Yuri's eyes slowly opened, though the sunlight that was hitting them made her squint. She looked at the clock in her room. 7:32 a.m. the clock read. 'A little early to get up on a Saturday, but that's okay,' Yuri thought to herself. She slowly sat up in her bed and stretched. "Oh, right! I'm supposed to go to Kaiya's later. I should see when would be good for her."

Yuri reached for her phone on the nightstand and unplugged it from the charger. She noticed she had a message from Monika, which she decided she'd check after talking to Kaiya.

[Yuri] Good morning, Kaiya.

[Yuri] For today, when would be a good time for me to stop by?]

She set her phone down and got dressed for the day. A few moments later she heard the notification for her phone indicating she had received a text. She looked and saw that Kaiya had responded.

[Kaiya] Anytime works for me

[Yuri] Then, how does around noon sound for you?

[Kaiya] Sounds good!

[Yuri] Alright, I'll see you around then.

Yuri made her way to the kitchen where she made herself something to eat for breakfast. After eating she remembered the message she had received from Monika and decided to check it. She pulled out her phone again and read the text.

[Monika] Hey cutie! You're going to Kaiya's place today, right?

[Yuri] Yes, around noon or so. I've got to pick up my book from her.

[Monika] I see. Well, I'll be at Sayori's place. We've got to go over some festival stuff. You should stop by when you two are done.

[Yuri] Sure! I'll let Kaiya know when I get to her place.

[Monika] Maybe I can even walk you home when we're all finished?

[Yuri] I don't see why not. What brought that up?

[Monika] Oh, I just want to spend some time with you… and Kaiya and I were talking yesterday about how we first met and stuff, so now I'm feeling really sappy

[Yuri] lol, you're so cute. I'd love it if you could walk me home.

[Monika] And I love you ;)

Yuri screamed when she saw that.

[Yuri] ksdghsjh

[Monika] lol i'll see you in a little bit 3

A flustered Yuri set her phone down and went back to reading for a while until it was almost time to go. She grabbed her bag and locked the door on her way out as she always did, and made her way to Kaiya's place. She knew Kaiya was Sayori's neighbor, and since she had visited Sayori's place several times, she knew exactly where to go. She turned away from her house, completely unaware of the markings placed nearby her house.

Kaiya was hurriedly cleaning everything. The disaster that she is, she forgot about Yuri coming to get her book because she spent the night gaming. After rushing to get everything clean, she placed The Portrait of Markov in the living room area on a table. A few moments later Kaiya heard the doorbell ring. She looked out the window and saw Yuri standing in front of the door. Kaiya took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Hi Yuri," Kaiya said.

"I'm a little early, is that okay?" Yuri asked, concern was written on her face.

"Of course! Please, come in! Would you like something to drink?" Kaiya offered. Kaiya didn't exactly have much to offer, since she had just moved in, but she could at least make something for a guest.

"Uh, do you have any tea?" Yuri asked quietly.

"I do! How does some Earl Grey sound?"

"That would be great," Yuri said.

"Alright! I'll make us some tea and I'll be right back. Please, have a seat in the living room." Kaiya left the room and walked into the kitchen.

Yuri looked around the place and noted to herself that there wasn't much in the realm of decor. 'Hmm, she just moved in a week ago, but even so, she has almost nothing here. Still, I bet I could give her some things that could liven things up in here and really make this place feel like a home.'

A few minutes later, Kaiya returned with the tea. "Alright, here's your tea, Yuri," she said, handing Yuri a cup.

"Oh, thank you," Yuri said, taking the cup from Kaiya. "I was just noticing how the place is pretty much empty."

"Yeah, I don't really have much in the way of decorations or anything like that, so the place looks pretty barren. But, you know, I like to think of it as 'minimalistic' or something, haha."

"You know, I do like decorating places. If you'd like, I could help you decorate this place; give it a real home-like atmosphere for you," Yuri offered.

Kaiya thought about it for a moment. 'I'll have to take you up on your offer some day, but that'll probably have to be after the festival is taken care of. Don't want to think about multiple projects at once, you know?"

"That's true. Anyways, what did you think of the book?"

"Oh my gosh, I loved it. I thought it was pretty dark at times, but at the same time it kept me hooked. I just had to keep turning the pages until it was over," Kaiya said.

"Yes! Exactly! That's what I love about books like this. It's material may be dark, but it just has a way of keeping the reader interested in what happens on the next page, and invested in the characters," Yuri said. "The author did a great job with it."

Kaiya nodded her head in agreement. "I agree. It was very well written."

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Monika wanted me to let you know that she'll be at Sayori's place today. Something about the festival. She wanted to let us know that we should stop by after we're done here," Yuri said.

"Hmm, I wonder why," Kaiya said.

Yuri shrugged, "I'm not sure why, but I figure that Sayori wanted to hang out with us outside of school or something."

Kaiya laughed. "That certainly does seem like Sayori. Well, I suppose after we finish our tea we can head over there."

The two continued their discussion of the book until they finished their tea. After which they walked next door.

Natsuki locked herself in her room. Unlike most students, she hated the weekend. She preferred going to school for several reasons, but the biggest one was the person standing behind the door, pounding on it with his fists. Natsuki's father was a better drinker than he was a father, and unfortunately he didn't work weekends. When he drinks, he likes to take out his frustration with work out on Natsuki, at least until he eventually passes out… only then does Natsuki get some peace in her own home.

Natsuki's father spent almost all his income on booze, which infuriated Natsuki, who went to bed hungry most nights. "If only mom were still here…" Natuski would often say to herself. Natsuki's mother passed away several years ago, and really, that was what took her father's drinking to the state that it is now. Sure, he wasn't dad of the year or anything, but he wasn't like this. Now he was just a belligerent drunk.

"NATSUKI! GET OUT HERE!" He shouted while banging on the door.

"Pass out already, damnit…" she muttered to herself. Natsuki wasn't necessarily afraid of her dad, but he could be scary at times like this. She locked herself in her room to get away from him. She did this almost every weekend, and occasionally throughout the week. Today, she was a little later than usual getting in her room, and he had gotten a few marks on her; grabbing her forcefully by the back of the neck and pushing her to the ground… grabbing her wrist and dragging her into the living room, where he shouted something about cleaning a mess that she had made, even though he was the one that made the messes in the house. She knew she was going to bruise in a few places, it happens all the time to her, so she had gotten pretty good at concealing them.

Natsuki desperately wanted out of this household. She longed to be with her girlfriend. She wanted Sayori to hold her and make her feel safe. Unfortunately, he was so controlling that she never got the chance to see her on the weekends. Safely in her room, she checked her phone and saw she had a couple messages, all of which were from Sayori.

[Sayori] Heyyyy!

[Sayori] Cupcake!

[Sayori] I love you!

[Sayori] Just wanted to say tell you again :p

Seeing the messages made Natsuki smile. "Dummy… hehe," she said, holding the phone up to her chest and chuckling to herself. "Even with all this shit, you can make me smile." She decided to send a message back.

[Natsuki] I love you too

Sayori responded almost immediately.

[Sayori] yeah?

[Sayori] Like, enough to sneak over to my place tonight?

Natsuki looked at the message that Sayori had just sent again. "Sayori, are you forgetting something?" Natsuki shook her head and replied.

[Natsuki] Uh, u kno I can't do that

[Sayori] Because your dad said no?

[Natsuki] I don't care what he says, more like what he'd do

[Sayori] oh…

She thought about it for a few seconds, and rebellious nature kicked in.

[Natsuki] But, if we were to, idk, cuddle or something, I might be convinced

[Sayori] We could do that! We can play games too!

Natsuki let out a laugh. Sayori always knew how to make Natsuki smile and laugh, and her innocent and playful nature always could cheer Natsuki up.

[Natsuki] XD well then we'll meet at our spot then?

[Sayori] I'm already on my way over there hehe

Natsuki moved quickly, packing a backpack with some clothes and other essential items. Once she was satisfied that she had everything, she opened her bedroom window and climbed outside after making sure the coast was clear. She made her way back towards the school where her favorite person was waiting for her.

"Hey sweetie!" Sayori said with a big smile on her face. Natsuki literally jumped into Sayori's arms, catching her off guard. "Woah! Ehehe~, someone is excited to see me," she said, stroking Natsuki's hair.

Natsuki blushed, 'thankfully no one else was around to see that,' she thought to herself. "W-well, I, uh… Yeah, of course I'm excited to see you, silly. Why wouldn't I be?"

Sayori's smile grew even bigger after hearing Natsuki say that. "Come on, let's go back to my place. I kinda left Monika alone to come get you."

Natsuki was confused. "Wait, why is Monika at your place?" she asked.

"Club stuff, plus she said she wanted to hang out outside of the club," Sayori explained.

"Oh, that makes sense, I guess," Natsuki said, understanding the situation more.

"Mhm, I kinda get the feeling that she doesn't really get to hang out with people too much," Sayori said solemnly. She turned and saw Natsuki had a confused look on her face.

Natsuki was surprised to hear that about Monika. "Wait, isn't she, like, super popular though? I thought she'd have a bunch of friends." Monika was really popular, especially within their grade. Almost everyone knew that.

"I mean, she is popular, but that doesn't mean she has many real friends, you know?"

"I guess," Natsuki said. "I mean, she does have Yuri and us, and now that I'm thinking about it, we've never really hung out outside of the literature club meetings."

"Yeah, so I thought, why not stay for a bit and I'll invite Natsuki and the others. Of course, I'd invite you over no matter what."

"I was gonna say, haha, you better invite your own girlfriend over otherwise I'd have to fight you." The two shared a laugh together and then Natsuki grabbed Sayori's hand and they began walking towards Sayori's place.