Unknown POV
I could feel a gentle breeze run past my skin, accompanied by the warmth of the air as it flew by. I could hear the crunching of our shoes as they planted themselves in the soft ground under us. Birds were chirping as they took off into the distance, and the leaves of the trees rustled as they were shaken by the wind. But hold on, weren't we still inside? At least, that's what I thought until I finally cracked open my eyes to discover the very same house I woke up in, directly in front of me on the other side of the street. I took a moment to bask in my surroundings. We were no doubt back outside, right in the Neighbor's front yard to be more precise. To my right was Yuri, who seemed just as clueless as I was to find ourselves back here again. It didn't take her very long to notice I was by her side.
"Is… is it over?" She asked me nervously. I thought to myself for a moment before answering.
"Yeah… yeah, I think so. "I replied, unsure about it myself , but she gave a sigh of relief upon hearing my words, so I didn't give it much more thought. We turned back towards the house, only to find not the absurdly oversized unstable mess of a building we had found our way into before but rather a simple, two story building with a light blue wooden exterior, a brown, tiled roof with a hole in the upper left corner and white boards surrounding the windows and fencing in the front of the porch. Could that have something to do with that strange orb we found after taking care of the shadow?
I didn't ponder it for very long, as we heard a grunt of effort come from the ground. Rushing over to the neighbor's side, I extended my hand out for him to grab. He looked at me in confusion for a second, before taking my hand and, with the help of Yuri and I, brought himself back up to his feet, although not without a share of effort. As the neighbor brushed himself off, we took a step back to give him space. I noticed that his clothing seems a bit torn up and he had a few scratches on his face and arms, but besides that, he seems mostly unharmed.
"Thank you, I-" he started, before looking back up at both of us. I noticed that one of his eyebrows was raised in confusion as his gaze rapidly flashed back and forth between me and Yuri before his eyes shot open, like he had just realized something important.
"You two…" he said quietly, his eyes focused on the two of us. "You two were there, but if you're here, then does that mean…it's gone?" Yuri and I glanced at each other for a moment, unsure of what to reply. Hestitanly, he turned back to him and nodded slightly, not completely sure ourselves, but at least we could hopefully reassure him that he was safe.
The Neighbor sighed in relief, his gaze falling towards the grass underneath our feet for a brief moment, before he brought himself back up and without a warning, suddenly kneeling down and wrapped his arms around me, completely catching the both of us off guard.
I… I don't know how to even begin to thank you." He told us softly, but hearing him this close, I could easily make out how gruff his voice was. "I can't even remember when I first saw that shadow, but it feels like… for as long as I can remember, it's always been there, haunting me, never letting me rest, never leaving me alone, forcing me to witness those moments over and over again..." He gripped me tighter as he said this, but I was too shocked from the sudden action that I didn't return the gesture. I could feel his tears drip down onto my shoulder as he spoke.
I saw Yuri place her hand on the neighbor's shoulder closest to her, who let go of me and turned towards her. "You don't have to worry anymore. It's gone now. It can't hurt you anymore." She sounded as if she regained confidence in her words, and spoke to him without any signs of uncertainty. I was surprised, I thought she was just as unsure about it as I was, but if she thinks it's really gone, then maybe we really did save the neighbor for good after all. Yuri smiled, and the neighbor wiped his eyes as he spoke once again.
"Thank you… for everything." He told us, before turning away to face his house. " I never thought I would ever be rid of it, but somehow… you found a way. Just how did you do it?" Yuri and I looked at each other for a moment, unsure what to say to him.
"Honestly, I don't know." I answered with a hint of uncertainty to my voice. "All I knew was that we wanted to help you, so I guess… there was just a part of me that knew what to do, I really can't describe it any better." The neighbor turned back around to face me, and looked to be unconvinced with my explanation, but quickly shook his head, putting on a small smile as he did so."
"I suppose it really doesn't matter." He explained. "What's important is that the shadow is gone, and I have you to thank for it." He looked down towards the ground with a depressed expression, crossing his arms as he let out a sigh. He seemed to be deep in thought about something, but I didn't have long to ponder what it could be as Yuri had already taken a step forward towards him, her hands clenched together, pressed against her upper chest.
"You're still thinking about those visions, aren't you?" Yuri asked him softly. "I-I'm sorry there was nothing we could do." Those visions? Was she talking about what we saw while chasing the shadow? The neighbor brought his head up to face her.
"...yes" He answered after a short pause. "There was never a day that goes by where I don't think about them, but that shadow kept showing me everything… everything I wanted to put behind me for good, and everytime, it would keep telling me, over and over again, that what it showed was my fault, that I could have stopped it from happened, and even when I knew I couldn't have, it didn't care, it just wanted to see me suffer."
"You mean?" Yuri realized as she spoke. "Oh my... I'm- I'm so sorry! I had no idea they were…" Yuri's voice trembled as she turned away and tried to hide her guilt behind her hair. I didn't know what to say. Did those things that we saw really happen to him? The neighbor came up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him surprised, but still seeming flustered.
"Don't be." He reassured her with a soft tone. "There was nothing you could have done. It was a long time ago, long before I've ever seen you two here…which reminds me." His tone and expression suddenly dropped as he stepped to face both me and Yuri, crossing his arms. "Just why were you two in my basement anyway?"
I was about to speak, but stopped myself when I realized what my answer might sound like to him. I looked over at Yuri once more, who was just as much of a loss for words as I was. Knowing I didn't have many other options, I sighed and settled on my answer.
"So… I know this may come as a surprise to you…" I started, scratching the back of my head as I explained my reasoning for breaking into his house. "But everything you see here… well, it's not real, any of it. It's all part of a video game made where I came from." I could see his eyebrows rise as he heard this. "Now I know that sounds crazy, and trust me, I get it, but you have to believe me. I don't know how I got here either, I just found myself waking up in that house earlier this morning and I have no idea who it belongs to!" I confessed, pointing to the house across the street. " I was just hoping… maybe your basement might hold some answers, considering the whole goal of the game you came from… was breaking into your basement." Yuri fiddled with her fingers nervously as I explained this to him. However, what caught us off guard was his reaction, or a lack thereof. Surprisingly, the neighbor didn't seem to react much to this revelation. Yuri stepped over towards me.
"A-are you sure you want to tell him this?" She asked me quietly, being careful not to let him hear.
"What else can I say?" I asked her out loud. "I couldn't make up something like that if I tried, so I figure it's just better to tell him the truth."
"Is this true?" The neighbor asked, his eyes moved towards Yuri, who quickly understood the question was for her. She hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and matching the neighbor's gaze.
"Y-yes." She replied nervously. "About everything." The neighbor's hand rose up to rest on his chin as his expression dropped towards the ground. I assumed he was pondering what he had just heard. I was just shocked that he was taking this revelation way better than I had expected, considering when Monika found out the truth about what her world was, she nearly killed everyone else and tore the game in half just to be with me. After a moment of silence, the neighbor spoke once more.
"I see." He said bluntly. "Now that I think about it, knowing that makes everything make much more sense."
"Wait, really?" I blurted out without thinking.
"Of course. If what you say really is the truth after all, then this answers far more than even I might realize at first. Why I couldn't remember when the shadow first appeared, why I know someone else lives in the house you said you came to, even if I can't recall them very well." He spun around back towards the house again as he continued. "How my house suddenly went from that absurd mess it was before back to what was before, and to be honest, it even answers my concerns from the fact that I can't seem to remember much of anything besides today, besides those moments in the visions, which I even recall being present for to begin with, and… something else… something… much worse." He slowly brought himself back around towards us again. "I suppose if what you say is true, that you came from the "real world", that might have something to do with your rather strange appearance." My eyes shot open, and I found myself quickly looking down at my hands again. I was so preoccupied with the shadow and the neighbor's basement I had completely forgotten about what happened to my body when I first got here." I looked back up towards him, trying to disregard those thoughts for the time being.
"Yea, maybe. But are you sure you're okay about knowing all this? I mean, about you only being a video game character and all." I asked him.
"Well, I can't say I'm thrilled to learn that, but I suppose it's better than pretending that it's not the case." He answered. "But that doesn't matter right now. What's important is getting you back to your world, and if you were brave enough to bring down that shadow, then I have faith that you'll find your way out of here." I could feel my eyes widen as he said this.
"You really think so?"
"I'm sure of it, and if you two need anything, just remember I'm alway here to help you out. It's only fair after what you've done for me." I felt a cheesy grin grow on my face as he told me this.
"Thank you, Mr… um."
... and just like that, my smile was shot. The neighbor however, quickly took notice of my dilemma.
"Peterson." He responded. "But please, call me Theodore." His eyes flashed between Me and Yuri. "I don't believe I've gotten either of your names." Yuri's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh, of course." She said to him, holding her hand out for a shake. "My name is Yuri. It's a pleasure to meet you, Theodore."
"Yuri huh?" Theodore said, accepting Yuri's handshake. "Can't say I've heard a name like before." He then turned towards me. "And you are?"
"Oh right." I said quickly, nodding my head while extending my own hand. "My names-" Then, just like that, my mind went completely blank. No words, no pictures, no names, nothing. It felt just as empty as the void we escaped from not five minutes ago. I was completely caught off guard by this, and I noticed both Yuri and the neighbor's expressions were just as confused as I was about this. I tried several times to recall my name, but every time I got to that point in my thought process, my mind just snapped to being empty again, save for a single word.
"Protag"
"Hmm?" I could hear the neighbor say.
"Protag, I guess that's my name, or at least it's the only one I can think of." The neighbor didn't seem too weirded out by this however. I guess with how much we've gone through today, he could let this detail slide.
"Well then, Protag." The neighbor said, returning my handshake as well. "I wish you luck on your way. After what you've told me, you're going to need every little ounce of luck you get." He let go of my hands and placed his hands on his hips. "Tell you what, since I'm already headed back inside, I'll go take a look around my basement again. See if I can't find anything unusual that might help you out."
"Oh, sure. That's very generous of you." Yuri said to him. "Would you want us to come and help with your search?"
"NO!" He yelled without warning, causing both of us to jump back in surprise. Yuri and I glanced at each other with confused and worried looks for a brief second before turning back towards the neighbor, whose expression told me that he just realized what he had said.
"I mean, no" He repeated himself, much calmer this time. "I can handle it myself. I'll let you know if I find something." He seemed really serious about this, so I chose not to question his choice.
"Alright then. Well, I hope everything goes well for you." I told him.
"Same to you." The Neighbor said to me, "I hope you find what you're looking for, and thank you again for helping me." He turned back toward his house one final time, and made his way towards the building, but before he stepped inside, he spun his gaze back towards us.
"And Yuri!" He shouted from his porch. Yuri perked up as she heard this. Theodore brought his free hand around to tap the back of his head. "Make sure you keep that arm swing strong, you're gonna need it." He turned back to the house and stepped inside.
Yuri didn't say anything for a second, but by time she realized what he meant, he had already shut the door behind him. She seemed very embarrassed about what he said, but before I could question what it was about, I thought I heard something down the road. It sounded like someone was calling for Yuri. I turned towards the voices, and straight away I knew exactly who it was, or more accurately, who they were.
As I turned around to face the voices, I felt my foot hit something hard. I kneeled down and picked up what I collided with. As I brought myself back up, I looked on with curiosity and confusion at what I was holding. It was a large hourglass, roughly the size of my hand. It had a polished wooden finish to the top and bottom of the glass along with what looked to be spirals carved into the disks that were connected to the legs that connected the ends, with a tiny purple top hat with a yellow stripe wrapped around it in the middle of each of them. Strangely enough, it was surprisingly light, given that there didn't seem to be any sand inside the glass. I didn't have very long to question this, as we were soon greeted by a very annoyed and angry pink haired tsundere.
"Where the hell have you been!" Natsuki yelled, bringing herself directly into Yuri's face, causing her to step back slightly. "You've been gone for hours!" Yuri didn't get a chance to answer however, as she quickly found herself wrapped in the squeezing arms of an overjoyed Sayori.
"Yuri!" She screamed in delight. "I'm so happy you're okay! We've been looking everywhere for you!"
"You… you have?" She questioned, struggling to escape Sayori's iron grip. "I'm- I'm sorry. I didn't realize how long we were gone."
"We?" Sayori stated, then she let go of her when she noticed me standing off to the side. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry." She apologized, pushing her index fingers together. "I didn't see you there."
"Oh great, it's you." Natsuki revolted, crossing her arms as she gave me a displeasing look. "What are you doing with Yuri?"
"It's a long story." Yuri said to her.
Natsuki groaned aloud, rolling her eyes back to Yuri. "I can't believe you would just run off like that. It's not like I was worried about you or anything."
"Well, what matters is that she's okay!" Sayori stated. However, that's when Monika caught up to the other, and before she could speak up, she saw me.
"Player." She said, her tone turned cold. The others grew silent as they turned towards us.
"Monika." I replied. As she started walking towards me, a million thoughts started violently slamming themselves into the sides of my head. After our last confrontation, I had no idea what to say to her. Between what we discovered in the house to this situation me and Yuri have gotten ourselves into, I was admittedly terrified of what she was going to say to me, but I knew I had to say something.
"L-look, I'm sorry." I started. "I don't know what came over me earlier. I know what I said was wrong, and I just-" I was suddenly cut off by Monika placing her finger on my lips.
"Don't. Please." Monika told me bluntly. "Listen. I know what happened wasn't your fault. I know you're scared about what's happening. Trust me, I understand completely, and I also understand why you would think it was me. I just can't bring myself to hate you for it. So please, don't start this. I already forgive you for it. All I ask is that you let us help you." She slowly pulls her hand away from my lips, and gives me a warm smile. I'm at a loss for words. Even after everything she saw and I said, was she really okay letting it go so quickly?
"Monika, I…" I turned my gaze towards the others, who all bore similar expressions of confusion. "Are you really sure about this?"
"I wouldn't want it any other way." She said to me. Sayori took a step forward towards us.
"Yea!" She added. "So what if we said a few things we aren't happy with? As long as we're sorry about it and are willing to forgive each other, that's what's important, right?"
"Of course. We're all in this together. We should at least make the best of it." Yuri told us.
"I still think you're a complete asshole!" Natsuki stated. "But I guess I can deal with you for a while if everyone else is fine with you." I looked around at everyone, completely taken aback by their determination. They all showed their expressions of fortitude in their own unique ways, and everyone seemed equally satisfied with their choice, even if they didn't completely trust me yet.
I sighed. "Alright" I said softly. "I guess I do need your help."
"Yay!" Sayori yelled joyfully, growing a big goofy grin on her face as she jumped and clapped with excitement. Monika and Yuri gave each other looks of content, while Natsuki simply smiled to herself. However, Monika's expression quickly faded as she realised something.
"So, what exactly were you doing with the player anyway?" Monika asked, a hint of cynicism in her words.
"Oh, right." Yuri's eyes widened as she clasped her hands together behind her back. "Like I said before, it's quite a long story." She turned to face the rest of us. "Perhaps we should find a more comfortable place to discuss. It seems rude to keep conversing on someone else's property." But before anyone could say anything else, I heard a loud thud come from where Sayori was as something smacked her in the back of the head.
"OW!" She yelped as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Sayori!" Monika gasped, as we rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"
"Yea." Sayori groaned "I think so." We turned around to see what hit her, only to discover a closed light blue umbrella with a star pattern wrapped around it. Sayori picked it up and spun it around in her hand, then looked up to see a very peculiar sight.
"Look!" Sayori called, pointing to the sky. The others looked up and gasped in surprise from what they saw, which were dozens of the same hourglasses like the very one I was holding raining from the sky, falling from what looked like some sort of spaceship hovering above the planet. As we stared, completely perplexed by what we saw, Natsuki spoke up.
"Wait, that one looks different." Natsuki pointed out, her finger shot out toward the shower of hourglasses.
I had to squint in order to make it out, but the closer the object came towards us, the more I realized what Natsuki saw wasn't just some random object, but it almost looked like… a person. Before I could really fathom what I was looking at, we witnessed the figure crash land into a tree a good distance down the street. The other winced as the figure landed, and we all looked at each other for a short moment. Without any words being spoken, we all hurried down the road towards the crash site.
As we grew closer to where the figure landed, I discovered that what we saw wasn't just a person, but in fact, it looked like a little girl, dressed in a purple shirt that was too big for her, light gray pants and brown boots, along with a yellow cape and a giant zipper. Her hair was surprisingly similar to Monika's, only rather than a white bow, she had a large purple top hat with a yellow stripe, exactly like the one on the hourglass. The girl had somehow gotten her cape caught on the branch of the tree, and was struggling to free herself, but besides that, she thankfully seemed relatively unharmed, rather, she looked more annoyed than anything else. She stopped us as she saw us and she tried to run towards us with outstretched arms, only to not go anywhere because, well, she was still on the branch.
"Are you okay?" Yuri called out to her worriedly. The girl simply nodded, but tugged at her cape to show her predicament. Yuri looked towards us, seemingly hoping for any ideas.
"Oh, here. Use this!" Sayori said to Yuri, who held out the umbrella for her to use.
"Oh, thank you." Yuri told her. She took the umbrella from Sayori and turned around back toward the tree. Stretching the end of the umbrella out toward the girl, she carefully grabbed the part of the cape hooked onto the tree and gently slid the girl off the branch, who landed in Monika outstretched arms. Monika then set the child down on the sidewalk, who brushed the sawdust off her shirt and readjusted her cape and hat. After doing so, she looked up to see all of us staring down at her. Even with her top hat, which was basically the side of her head, she only stood up just slightly higher than my waist, so it was strange gazing at a person, child or not, that only was half as tall as we were.
As the girl studied us, her gaze flashing between me and the club members, Monika dropped to her knees to match the girl's height.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked her softly. The girl thought to herself for a moment, then simply responded with a shrug. Before Monika could say anything else, Natsuki stepped forward, her hands on her hips.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, why exactly were you falling from the sky?" She questioned. The girl acted surprised by her comment, then jumped in realization, turned and pointed up towards something floating in the sky.
"Wait, is that a spaceship!?" Sayori asked excitedly. The girl responded with a joyful nod, then reenacted her fall using her hand, adding in her own sound effects, which admittedly, was actually really cute. However, when she finished, she gasped as she saw something. Without any warning, she quickly ran past Monika, who stood up and nearly backwards moving out of her way, and swiped the hourglass and umbrella from me and Yuri hands, catching everyone by surprise. She attached the umbrella to her back, which somehow managed to stay on without any kind of support, and quickly spun the hourglass around in her hands. After a short moment, she sighed in relief and believe it or not, the hourglass shrunk down to basically nothing as she placed it into her pants pocket.
"Oh, I get it." Sayori realized. "Those hourglasses that fell from the sky must be hers." Hat Kid nodded rapidly in excitement, seemingly confirming Sayori's comment. Sayori kneeled down and said to her, "Don't worry, we'll help you find them."
"We will?" Natsuki, Yuri and Monika exclaimed. I was caught off guard by her sudden statement, but something in me knew this would happen, I just couldn't seem to recall what it was. Maybe it was my memory messing with me again, I have to figure this out eventually. The girl bounced up and down with joy and leaped into Sayori's open arms with a big grin on her face, who wrapped her arms around her and brought herself up to her feet, carrying the girl like a mother holding their child.
"Of course." Sayori said, like it was the most obvious thing ever. "She lost all of her belongings. It only makes sense that we help her get them back."
"I mean, yea I guess." Natsuki stated uncertainty, crossing her arms.
"I suppose we could help her out." Yuri added, walking over to where they were. "Since we will no doubt be travelling around the town while we search for clues about how to get Protag home, we could see if we could find her hourglass along the way."
"Hang on, Protag?" Monika questioned.
"Oh yea. That's my name." I pointed out. "Or at least that was the only one I could think of."
"I see." She said in an almost disappointed tone. However, her voice immediately regained its usual spirit as she spoke to the group. "Alright, then it settled. We'll go help find her hourglasses on our way to get Protag home!" She ended with a confident smile.
"Yay!" Sayori responded with her usual excitement, then she gasped as she realized something. "Oh yeah!" She turned towards the girl in her arms. "I completely forgot to ask your name." The girl perked up in curiosity, then thought to herself for a moment before pointing to her hat. Sayori looked confused at her response.
"Hat… Kid?" She asked her. The girl nodded again in response. Sayori didn't seem to mind this however.
"Alright then, Hat Kid it is!" She stated with pride.
"Okay everyone!" Monika announced, gathering everyone's attention. "We now know what we are going to do! Now all we need is a place to start looking." She looked towards me. "Any idea of where we should go?" I was taken aback by Monika's comment, seeing as my own memory issue was still in my mind, but I tried to push it aside as I focused on choosing our destination. After some thought, as much as I hated the thought of going here, I knew given its importance, we would have to go there at some point. Best to get it out of the way now.
"Well…" I started. "There is one place I saw…"
