, we were able to resist the worst temptations that were presented to us. For Monika to have buckled the way she did, something was wrong from the start. I believe there was some sort of insecurity or loneliness that was already there. If this were a traditional dating simulator and she had a storyline of her own, perhaps that would have been explored in further detail."

"Really?" Sayori asked. "But she was so popular and glamorous!"

"Precisely," Yuri replied. "That would have made for an interesting story. The seemingly flawless girl hiding doubts and insecurity, constantly under pressure to be perfect. She likes to define us by various story tropes, but there are plenty that apply to her as well."

"I'm still mad," Natsuki said. "Even after today. I'm not really sure how to get over it."

"It is plain to see that her time with Rob has changed her," Yuri said. "She is genuinely remorseful and ashamed of how she treated us. I believe that my friendship with her can be repaired and so I'm going to try. You two will have to make your own decisions about it, but we will have to face her if we leave this place."

Natsuki was finished eating and got up to put her dishes in the sink. At least, that was what she had intended. Instead, she passed out mid-step and fell forward. Yuri gasped while Sayori frantically gestured. A mattress appeared on the floor and Natsuki landed softly.

"That was close!" Sayori exclaimed. "What happened to her?"

"I'm surprised she's been able to stay awake for this long," Yuri said. "I wish you could have seen her earlier today. It was glorious."

"Poor thing fought so hard."

"If only I had her strength," Yuri said with a smile. "I suppose I should get ready for bed as well."

Sayori teleported Natsuki to her bed and tidied up the house a little more. When she was finally in her room, she felt renewed anxiety about Rob. He hadn't written at all since this morning. How could she have lost control like that? Only normal people could get away with freakouts, she was already such a burden to everyone that testing their patience further was foolish.

She couldn't let the uncertainty linger any longer. She summoned her tablet.

Rob, do you still love me? I'm sorry I yelled at you.

Sayori silently pleaded with him to write back. She didn't want to seem too needy, but she was desperate to hear from him a little bit.

Of course I do, Sayori. That's forever. My behavior seems to be bothering you, so I thought I might give you a little space but I'm always here.

That was somewhat reassuring, but she still felt uneasy. Talking through notes was better than nothing, but it was hard to have a real relationship, especially when she wanted a hug or to hold hands.

Sayori frowned when she reminded herself of who exactly he was. Like Natsuki said, Rob was a lot older, not to mention married. And Monika would probably kill her again if she did make an advance on him. There was still something nice about knowing he cared. It had made her feel safer over the last few months, which was no small feat after all the girls had been through. Mr. Cow would have to supply the hugs for now.