On her first day outside the game, Rob had driven Monika to the mostly frozen Connecticut River. Today, it was thawed and moving along as she and Rob walked along a wilderness trail beside it. From studying the atlas, Monika had learned that the river bisected Connecticut fairly evenly and you could follow it North through Massachusetts. It acted as the border for Vermont and New Hampshire up until its origin point at the Connecticut Lakes just shy of the Canadian border. Someday she hoped to see more of it. Rob seemed very excited about the approaching autumn season and the drives they would take once the leaves began to change colors.
"It's the best," he was saying as they walked along a small ridge overlooking the river holding hands. "It's beautiful everywhere you drive, there are all these seasonal festivals with great stuff to eat like apple crisp, and of course Halloween is just so much fun."
"I'm excited to see it," Monika said with a smile.
"I wonder if the other three will be out in time."
Monika saw an opportunity. "Rob, what happened with Sayori?"
He suddenly looked less excited, but knew there was no use lying about it. "I told her about your idea to change her character file to make her better at programming. She went ballistic on me. I should have seen it coming, honestly, given everything that happened."
"It still doesn't seem much like her," Monika said. "But I haven't spent time with her in quite a while."
"What I should have suggested was that we send her a document with the programming language she would need to make the changes herself," Rob continued. "Once she calms down, I hope she's willing to do that."
Monika was skeptical. "I'm just about done with the code that she would need. It still might not be enough."
He looked at her, waiting for more details. "Rob, about how much time passed between when you finished Doki Doki Literature Club and when I came here?"
"Hmm…probably about five or six weeks?"
She nodded. "I was outside of the game that entire time, although I wasn't really aware of what day it was or anything. But you've only been moving her out for a few hours at a time. I think immersion is what's missing. Sayori might need to spend days on her own out there to learn how things work."
"You may be right," Rob said. "It sounds a little scary, though. I didn't know that you were alone like that for so long."
"It was all worth it," Monika replied. "I'm sure they will think so too."
As they continued to walk, she studied his face. There was something different he was worried about, something he hadn't mentioned. He looked at her and realized she had figured that out.
"Unfortunately, getting them here is only part of the problem. I'm also not sure what happens afterward."
"You're having second thoughts?"
"I want what's best for them," Rob said. "And because the house is near that…tear that you came through, I suppose I'm the only one who can really do this. It's just…"
"You can tell me whatever you're feeling," Monika said, squeezing his hand.
"I don't know how we can take care of them all. Our house doesn't even have a second floor."
"We've got the basement."
"That's probably where you'll all be. It's going to be crowded. Jeez, four teenage girls crammed into one little house. People are going to think we're running a human trafficking ring."
Monika giggled. "Stop it, you're being silly."
"I know what I have to do, but I'm afraid to do it."
"What do you mean?"
"I have to get a new job," Rob said quietly.
Monika stopped walking. Since she was still holding Rob's hand, he stopped too. She couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"I've been using my injury as an excuse to avoid it," he continued. "But now that I can mostly walk again, I don't think I can put it off any longer. How can I ask Kate to let everyone stay if I can't even help?"
Monika would have offered to help but without the documentation they were working on, she wouldn't get very far.
"I don't think I can do a full-time job," Rob said. "It just creates other problems in terms of our schedule. I need to be able to get the boys from school and I need some time to get things done around the house. But I definitely need something more substantial than the 2 days a week I was doing before the accident."
"But…will that be okay?" Monika asked. "With your depression?"
"That's a good question," he replied. "It's been quiet lately, but the stress involved in a serious job search could very well bring it back. It will probably take months to find something, too. I'll hate every minute of it, but…it has to be done."
She hugged him. "You can do it. I know you can."
He put one arm around her in return (the other one had to hold the cane). "You're the only one I can really talk to about how hard the whole process is for me. Nobody else wants to hear a word of it."
"We can talk about it any time you want," she said, squeezing him harder.
"At least…if it does work out, I can troll people for a while."
"What does that mean?"
He smiled at the thought. "If I get a new job, people are going to be coming out of the woodwork to ask me how it feels to be employed again. What they want to hear is that I'm glad to be productive again and not wasting time at home doing what I want to do. Instead, I'll tell them that I'm really just relieved that people aren't treating me like shit anymore. They'll be so mad."
Monika laughed. "You're such a beast sometimes. I don't know how Kate tamed you. But you know, if that's the motivation you need to make this happen, go for it."
Before he could respond, they both felt a few isolated raindrops land on their arms. They likely didn't have very long before a lot more would come, but the car was still at least a quarter-mile away.
"You should probably head to the car so you can stay dry," Rob said. "I can walk, but I don't think I'll be able to run yet. No sense in both of us getting soaked."
"No way!" Monika said. "I'm not leaving you here. If we both get wet, oh well."
They ambled along for a few minutes after that as Rob walked as fast as his injured knee would allow. Monika didn't have the heart to tell him it still wasn't all that fast. The car could barely be seen through the trees as the full downpour hit them. The once quiet forest become a cacophony of watery noise as the drops struck everything around them. Her hair was matted to her forehead and additional rain began to drip right in her face, sometimes obscuring the path in front of them. Little pools of water were gathering inside each of her sneakers.
Finally they were at the car. Rain continued to pound the windshield as they got back into their seats. Monika put both her hands in her hair and pushed it back. It was then that she realized what happens to white t-shirts in the rain. It had become nearly transparent and her bra, which happened to be black, was fully visible.
Rob was backing out of the gravel parking lot and didn't seem to notice. Or if he had, he was keeping up a very good poker face. Monika wasn't sure if she wanted him to notice or not. Sometimes she liked the idea of putting lustful thoughts in his head, but she knew that wasn't the best idea. Moments like these were still so confusing.
Once they were home, Rob parked as close to the house as he possibly could and they made a mad dash to get inside. Monika wasted no time getting rid of her soggy shoes and socks but the rest of her clothes would have to be changed in the basement. Rob found towels for both of them and Monika was suddenly very relieved she no longer had that long ponytail to dry off. When they were both in dry clothes, they sat close together on the couch and enjoyed a pleasant silence…for approximately four minutes.
That was when Andrew and Lucas barreled down the highway, colliding with the side of the couch as they ran holding a toy garbage trucks and toy trash containers.
"The garbage truck is coming!" Lucas shouted.
"Garbage Day!" Rob said back in a strange voice. Later he would explain to Monika that this was a line from some other bad movie. Lucas had no idea what he was referring to but laughed anyway.
Kate followed them into the living room. "You two really got soaked, didn't you?"
"It rained like crazy," Monika answered. "And we were pretty far from the car."
Before Kate could respond, Andrew interrupted by shoving one of the toy trash bins in Monika's face. "My grabber has the bin, now I empty it." He bent his elbow and shook the bin just as he saw the garbage truck do every Friday.
"They just have a passion for trash," Rob said with a smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if he grew up to drive garbage trucks."
Monika frowned. "Don't you want them to do something more…ambitious?"
"It's a noble profession," he replied. "It's not glamorous but they provide a service that people need."
"Monika, have you heard anything from Nicole?" Kate asked, perhaps sick of discussing garbage. The boys set their toys down on the floor and rushed off to make mischief elsewhere.
"Not really," Monika said. "I'll text her again." She had tried to reach Nicole a few times since the incident with her father (Fucko the Clown, as Rob unfailingly referred to him) but had only gotten perfunctory answers. This time, Nicole was a little more forthcoming but her answer confused Monika.
"Huh?"
"What did she say?" Kate asked.
"She says she's back at home. They apparently worked it out?"
"Ugh," Rob groaned in disgust as he rose from the couch.
Kate sighed. "Unfortunately, this is pretty common. When you have a dysfunctional relationship like that, it's easier and less stressful to just try and forget about the fights and hope it doesn't happen again. But of course it always does."
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Monika asked.
"Nothing will change until Nicole is ready to face the real problems. We can't make that decision for her."
Rob shook his head in disgust and walked away. He nearly tripped on Andrew's toy garbage truck but caught himself with the cane.
"Fuck you!" he said as he batted the truck out of his way.
After he was gone, Monika turned to Kate. "Did…he just say fuck you to a toy truck?"
"Yeah," Kate said. "Best leave him alone for a while."
Once that wave of frustration wore off, Rob sat on the bed with his laptop. Monika had left the code she had prepared for Sayori just outside the DDLC folder. It was time to broach the subject again and hope she didn't get as upset.
Hi Sayori,
I've added a text file to the folder that has the programming that Monika worked on. It's designed to increase your own understanding of how the game's code works. If you want to try, you can add it to your character file yourself and remove it if anything goes wrong.
I also was wondering how you felt about spending longer periods of time outside the game. I know that could be hard on Yuri and Natsuki, but it might also speed this whole process up. If it sounds like too much, we can keep doing it the way we have been. I hope all of you are doing well.
Love,
Rob
Rob,
I'm going to try adding that code to my character file, even though I'm nervous. I trust you but I also know that you are not really a programmer type. That means I have to trust that Monika did what she said she was going to do and isn't planning anything else. If I feel even a little bit sadder after I make that change, I'm getting rid of it.
I think it's a good idea for me to spend more time outside the game. Yuri and Natsuki should be okay, they have done really well. Honestly, the major issue is that I will miss them if I'm gone for a long time. But I know it's worth it. I would like some time to prepare before we start. Thanks for all you do for us.
Love,
Sayori
As Rob was reading her response, a little bell chime noise came from the nearby phone. He was surprised to see his brother wanted to talk using a videochat program, the closest they could get to "in person" these days. It was hard to arrange these conversations with the time difference between Connecticut and New Zealand. It was late afternoon now, which meant it was around breakfast time there…the next day. That was the part that sometimes made his head spin. Still, he told Alex he was around and a few minutes later the phone buzzed again. Alex appeared on the screen along with a blonde woman who he assumed was his girlfriend Charlotte. Rob had seen pictures of her but this would be their first real interaction.
"What's up, dude?" Alex asked. The image was a bit blurry but given that he was about 10,000 miles away it was good enough.
"Hey! What have you guys been up to?"
"Not much yet," Charlotte answered. "Just finished breakfast." Upon hearing her pronunciation of "breakfast" (breekfast), Rob made a little grin that probably couldn't even be seen on the blurry screen. Of course, his accent probably sounded just as strange to her.
After some brief catching up, Rob walked out to find everyone else. Monika noticed him coming out into the backyard clearly in a much better mood. He handed to the phone to Kate for a few minutes before holding it out in front of Andrew and Lucas. Eventually, it was her turn and something about it made her nervous.
"And here's Monika," Rob said. "Say hi."
"Hi," Monika said shyly. "Nice to meet you…kind of. Not sure if this counts."
"Good enough for now," Alex said. He looked a lot like Rob, although clearly younger. "So I might as well tell you the reason why we decided to call."
Rob sat down in a patio chair and tried to hold the phone so everyone would be visible. This was hard with the boys running back and forth, but Kate and Monika were now included in the image. "So what's going on?"
"We were talking the other day and Charlotte said she had never seen autumn in New England," Alex said. "There's autumn here, of course, but it's not the same. I guess we don't have the right variety of trees or something."
"You're missing out for sure," Rob said. "Autumn is the best."
"So I asked Alex if we could take a holiday out there and he said we could!" Charlotte said excitedly. "We're going to come this October!"
"Holy shit!" Rob shouted.
"Are you serious?" Kate added. "That's so exciting! But it's so soon!"
"We'll have to get everything together quickly," Alex said. "But it's been a while since I came home and of course Charlotte has never been. I thought about coming for Christmas but then it's winter and you can't do as much."
Monika could certainly relate to that. It was amazing how much more time she spent outside of the house now as opposed to the cold months when she first arrived.
"I've already talked about with Mom and Dad," Alex said. "We'll stay with them. I know there's not a lot of room in your house."
He didn't know the half of it. Three more people might be moving in before the two of the arrived. Everyone chatted for a while until it was time for Alex and Charlotte to start their day. Meanwhile, Rob and Kate would soon be discussing what to have for dinner. The family was buzzing for the rest of the night about Alex's impending visit. It was obvious Rob missed his brother more than he had ever let on.
That evening, Monika came upstairs from the basement for a quick snack. The boys were asleep and Kate seemed to be busy in the other room. Rob had some sort of gold-colored drink a glass while sitting alone at the dinner table. She knew for a fact there was no beer in the house, so it was a curious sight.
"What are you drinking?" Monika asked. "Some kind of white wine?"
"Nah," he answered. "I've never really liked wine. It's mead."
"Mead? Isn't that, like, what Vikings drink?"
"Yeah," he said with a laugh. "It's probably the oldest drink in the world."
"Do you wish you had been born in the Middle Ages?" she asked. "I mean, between this and the bladed weapons."
"Nah. There were no movies back then."
"Of course," Monika smiled. "How could I forget. So…can I try some?"
Rob looked at her with an exaggerated skeptical expression. "I don't know about that. You're only 18 and you have to be 21 to drink alcohol in this country."
"Oh come on," she whined. "There are a lot of countries where 18 is the legal age!"
"That's true," Rob said. "But then again, didn't you guys give Yuri a hard time about bringing wine to the club? Doesn't really seam fair with that in mind."
"What? I don't remember that." It was likely some part of the game's backstory, like all the schoolmates she once remembered who never actually existed. Monika had forgotten all those details quite a while ago, only remembering the events of the actual game at this point. "But even if that's true, we were in the middle of a school activity. That's different from us just sitting here at home."
"Fine, fine." He poured her a glass and handed it over. She took a sip and was surprised by odd the taste was. It was smooth, just a little fruity and clearly had some spices in the mix. It was far easier to drink than she imagined and before long she had finished her entire glass.
As she stood up to put her glass in the sink, the kitchen seemed to be wobbling. There was a strange little feeling of joy and she couldn't help but giggle.
"Oh dear," Rob said. Mead typically had more alcohol in it than your average beer, but he still didn't think one glass would put her in this condition. But then again, he was over a hundred pounds heavier than she was, so maybe he shouldn't have used himself as the basis for comparison.
He handed Monika his cane. "I'll let you borrow this for a bit."
"Thanks," she said. She steadied herself and started laughing. "This is actually kinda nice. Oh! I want to try something."
Monika twisted the top and pulled out the hidden blade. "En garde, wastrel! I'll split you from nave to chops!"
"Please put that away," Rob said. "Even I don't play with sharp objects when I'm drunk."
"I'm not drunk," she said. Monika was irritated at first but then took a moment to think. There was a little voice telling her that she was acting like a fool right now, but it clearly had no sway at the moment. "Okay, maybe I am. Hey Rob, guess what."
"What?"
"I love you."
"I love you too. Why don't we get you downstairs so you can rest?"
He needed his cane back to pull this off, so he offered Monika a shoulder. She eagerly leaned into him and kissed his cheek four or five times.
"Okay, I get the idea," he said as they started to head downstairs. This would be a slow and precarious descent, given that he was still careful about using the stairs on his own, never mind with someone else leaning on him. Just had to take it one step at a time.
"Rob, do you know what Nicole asked me once?"
"No, what?"
"She asked if you and me and Kate would ever have like a three person marriage."
"Sorry to disappoint her," Rob said. "but we don't live inside a porno movie."
"But some people do that!"
"I guess," he said. "I've never met anyone in a relationship like that, but I suppose they must be out there. Still, I don't think it would work in this case. For one thing, Kate isn't into girls and neither are you."
"Hey, I might be!" she said, poking him in the cheek. It almost put him off balance and he had to brace himself against the wall as they continued down the stairs. "If you think about it, I was going to fall in love with the player no matter who they were. So that might mean that I'm bisexual!"
"That's an interesting point," Rob said sincerely. "But I can guarantee you it's still a nonstarter with Kate."
"Why don't you ask her?"
"I can't ask her, don't be ridiculous."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a guy. A guy can't make a suggestion like that and be taken seriously. She'll just think I'm a huge pervert."
Monika wouldn't let this go. "Okay, then I'll ask her."
"You've been on Kate's good side for a while," Rob cautioned. "Are you sure you want to risk that? Besides, even if she said yes, we're still a good deal older than you. It would be kind of…indecent."
"You're no fun," she whined as they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. From there, it was short walk into her room. She flopped onto her bed. "Okay, good night. Gimme smooch."
Before Rob could figure out a nice way to decline, Monika was out cold and snoring. He grabbed his cane and started to gingerly ascend the staircase. Maybe he needed to find Monika a boyfriend…or, judging from what she had just said, possibly a girlfriend.