Monika's POV

I was at a lack of words as I stared at the sight in front of us. The rooms were covered head to toe with papers and giant black words written in what looked to be hastily painted on, as if whoever did this was in a major rush to do so, and words like "Why" and "How" were covering a bunch of the papers pinned to the walls. I had no idea what would drive someone to do this, but something inside me was curious to find out why.

"We shouldn't be here." I heard Yuri say worriedly. "We should leave before we get in trouble."

"Are you sure this is the right house, Sayori?!" Natsuki asked, confused and concerned.

"I'm sure!" Exclaimed Sayori. "They were standing in front of the house when I ran into them!" As the three continued their discussion, I found myself slowly and unconsciously being drawn deeper into the house, my curiosity desperately wanting to understand what everything in this place meant.

Throughout the many pieces of paper placed on the walls were some that had pictures of them. These pictures were of people I had never seen before and all of them had the words "Potential Threat" above them written in the same black ink as the rest of the walls. One was of an older, clearly angry man with brown hair with part of it sticking upwards, thick eyebrows, green eyes and a mustache all sitting above a huge chin which alone almost doubled the size of his head, which took the shape of an upright curved rectangle. He was also wearing a short sleeved yellow dress shirt with a blue diamond pattern sleeveless vest on top of it. The picture was cut off after that, but I could tell that whoever this was certainly wasn't happy having his picture taken. In fact, the house that was in the background behind this man was the same massive house sitting across the street from where we were. Just why did this person not only have a picture of their clearly upset neighbor, but also consider them a threat to themself?

Just next to that was a set of four pictures pinned right next to each other, which seemed to be four different human-sized robot animals, which looked like those animatronics at restaurants made to entertain children. The one on the far left was a large brown bear robot wearing a tiny black top hat and a large black bow tie holding a microphone in it's right hand. To his left was a similarly sized purple bunny robot with a red bow tie holding a red electric guitar. Another picture showed a tall yellow chicken wearing a white bib that covered it's entire chest and also was holding a plate that had a pink cupcake with eyes on it. The bib in question had the words "Let's Eat!" in yellow with a purple outline. Guess that answers my question on where they were made for. The last picture was particularly off putting for me, as it had a tall orange fox with an eyepatch over it's right eye and a hook for a right hand, but even beyond the obvious pirate motif was the fact that this one seemed noticeably broken down. It's jaw was hanging open and parts of it's chest, arms and leg had large pieces torn off revealing the robot parts underneath the costumes. It's lower legs, feet and left hand were also completely exposed, as if the designer didn't have to finish putting it together. These four were definitely disturbing in their appearance, but nothing about them seemed to be a threat like this person thought they were.

Another picture was sitting next to the room below the stairs, and looked to be a 2D cartoon character. He was mostly dark in color, but had a completely white face save for the eyes, which were pitch black oval only cut off by the bottom of each eye by half circles and a pie shaped cutout of the left side of each eye. The character strangely didn't have a neck, it's head just floating above its body, but it sported a large white bow tie, white gloves with two large black dots on them, and black shoes that rounded out its otherwise human shaped appearance. Its smile seemed innocent, although I was taken aback by the fact the top of its head was shaped to give the character devil like horns. Even with the horns, there was no way this cartoon character could be considered a threat to anyone. Whoever this was had to know that cartoons can't come to life, it's just common sense. The more of these pictures I see, the more I started to question the person who lived here.

The picture posted on the wall facing towards the stairs was the strangest one of all. It was just a white pixelated image of a sunflower with upright black rectangle eyes and an adorable genuine smile. Now I was baffled by the fact this was even here, and was seriously beginning to question what was going on in this person's head, thinking that a group of children's entertainment robots, a cartoon character or a 8-bit flower could ever be considered a "threat." Beyond just those pictures were several newspaper clippings that took up much of the walls, detailing the disappearance of children, employees that once worked at an animation studio, and ships that were rumored to be attacked and robbed of their cargo. I was completely at a loss as to what would cause someone to do this.

Even after everything I've seen so far, nothing could prepare me for what I saw next. At the bottom of the stairs leading upstairs was another piece of paper, but this one was something I never thought I would see again. The emptiness of the room, the sight and color of the literal space behind the windows, the way the person in the picture was sitting at the empty desk in the center of the room, with her chin resting on her hands, being held up by her arms and elbows. This picture was of...

...me!

The unconscious gasp that came from me was heard by my fellow club members, as I quickly noticed them running my way as I realized who was in the picture.

"Monika, are you alright?!" Yuri called out as the group ran over to where I was.

"What happened?!" Natsuki asked suddenly.

"What's going on?!" Sayori asked, following behind the others.

Everyone came up to where I was standing, and they all were similarly shocked when they saw my picture.

"What the hell!?" Natsuki shouted.

"Huh? Why do they have a picture of you?" Sayori asked, confused.

"They think you're dangerous?!" Questioned a concerned Yuri. "You wouldn't hurt anyone, let alone whoever's house this is!" I hesitated for a second, then shook my head.

"No..." I said softly enough that only I could hear it.

Tightening my grip on the paper, I turned to face the top of the stairs and declared out loud, "But I'm going to find out!"

I stormed my way up the stairs, determined to get some answers about everything I've seen here, my fellow club members following close behind constantly trying to ask me what I was doing, but I ignored them and focused my efforts on making my way towards the upstairs rooms, where I began to hear noises coming from behind the closed door on the right side just after taking a left into a small hallway. There sounded like there was only one person in the room, and they sounded clearly frustrated, yelling and stomping around the room, although it was muffled, so I couldn't tell what they were saying. Then I heard a noise of what sounded like someone landing on a bed before all the noises from the room ceased. Not wanting to waste any more time, I threw the door open and saw someone laying face down on the bed in the top left corner, seemingly exhausted from whatever they were doing before. However, I was completely shocked when the person looked up towards us and I saw their face for the first time.

"What the? Where did you come from?" They shouted. They were exactly how Sayori described them to look like. Completely grey skin, eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes, lips and fingernails, along with looking in their late teens. When I took another step towards them. They jumped back and nearly hit the wall when they saw us with a shocked gasp, clearly taken aback by our sudden entrance, and I noticed their eyes quickly peek over at the paper I was holding.

"Wait, Wait, Hang on!" They cried, throwing their hands in front of them defensively. "At least give me the chance to explain myself." After a long pause, they let out a sigh and got up off the bed. They then walked over towards the opposite wall and began to speak.

"I'm not from this world. In fact, I'm not from any of these worlds. I was just playing games at my desk before everything suddenly went black, and I found myself lying on the bed right there" They started, pointing towards the one in the corner.

"I have no idea what's going on, or why I'm suddenly seeing all of these video game characters as if they were actually real. All I know is that something had to have brought me and everyone else together here, which is why all of these pictures are hanging." Gesturing towards the walls with their outstretched hand, they continued.

"Although, everything I've found so far has gotten me absolutely nowhere!" They started to yell, spinning away from us and yanking a random picture off the wall in a frustrated manner, staring at it with rage in their next words.

"Someone out had to have caused all this, and I'm sure they would have needed not only the ability to, but something movitived them to shove all of these characters together! Someone wanted these people here, and I'm going to figure out who it is!" They managed to calm down a bit before resumed their story.

"All I could guess is that whoever did this must have had some sort of malicious purpose, which is why I've gathered all these pictures and articles of criminals and murders, as maybe they could help me get some sort of lead."

"And you think Monika could have done this?!" Just to my left, I saw Yuri step forward towards the individual with an insulted look on her face, clearly upset with what they were saying. They stiffened upon hearing Yuri's sickened words, slowly turning back towards us, and I could very clearly see the horrified expression on their faces. Natsuki then set herself by Yuri's side.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She shouted at them, shoving them back a bit with her finger.. "First you start spitting this bullshit story at us, then you start accusing Monika of murder?! You're fucking sick!"

I was utterly stunned by everything that had just happened. This person who I've never seen before somehow knows about me, had a picture of the game on their wall of my most desperate moment and now both Yuri and Natsuki were defending me from them, even after all the horrible things I had done to them and Sayori. Speaking of Sayori, I looked over to her, who was backing away from the confrontation, clenching her hands together. She turned to face, just enough to where I could see the worry that filled her eyes.

"Nonono, that's not what I meant at all!" The person said quickly, desperately trying to defend themselves while holding their hands up in front of them, but everyone else knew they were fighting a losing battle, including myself.

"Then start explaining why you have that picture of her, and more importantly, why it's hanging on the wall with all these other people!" Yuri demanded, taking another step towards them. I could see the person's eyes flashing rapidly between Yuri, Natsuki, the page in my hands, and the wall to their left, filled with the same barrage of papers and black text as the ones downstairs.

"I-I...I" They tried to say, but their words kept getting caught off by their violent gasping, almost sounding like they were about to start choking on their voice. Natsuki then stepped forward past Yuri, placing herself directly in front of the person. Her fists were clenched by her sides, and her furious demeanor was enough to nearly send the person she was staring at into shock. I could see the absolute fear in the person just from the wideness of their eyes and the shaking of their hands, but rather than do anything sudden, all Natsuki said was…

"You disgust me...". She then stepped back to where Yuri was, and placed herself by her side.

"I say we should be calling the police, but luckily for you, we don't even know if there are any in this place." She told them, and turned around, heading for the door.

"Come on." She said to us. "Let's get out of here, I'm done talking to this psycho." Yuri turned to face the person once more, a look of anger filling her expression.

"I can't believe you would do such a thing!" Yuri said to them before she also started leaving. I saw Sayori stare at him for a while with tears beginning to fill her eyes, before she followed them without a word. I also couldn't bring myself to leave right away. I was at a complete lack of words regarding the last few minutes. Just who was this person? Why would they have that picture? Do... Do they know? I didn't want to believe it, but I know I wouldn't be able to deny it for long. Before my train of thought continued, I turned around to head out alongside the others, who were already making their way down the stairs.

"Please!" I heard them yell from behind me. "You have to believe me!" I stopped. Even with everything that had just happened, I couldn't help but feel bad for them. They're just as lost and confused as we are, and just like us, was only trying to piece this mess together, but at the same time... did they only see me as some sort of murderer? I don't blame them if they did. After everything I've done, I'm not surprised that anyone would be to be honest, but just to be safe, I did my best to conceal those thoughts and turned back towards them.

"...why would we?" I said to them in a threatening manner, trying to get them to back off and let us leave without any trouble.

"Because...Because..." They muttered, continuing to try and control the situation. However, suddenly they stopped, and before I made it to the door, I could hear them say the one thing I hoped I would never hear.

"Because I know what you did to them!"

...oh no.

"Don't listen to their crap, Monika!" I could hear Natsuki shout from downstairs. Then after a short moment, three pairs of shoes came running back to me.

"Monika..?" Natsuki said again, this time much more calm, yet confused.

Monika, are you alright?" Asked a worried Yuri.

I could feel my hands and legs shaking, my knees getting weak, my grip on the door handle to my right tighten to the point where it would have hurt if I could focus on it, and all of the air in my body getting sucked all at once, leaving me struggling to get any sort of noise outside of my own gasps. Even worse than all of that, was all of the painful memories that began to surge and infect my mind. Memories I never wanted to see ever again. The soulless, lifeless body of Sayori hanging from her bedroom ceiling from a bloody noose of her own creation, her color of her eyes slowly fading away into nothingness. The painful noises of Natsuki's neck cracking and snapping to her side, and the way her body abnormally launched itself toward the player character, as if her own feral instincts had taken over her own desire for them. The cold emptiness that filled the classroom the day of the festival when I walked in, only to witness the drying, decaying corpse of Yuri resting on one of the desks, with holes in her chest and the kitchen knife she used to make them laying by her side, the blood gone black from exposure to the outside world... and what did I do?

...I laughed at her...

Then came that picture again, only this time, I was really me in that barrien room, the eternal void of space surrounding us as I stared into the eyes of the one I loved... and the one who I could never reach... I could feel my eyes burning and water, but I didn't have the strength to close them, as my mind became tormented by unforgivable mistakes. I could still remember what it felt like. The pure agony that consumed my being as I was betrayed the only person I ever cared for. It felt like every part of my body was being unbearably torn apart, piece by piece, each tear more brutal and painful than the last, until there was nothing left. Nothing... but black, and regret. All of this, because I loved someone I could never be with.

I could feel my hands start to become numb with how hard I was holding the door handle, so I forced myself to let go, and once my breathing and blinking were finally back to a normal level, I slowly made my way around to face the person once more.

"How?" I asked them softly. "How did you know that?"

They didn't answer right away, but rather simply sighed. Soon after, they placed their hand on their chest and replied, "Because I played your game in my world, and I saw what you did!"

"What the hell is he talking about, Monika?" "What do they mean by "your game?""

I could hear Natsuki and Yuri asking me questions from behind me, desperate to get my attention, but I didn't answer. At this point, I was beyond furious with this person. The last thing I ever wanted was to have to experience those memories again, and here this person was using them against me! I could start to feel my hands clench and my blood boil, and they were about to hit their breaking point.

"Damnit!" I shouted, shocking everyone else in the room. I could hear my club members immediately stop talking, taking a step back from me, but I refused to let it faze me as I kept my attention on the person in front of me.

"Why did you have to bring that up? I've been trying to move on from those mistakes and set things right this time, but now here you are dragging me back there again! Besides, why should I believe anything you say? For all I know, you could just be another one of those video game characters that showed up today."

"Don't believe me, fine!" They replied with anger in their words, holding their arms up at their sides. "Look me up in the game files, see if you find anything!"

I hesitated for a moment. Did they know I could access the game files? What if they were telling the truth after all? I shook my head, trying to clear those thoughts out. Either way, I wanted to be sure, so I stepped forward until I was within arms length from them. The others behind me didn't follow, most likely completely lost with the situation. I took a deep breath, and managed to recall how to access the files within my mind, my hands and arms glowing with a soft light blue aura as I did so. This happened before whenever I accessed the files, so this was nothing known to me. I could hear more confused "Huh's", "What's" and grunts from behind me, but I tuned them out, wanting to focus on the task at hand. I stretched my hand, and the aura grew from it into the person's chest. They didn't react, as it had no physical effects, and I began to mentally scan the files for a match. But as it turns out, there was so much I hadn't yet seen in this place, and without warning, hundreds upon hundreds of different names, faces, places and people were all shown to me all at once. It was physically impossible for me to make anything out with just how much was flying across my mind all at the same time. It didn't long for it to become unbearable, and I even started to feel my head becoming hot from how fast it was trying to process everything that it was seeing, but eventually I realized that even with how many different files there were, I saw nothing that was even close to the person I was trying to find. I was determined to keep looking, but I knew that my mind was already becoming strained, and that I wasn't going to last much longer if I kept going, so I chose to cut the search off there, but before I could get the chance do, something struck me out of nowhere not physically, but mentally. This strange sudden force completely threw me out of my concentration, and within milliseconds, began to carve its way into my mind. I didn't know what was going on, but all I knew was that my head started to hurt, like it was about to burst open, that's how much it hurt. It almost felt like a lighting bolt had just zapped my brain, and it wasn't stopping.

*User "Monika" removed by Admin. File access blocked by password*

My hands snapped themselves onto the top of my head as I reeling back from the individual, trying to do something about this burning mental onslaught. I could hear the others rushing over to my side as I fell over onto my side, kneeling down to help me back up.

"Monika, what happened? Are you ok? What's going on?" I heard Sayori say.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Yuri spoke as she and the others helped me back to my feet, trying to stay calm as she did so.

"Natsuki once I stood again however, turned her gaze towards the person and yelled "What the hell did you do to her!?"

"I didn't do anything!" They shouted back. "If I had to guess, she tried to look me up in the files, and something didn't go right."

"Are you fucking insane!?" She screamed at them, absolutely livid with what she was hearing. "Give me one good reason why I should trust a single word that comes out of your mouth!"

"Natsuki, please." I said to her, grabbing her shoulder with my free hand. She turned back around to me, a look of confusion enveloping her face, which quickly turned to guilt as she stepped back, allowing me to face the person once more. At this point, I could only fathom a single question.

"Just... who are you?"

"Like I said, I'm just someone trying to get home." They said to me, holding their hand out for me to shake, which I accepted.

"Listen, I'm sorry for everything that happened." I told them as guilt began to envelop me. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did, and I want to make it up to you somehow. In any case, I do honestly believe your story now, and... I understand why you put my picture up with all those other awful people..."

"Monika" They stopped me, placing their hand on my arm. "Everything that happened in your game, that's all in the past, and just from the way you've spoken to me today, I can tell you're not the same person you were from back then. You've grown, you managed to bring them all back." They did a small head gesture towards my club members behind, telling me to look behind me towards them before turning back to them. "And I know you want to set everything right again. So..." They grabbed the paper still in my hand with their free hand and crumpled it up, throwing it off into the corner with the bed. "You don't have to worry about me anymore."

I couldn't believe what was happening, but at the same time, everything was starting to make sense. Obviously this person had every reason to suspect I brought them here, and if they did really know what I've done, then that could only mean one thing…

"P-Player?" I asked. They nodded back. That was my breaking point. My tears took over my emotions, and I ran towards them for a hug, which they returned with open arms. I didn't care anymore if my friends heard my sorrows, THIS was the person I have spent my entire life trying to be with, and now I'm finally in their arms... but it still wasn't right.

"This is all wrong!" I shouted in between my cries, my hands clenching the back of their shirt. "I'm supposed to be in your reality! You can't be trapped here with me!" They didn't say anything after that, rather we just stood there, embraced in each other's arms. I don't know how long we were like this for, but I knew that I never wanted to let go ever again.