A/N: While this story does serve as a sequel to my first ever fanfic, Telling Their Stories, I wouldn't say reading that is required to understand this.
In fact, I'd almost prefer if you didn't read it since… well, it was my first ever fanfic. I know some people really like it, and I guess I do too in some sense, but damn, re-reading it was ROUGH.
I just figured, might as well include it in this idea since certain concepts from it ended up tying in quite nicely. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and as always:

Warning! This story contains depictions of mature and serious subjects from a writer with none of the maturity or seriousness to properly write about said subjects. If you are uncomfortable with this, perhaps this story isn't for you, sorry.

"Step it up! Move your body! Good job!"

MC released a groan at the "encouragement" from the electronic voice on the TV, accompanied by the maddening synthesized music. This wasn't going very well for him at all.

Just how long is this song?! He thought, frustrated. It felt like he'd been dancing for an hour straight.

Nevertheless, he squinted his eyes in concentration, tracking the falling arrows on the screen and shuffled his feet towards the indicated points on the trackpad below him, intent on seeing this through to the end. Rows of yellow NICE words flashed upon the screen, informing him that he at the very least was hitting all the right spots, although the scarcity of the esteemed GREAT words told him that he could be doing better. A lot better.

Against his better judgment, he shot a brief glance to the left side of the screen, checking how his opponent was doing. The rows of NICE's were about the same as his, with the notable inclusion of a few red NICE TRY's sprinkled throughout the positive reinforcements, indicating a few missteps in her performance.

Smirking to himself, MC continued his efforts with renewed vigor, managing to score GREAT's with far more consistency, and even a few PERFECT's. He was so going to win this!

Just then, as he moved his leg towards the left side of the trackpad, a hard, painful impact collided against his foot.

Yelling out, he instinctively retracted his injured leg, raising it high away from whatever had attacked him. Immediately, his part of the screen was flooded with red flashes of words that devolved from TRY AGAIN and BAD, to TERRIBLE, AWFUL and ARE YOU EVEN TRYING?! as he continued missing the rapidfire button prompts.

Ignoring the pain, he placed his aching foot down again, halfheartedly attempting to get back into the rhythm and save his score. Just as he started getting into the flow of NICE's however, the song ended.

With an exhausted moan, MC walked backwards, collapsing into the soft couch behind him, and closed his eyes with a sigh. Not long after, he felt the presence of his opponent settling herself next to him.

He opened his eyes again, watching the flashing numbers on the screen as the game calculated their individual results. He already dreaded the final tally.

True enough, giant letters spelling out SAYORI WINS soon filled up the screen, showing that she'd managed to land a score that exceeded his by a mere 200 points.

"WOO-HOO!" The girl next to him hooted, her arms shooting upwards in celebration while shuffling her body to the sides in a victorious dance. "I AM THE DANCE DANCE QUEEN! MORTALS BOW BEFORE MY PROWESS!"

MC rolled his eyes, lifting up his still sore foot to rub it tenderly.

"Your Highness," he addressed her slowly, panting for his breath after the exertion. "Isn't it cheating a bit to step on my feet every time I get close to winning?"

Sayori waved her hand at him dismissively, her sky-blue eyes twinkling.

"Just think of it as an extra gameplay challenge for you to overcome." She said, flashing a bright smile in his direction. She then produced a pair of sunglasses from seemingly out of nowhere, placing them across her face.

"Don't hate the Playah," she said, making her voice lower and deeper in a bad imitation of a sleazy street salesman from the nineties while shooting fingerguns at him. "Hate the gaaame!"

MC chuckled at her antics, the pain in his foot quickly forgotten as he looked at her. She was just too adorable to stay mad at.

"I could never hate you, Sayori." He said, and leaned over to plant a small kiss on her cheek.

"Wahh!" She exclaimed, recoiling away from his lips as her face flushed scarlet. "Don't embarrass me, I'm trying to be badass!"

"Try to think of that as an extra gameplay challenge!" MC retorted, and reached out with his hands to the spots on her body he knew from years of experience were her most ticklish.

"No! Stop! Mercy!" She yelled in between shrieks of laughter, coiling her body in a futile attempt to get away from him. The sunglasses quickly slid down to the floor, although the bright red bow somehow remained firmly planted to her strawberry-blonde head.

MC laughed as well, letting up on his tickle assault in order to allow both of them a chance to catch their breath. Sayori sighed, the adrenaline from winning the Dance Dance game escaping her body, and she lied down, carefully placing her head in his lap.

"Thanks for coming over and helping me study." She said in a more relaxed tone, referring to what they'd been doing before setting up the video game. "I know I should try to do it myself, but the moment I look at those papers my brain just goes 'bleh!' Sorry for wasting your ti-"

"Sayori…" He interrupted, gently placing his hand on her chin to tilt her head into looking up at him. "You're notwasting my time, you know that. You're one of the most important people in my life, and I love being with you, no matter what we end up doing together. I've told you this every time I've come here. Isn't it about time you start believing me?"

She giggled embarrassedly, not meeting his eyes.

"Maaaybe…" She said, blushing again. "…sorry…"

"Come here, you little Sunshine." He said, lifting her from his lap to give her a tight hug.

"Oh!" Sayori suddenly exclaimed, breaking the hug far too early for MC's liking. "I totally just remembered, I need to ask you for help with this new game I got. Do you have more time?!"

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and pressed a button, checking the time displayed on the screen. His eyes widened, and he sucked in a bit of air.

"Sorry, Sayori." He said, flipping the screen to show her. "I'm already past schedule, it'll have to wait 'till tomorrow."

"Aw, boo." Sayori scrunched up her face and crossed her arms, dissatisfied. "I shouldn't have pulled out Dance Dance. I totally wasted the ti-"

"Sayori…!" MC said warningly, rising from the couch to collect his things.

The girl released another sigh.

"I meant to say that as long as we both had fun together, of course our time can't be wasted." She recited in a clearly rehearsed manner.

MC smiled.

"What game is it?" He asked casually, putting on his boots and coat.

"It's this really cool RPG with these really funny and cute characters!" She said, her voice excited again. "I want to complete the Pacifist Run, but the battles are these sections of Bullet Hell and they're SO HARD! I really need your help!"

"How many times did you try getting through them yourself?" He asked, flipping a scarf over his neck and putting on a pair of wooly mittens.

"Once…" She said awkwardly, cutely pointing her index fingers together. "But I could tell I would never get through them!"

MC raised an eyebrow, shooting her a teasing smirk.

"Just like how you could tell that you would never understand divisions in your math homework?"

Sayori's face scrunched up adorably again.

"This is different!" She exclaimed.

He chuckled.

"Alright, how about this," he said, "I'll come by tomorrow as always, and then we can try playing this game, after we go over your essay of course. And then I'll sit next to you and watch while you try to beat the Bullet Hell sections yourself."

Sayori gasped dramatically.

"No!" She exclaimed. "I can't do it! I need my Player One!"

"This is your house, Sayori." He calmly reminded her. "That means you're Player One, and I'm Player Two, always. You've got to believe in yourself more, I know you can do it."

Sayori released the biggest sigh yet as she reached down, picked up the sunglasses from the floor again, and threw them back over her eyes.

"Well mister, ya drive a haaard bargain." She muttered, putting on the bad accent again.

"Is that acceptance?" MC asked.

"Ugh, yeees." Sayori groaned in her normal voice as she pushed up the glasses again. "But! If I have to go through those sections myself, then you better read the dialogue boxes aloud! And do voices for all the characters!"

"Deal." MC laughed, opening the front door to exit. "Well, I really have to go n-"

"IT'S SNOWING!" Sayori screamed, staring with wild excitement at the outside where sure enough, thousands of tiny white specks had begun falling from the sky, settling themselves softly on the ground.

"I can't believe this!" Sayori moaned, running over to join MC at the door, shivering slightly from being this exposed to the cold. "It hasn't snowed like this since we were kids, remember?! And now you have to leave again! I wanna have a snowball fight!"

"I'm sure it'll stay until tomorrow." MC said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We can play around in it then, and maybe save the game for a later date."

"And the essay?"

"Still needs to be done first, sorry."

"Nooo!"

"Hey, it's okay." MC said, bending down a bit to be at her eye level. "Remember, we just got on Winter Break, I'll be able to stay for much longer than usual. And besides, you're really quick when you put your mind to something. You'll get that essay done in no time at all, I promise."

"Hrmph." Sayori grunted in dissatisfaction, but couldn't suppress the giggle when MC leaned in close to place another kiss on her cheek.

He then stepped out into the cold, waving goodbye.

"Are you okay for the rest of the day?" He called after her. "You know what you're having for dinner?"

"Yup, got it covered!" She exclaimed brightly, returning the wave. "Thanks for coming! Say hi to Nat from me!"

He lifted the bowl slowly, carefully tipping it over to allow the sticky, yellow contents to gently slide into the brightly colored paper forms beneath. It was a delicate process, one that required his full, undivided attention.

"What are you doing, you dummy?! Hurry up with that, we're already way too late with this batch!"

"Sorry."

He threw all caution to the wind, and started tilting the bowl at a much steeper angle. The batter started pouring at such a fast rate that he couldn't help spilling a few drops when he switched to the next form after filling up the first one.

"No, don't pour it in too fast, you'll ruin them! Christ, I wanted your help with baking these cupcakes, not active sabotage!"

"Sorry." MC muttered again, glancing sideways at the girl staring daggers into his back with her fierce pink eyes as she aggressively stirred the batter in her own bowl.

He adjusted his pouring speed to one more at his own liking. He knew Natsuki would probably still have a problem with his speed, but he'd learned long ago that getting yelled at was inevitable when working with her. Might as well continue at a pace he was comfortable with.

And besides, he also knew she'd end up at least somewhat satisfied with the end result of his baking. Despite her scathing criticisms during the process, he'd never once let her down. No matter how much she'd yell, everything would work out in the end.

He smirked to himself as he finished pouring the last few ounces of batter into the form. He suspected that she did it more to discourage awkward silences in her own, "Natsuki" way rather than any actual criticisms she harbored towards him. Which was completely fine, as it certainly made the work they did vastly more entertaining.

"The hell are you laughing at?" She asked gruffly, moving over to his side in order to inspect his pouring job closer. In the process, she handed over her own bowl, making a silent gesture for him to start stirring, or else.

"You." He replied, raising a teasing eyebrow as he grabbed hold of the wooden spoon and renewed his stirring efforts.

She scoffed, shaking her head in exasperation causing her pink hair to flutter lightly from side to side as she turned away from him, but MC still caught the faint blush on her cheeks.

"What took you so long, anyway?" She asked with her back to him, giving his cupcakes her personal final touch in the form of colorful rainbow sprinkles and a few dashes of cinnamon. "I had to start without you. You know this is a team effort, right? I can't make all these cupcakes for the bakery myself."

"I know, sorry." He said. "Sayori needed me to stay for just a few more minutes."

"That Mooch keeps hogging you for herself, far longer than our schedule allows." Natsuki grumbled. "Some of us- talking about myself here, obviously- needs you to make a living, selling these baked goods. She just wants someone to play videogames with or something useless like that…"

"You know Sayori has different needs than you, and that doesn't make them any less valid." MC reminded her.

Natsuki sighed.

"I know, I know. Sorry for being a dick." She said, surprising him with just how regretful her voice had suddenly become. "I love her, you know that right?"

She stepped away from the tray of cupcakes, having finished her sprinkling job.

"I know, it's all good." MC reassured her, and deposited the bowl of batter on the counter in order to lift up the tray and insert it into the preheated oven.

"Do-" Natsuki hesitated. "…do you think Sayori knows I love her?"

"Of course she does." MC closed the oven, and looked at Natsuki with a reassuring smile. She didn't look very convinced.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"It's Sayori." He said simply. "Come on Nat, where's this all coming from? You know everyone in the Club likes you. You haven't even had a serious fight with Yuri in ages!"

Natsuki blushed anew, turning away from him in order to adjust the heating on the oven and set a timer.

"I know that, it's just-" She started. "Sometimes I look at you guys and see how… nice you're being to each other. Then I compare it to how I behave, and… it makes me think that I should be acting more like you guys, but… it's just so hard to pick the right things to say!"

In two swift steps, MC closed the distance between them, and enveloped her in his arms from behind. Although she had grown much taller since when he'd first met her, she was still just short enough for him to lean his head down on top of hers, using her soft pink hair as a pillow.

He breathed in, savoring the scent of freshly picked cherries from the shampoo she used.

"Natsuki…" He muttered into her hair and nuzzled it a bit with his cheek. "I promise that we all love you exactly the way you are."

He caught the reflection of her face in the oven window, rolling her eyes.

"Wooow." She deadpanned sarcastically. "Super helpful advice from you as usual, thaaanks."

Almost immediately after saying this, she raised a palm to her face.

"Ugh, see? There I go again. I just can't stop being a bitch to everyone around me."

MC chuckled.

"You're not a bitch, Natsuki." He promised. "And I'm so proud of you for sharing your true feelings like this, it's very cu- I mean, sexy. It's very sexy of you."

That was a close one. He sighed mentally, remembering the unspoken rule about using the C-word in this house.

"W- whatever." Natsuki said, her reflection's blush deepening as she closed her eyes in embarrassment. But she still didn't make any attempt to push him off of her, which he took as a good sign.

Slowly, he lifted his hands, a bit sore and numb from the rigorous stirring they'd engaged in. When arriving here, he'd barely had the time to take off his coat before Natsuki had put him to work.

He placed his hands on her shoulders, instantly feeling the incredible tension Natsuki unfortunately always seemed to have whenever they were together. While he knew she was obviously very happy with this baking job of hers, it did also serve as a great source of stress for her. She was an unbelievably tough girl, and there was no doubt in his mind that she could handle the pressure. But that didn't mean he couldn't do his best to ease her load a bit.

He squeezed his hands where her tension knots seemed strongest, getting started right away in giving her one of his famous massages like he'd done so many times before.

The effect was immediate. Natsuki closed her eyes upon feeling his touch, relaxing her stance and instinctually pushing herself against his hands like a cat seeking more petting. A very vulnerable and un-Natsuki-like sigh of relief escaped her lips, something he knew she would never do when in the presence of the other girls.

It didn't escape him just how huge it was, seeing Natsuki like this. After having been betrayed so much by nearly everyone she'd ever known, it was no wonder that she had a hard time trusting people and letting them into her life. He knew exactly how special it was for her to let her guard down enough to allow another person, especially a boy, to touch her.

MC made sure to treasure this trust she had in him with all his heart, vowing to never take advantage of it. She'd already shown a great deal of progress today, and he had every confidence that in due time she'd be able to lower her walls enough to allow the other girls full entry to her heart, just like she'd granted him.

All in due time.

He finished his massage, and she sighed again, leaning heavily against him. Her eyes were still closed in complete bliss.

"…Thank you." She breathed softly. "I really needed that."

"It was nothing." He replied, lowering his face to kiss the top of her head.

They stood like that in silence for a few seconds, until MC felt a vibrating buzz from his pocket that broke the spell. Natsuki straightened up again, and he sighed, pulling out his phone to check who'd just sent him a text.

The notification only contained four, simple words.

Monika: Need you. Come, now.

Of course. He thought, smirking as he read the brief message. Should have expected.

"Gross." Natsuki said, frowning as she leaned over to read the text too.

"Didn't you just say that you wanted to avoid being needlessly rude to the other girls?" MC asked. "Saying 'gross' just because it's Monika feels a bit unnecessary."

"Oh, it's not because of that." She said. "I just know what she wants you for, and that's gross."

"How?" He asked. "She didn't mention any specifics."

"Because it's Monika." Natsuki said, shrugging as if that explained everything.

Bemused, MC shook his head and hurried to type out a response.

MC: need 2 finish up at nat's first, then i'll brt!

Barely two seconds passed before she'd written back.

Monika: Hurry.

"Like, don't get me wrong, you two are free to do whatever you want, it's none of my business." Natsuki spoke up again. "But she didn't even book you for today! Won't it mess up our schedule if you have to run over to her as well?"

"I'm sure she won't take up too much time." MC assured her. "Monika understands the importance of the schedule, and she's very efficient at what she does."

"Gro-o-oss!" Natsuki shuddered, and MC chuckled at her open disgust.

"Hey, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you." Natsuki then said. "You doing okay?"

"What do you mean?" MC asked, caught off guard by the sudden serious tone shift in her voice.

"Well, y'know…" She hesitated. "With this whole Arrangement? I mean, it's a lot."

"It's all good, I can handle it." MC waved his hand casually, trying to get some feeling back into his joints after the massage. "I mean it's been working fine for a while now."

Natsuki squinted at him, seemingly not convinced. She then took a deep breath.

"And what about… at night?" She asked, hesitantly.

MC suddenly got an immense urge to look away from Natsuki, and moved his eyes to the kitchen window where he stared at the snow continuing to fall.

"It's under control." He said in a voice that he hoped wouldn't give anything away. "Nothing to worry about."

He felt her intense, pink-eyed stare on his face, scanning it for lies. It was obvious she wasn't buying it.

But then she sighed deeply, probably knowing nothing would come from interrogating him further, which he appreciated.

"Alright then." She said. "Just… promise to tell me if it gets any wor-"

A loud ringing interrupted her sentence as the timer she'd set on the oven finally rang out. Natsuki released a startled gasp and MC could practically see the tension knots returning to her shoulders once more.

"WHAT ARE WE DOING?!" She shrieked loudly, throwing a pair of oven mitts in MC's face.

He got the message and hurried to retrieve the heated tray from the oven, with a truly wonderful smell of baked cupcakes immediately saturating the kitchen. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to savor this scent as Natsuki thrust the batter bowl back into his arms the moment he deposited the tray on the stovetop.

"Come on, STIR, STIR, STIR!" Natsuki yelled at him, having fallen directly back into her "boss chef" role again. "We don't have time to cry about our feelings, we still have a whole other batch to finish before the delivery guy arrives! And I don't give a fuck what Monika says, you are NOT leaving this house until we're done!"

Walking through the snow settling itself on every available surface like a white blanket, MC made his way up the steep hill towards the top where Monika's pristine white mansion was located, like a small, modern castle.

The sight never failed to amaze him no matter how many times he came up here, its sheer glory only accentuated now that its surroundings shared the coloration of its marble walls.

He still found it hard to believe just how rich Monika's family were. And even harder to believe that a nobody like him could get inside a place fit for royalty whenever he wanted, and did so regularly in order to spend time with the girl inside.

He finally arrived at the electronic door where a small note had been taped above the handle, with writing in bright green ink.

Come right in.

Two small, green hearts dotted the i's, a signature trait of her handwriting that he recognized all too well.

He smirked, taking off his right glove to place a cold thumb at the small scanner beneath the handle. The automatic lock disabled with a small click as it recognized his print, allowing him to open the door and walk inside.

Almost immediately he spotted the rose petals, scattered onto the floor of the dimly lit entrance hallway with purpose, forming a clear path for him to follow. He smirked knowingly.

Looks like she's in a playful mood today. He thought as he quickly took off his winter-wear and began walking along the flowery trail.

The pathway led him directly into the main dining hall of the house, where another green-inked note had been put over the doorframe.

Ignore the light switch.

He glanced into the mostly dark room, noting that the blinds had been rolled for over the windows, leaving only a faint, glowing light source at the far end of the room, in the form of a very atmospheric, lit fireplace.

He stepped inside the room, knowing exactly what she wanted him to do. However, a mixture of mischief and curiosity got the better of him, and he made a slight detour to where he knew the light switch was, just to check if she'd planned something in case of him disobeying her instructions.

He exhaled in slight amusement when he found it. Multiple layers of thick duct tape had been plastered all over the switch, along with another small note containing just one word he could only barely make out in the faint light:

No.

Shaking his head, MC got back on track and approached the fireplace. Of course she wouldn't allow something like player choice affect the narrative in her games.

He soon reached the end of his journey, finally seeing the thing he'd been led to all along. There, directly in front of the smoldering fireplace, the rose petals on the floor surrounding it from all sides, was an immense, king-sized mattress, complete with two sets of pillows and covers.

As he took in the scene, a small click could be heard from behind. He looked back, and saw that the door he'd entered through had closed behind him, plunging the room into even further darkness and making him depend entirely on the glowing red embers for visibility.

He smiled and closed his eyes, already knowing the direction this was going. He only had to wait a few seconds before he felt the noiseless presence of someone behind him, breathing down his neck and grabbing his shoulders.

"Guess who." He heard her whisper sensually directly into his ear.

"Hmm…" He said, pretending to think hard. "Well, given that I am in Monika's house because I got a text from Monika, and the fact that you share Monika's obvious flair for the dramatic as well as her voice, I'm gonna go out on a wild limb here and say that you're probably Monika."

"Mmm, such a smart and clever boy you are." Monika whispered in response. "I think you deserve a special reward."

Before he could even begin to react, she'd spun him around with a single strong, swift movement, and pressed her lips fiercely against his. She always put so much intense passion into her kisses that even now, after all this time, they managed to steal his breath away.

Eventually she broke the kiss after a few seconds that felt like hours, finally allowing him to catch his breath. He looked up to see the faint outline of Monika's body, the most notable feature of which being the brilliant, bright green eyes twinkling hungrily at him. From what he could make out of the rest of her in the murky darkness, it did not appear as if she was wearing any clothes.

Not exactly an unfamiliar sight to him.

"Considering what a smart and clever boy you are, I'm surprised to see you still wearing your pants." She whispered again, keeping up her overly sensual tone and tsk'ed as if she was severely disappointed in him. "I'm gonna have to withdraw some points from that."

"Uh, so are we doing roleplaying right now?" MC spoke up, puzzled. Normally she would at least give him some guidelines and rulesets before just jumping straight into the action without an explanation. "You know I suck at that. Plus, you haven't even given me a role to play."

Monika sighed, and spoke up in something closer to her normal voice.

"You're a clueless, mute student who's about to be given an extra special bonus from your very inappropriate Club President. I would hope that even you will be able to ad-lib such a character. Now shut up, you're ruining the scene I wrote!"

"Aight, fair enough." MC shrugged. "But before we get started, I just need to remind you that I can't really stay that long. Technically you didn't book me for today, so I only have about 15 minutes before I have to go to Yuri's pla- wow!"

Monika had given him a hard push, making him fall directly onto the mattress beneath him. It wasn't long before he felt her on top of him, aggressively kissing his neck while her hands fumbled with loosening his belt buckle.

"Let me remind you." Monika said, in between her kissing assault. "As you should already know from our previous sessions, I only need about half that time."

MC rolled his eyes as he felt her pulling the pants down his legs, but smiled nonetheless. Like he'd told Natsuki earlier, she was really efficient.

He ran as fast as he dared without slipping on the snowcovered sidewalk. At least it had finally stopped pouring from the sky blinding him, although since it got dark so much earlier at this time of year, he still had to rely on the streetlamps along the road to be able to see anything.

He panted and gasped as he moved, breath visible as short bursts of air in the cold weather that blew against his face. Finally, he reached his destination: Yuri's house.

It wasn't as big or impressive as Monika's mansion, but that wasn't really a realistic standard to have about houses. At least here, he didn't feel like he was actively lowering the property value just by being inside.

Before entering her lawn, MC leaned up heavily against one of the trashcans along her fence, trying in vain to catch his breath again. He knew Yuri would be worried about seeing him in this sort of exhausted state.

He could feel the tension aching in every single muscle of his arms and legs, and tried rubbing them down in an attempt to give himself a massage like he'd done for Natsuki earlier. If anything, this only made them hurt even more.

He sighed, and gave up. The effects of running between houses all day was really starting to take its toll on him, with Monika's surprise invitation having depleted an especially large chunk of his overall energy.

But still. He thought, smiling to himself despite the pain in his joints. It WAS a pretty fun time.

Of course he didn't blame Monika or any of the other girls at all for his current state, but he was still really thankful that Yuri was the last one to visit for today. The quiet girl almost never put him through anything physically taxing when she had him over, and being snuggled up with her on the couch, watching one of her movies while drinking a hot cup of tea sounded like just the kind of thing he needed right now.

He'd replenish a bit of his energy while spending some time with a beautiful and adorable girl in the process. After that, he just had to run back home and collapse in his bed until the morning after where this whole process would start all over again.

Piece of cake. He thought confidently.

Then, to his horror, he felt his eyelids starting to droop. He started shaking his head, slapping his cheeks, and even grabbed a handful of snow from the trash lid which he proceeded to shove into his face, hoping the coldness would wake him up a bit. Falling asleep during one of their movie-sessions would be incredibly rude of him.

With a grunt of effort and a few more slaps to his cheeks, MC pushed himself off the trashcan and started staggering along Yuri's garden on his overworked legs. As he got to the front door and rang the doorbell, he noted that his arms seemed to ache just as much as his legs.

Weird. He thought idly, inspecting his fingers in mild concern before the door to the house opened.

"Ah, MC. Welcome." Yuri said, smiling brightly at him, making all the worries about his exhausted limbs vanish on the spot. Just her mere presence seemed to replenish his energy, to the point where he couldn't even feel the discomforts anymore.

Yuri would be stunning to look at on any day of the week, her sheer beauty being impossible to overstate, and her vibrant purple hair serving to catch the attention of anyone who somehow managed to overlook her initially. It was almost ironic with how much effort she normally took to escape everyone's notice by wearing the most plain, unremarkable outfits she could find when not forced to wear their school uniform.

But that was clearly not the case today, as he took in her current appearance. She'd discarded her usual thick white sweater in favor of a short black t-shirt that stopped early, exposing her midriff and a pair of tight black shorts that showed off her smooth, pale legs. He couldn't even recall a time where he'd been able to see this much of her bare skin before.

Needless to say, it was a very welcome sight to him.

Although he did take note of the long, fingerless gloves she'd put on too, reaching all the way to her elbows. A fashion choice that most people probably wouldn't pay too much attention to unless they knew about the large amount of scars that littered her arms beneath the gloves.

But MC didn't want to dwell on that, choosing instead to focus on how much she'd managed to come out of her shell these past few months, as he looked her up and down, momentarily lost for words.

"Wow." He said at last, finding his voice again. "You look absolutely incredible."

Yuri blushed deeply.

"Y- you think so?" She asked timidly, nervously stroking a section of her hair. "I'm t- trying something new, b- but I'm not really sure about it. You don't think it's t- too… exposed?"

"Not at all." He assured her, feeling honored that she trusted him enough to show herself off like this. "You're just as beautiful as always."

She beamed at him, her smile widening.

"Sorry I'm so late." MC apologized. "There arose a certain… complication, in the schedule."

"Monika?" Yuri asked.

"Monika." He admitted.

"That's perfectly alright, such things happen." Yuri waved her hand dismissively. "I'm just glad you were able to make it. She wasn't too rough with you, was she?"

"Nah, don't worry." MC smiled, feeling his ears growing hot. "I can handle her just fine."

"That's good to hear. I'd hate having to threaten her with a knife if she was to treat you badly." She said, her smile turning vaguely ominous.

MC chuckled nervously, knowing Yuri of course wouldn't actually hurt Monika.

Well, hopefully.

"You look cold." Yuri said, a hint of worry creeping into her voice as she looked him over. "D- did someone throw a snowball at you?"

"Ah," MC blinked, feeling awkward. "Yeah, uh… some biker delinquent hit me square in the face on the way here. It's okay though, I totally kicked his ass and sent him home crying."

"Ah yes, naturally." Yuri played along with his obvious lie. "Well, why don't you come in? I've already prepared your favorite tea and ordered some takeout we can eat to tonight's movie."

MC smiled.

Obviously, Yuri's true passion lied within the world of books, but since they already spent most of their Club sessions reading together, they'd agreed their activities whilst visiting would focus more on her secondary hobby- movies. A decision he appreciated since he felt even someone like himself could work out how to properly sit still and just watch the screen for a few hours.

And then there was the fact that movie nights with Yuri was just great fun. No matter which film they watched (usually horror) Yuri always had some really interesting and fascinating tidbits to say during the flick. It was like she absorbed all the knowledge she could find about the making of a movie to the point where he wouldn't be surprised if she knew more about it than the director who'd made it. Whether it was pointing out Easter Eggs, revealing how a special effect had been made, the hidden symbolism about a particular shot, general behind-the-scenes triva or her passionate ranting about how unfaithfully a scene adapted the source material in the book, MC always greatly enjoyed hearing how much she came to life when discussing these things that he would never have picked up if he'd watched it on his own.

"You're an actual angel, Yuri." MC said, enjoying how much her face flushed up at his compliment. "Which movie are we in for tonight?"

"Oh, I wanted to introduce you to the Evil Dead franchise!" Yuri said, her eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree like they always did when she got the chance to talk about these things. "It's a cult classic that's truly unique in every sense of the word. While at first glance it seems like just another simple concept of a cursed book summoning evil spirits possessing the dead, when you look a little deeper it becomes a really inspiring story of how a horror flick with a humble, low-budget beginning can be elevated into a beloved, world-wide phenomenon with just the right amount of creative special effects and raw talent."

"Wow, that sounds… really interesting!" MC said, blinking as he attempted to take in her speech.

"It also stars Bruce Campbell as the main lead." Yuri added.

"Really?!" MC exclaimed in excitement. "Welp, I'm sold. Let's get started right away!"

"I knew you would love it." Yuri beamed at him, and stepped aside.

He motioned to enter Yuri's house, his mouth practically watering at the thought of having undoubtedly delicious food, watching his personal hero fighting zombies on the TV with an amazing and beautiful girl by his side, feeding him background knowledge. This had the potential to be one of greatest movie nights ever, and he couldn't wait to get started.

…except he apparently could wait, as his body wasn't moving at all.

"Uhm." Yuri hesitated. "Forgive me for pointing this out, but it appears to me that you're still… standing still on my doorstep."

"Oh, right." MC said, chuckling awkwardly. He tried to lift his leg, commanding his body to move forward.

Nothing happened. His legs remained firmly planted to the ground.

"Uh." He said, trying again with similar results. "Right, so it appears that uh… I can't really move my legs. At all."

He tried to sound as casual as possible, not wanting to worry Yuri even as he felt his own heart starting to beat faster. He tried gripping his leg with a hand, to perhaps see if he could manually force it to move, but discovered to his horror that his arms remained just as unresponsive as his legs.

Yuri kept up her smile, but it'd become much more strained.

"Is this some kind of practical joke you're playing on me?" She asked. "Should I be laughing? I'm sorry if I'm ruining the bit, but I'm still rather new to these Sayori-like pranks."

MC tried lifting his arms in order to make a reassuring gesture, but they remained at his sides, dangling limbly.

"Yuri, I promise I'm not trying to make fun of you." He said, making his face as serious and genuine as possible. "I know this seems weird, but I sincerely can't move my arms and legs. Please, don't be alarmed."

Yuri frowned, clearly alarmed, but finally believing him at least.

"Oh." She said, hurriedly stepping out on the doorstep to investigate further. "Uhm… alright then. L- let me see what I can do."

She grabbed hold of his arm, shaking it a bit and pressed down experimentally at certain points.

"D- do you feel any major discomforts in your joints or m- muscles?" She asked him.

"Uh, n- no, I- I…" MC paused, his eyes widening as he watched Yuri squeeze his arm and realizing that it hadn't just been the aching that had gone away when she'd opened the door.

"Y- Yuri, I… I can't feel them. I can't feel my arms at all."

Yuri stared at him, her purple irises visibly shrinking in obvious worry.

"Uhm, o- okay." Yuri said, trying and failing to put on a reassuring smile. "Y- you're okay, d-don't worry. It's probably fine. I promise you'll be fine."

MC stared back at her, wondering which one of them she was actually trying to convince. He was finding that it was becoming very hard to focus, the world blurring in and out around him.

"I- is there anything e- else?" She stammered, her voice starting to sound echo-y and ethereal, as if coming from a mile away.

"I'm… a bit dizzy." He replied, feeling as if he was talking through mush.

"Uhhh… Yuri?" He asked calmly, feeling himself beginning to sway lightly on the spot as black dots started swirling in front of his eyes. "D- d'you think perhaps I could trouble you to… catch me? I'm pretty sure I'm about… to fallll… over…"

With his final conscious effort, he tried tilting his collapsing body in Yuri's direction, preferring her arms to the hard pavement beneath the doorstep. Whether he was successful or not in his landing remained a mystery however, as the spots in his eyes expanded, plunging the world around him into complete blackness.

The last thing he heard before fully losing consciousness was Yuri's distressed voice, screaming his name before that too faded into nothingness.