"Disneyland?"

Monika shot her counterpart a surprised and confused look. The timing of her alternative self arrival and the topic she brought up once she showed up was both too perfect to be a coincidence and yet confounding enough to remove any suspicion.

Monika Prime proudly nodded her head as she approached the couch her counterpart and guest currently occupied.

"Yep. I was just wandering around, passed by a stand where they would give away tickets and passes to a lucky winner and I was lucky enough to win a few for me, you two and the rest of your friends."

"Wow… That's pretty lucky." Shujinkou said as he scratched his right cheek.

Wandering around without a care in the world then ending up with tickets to one of the most magical places on earth; how could it be anything but luck?

"Mm-hmm," Monika Prime glanced at her counterpart. "Monika, want to tell the others the good news?"

"Huh? Oh. Sure," Despite her initial suspicions returning, Monika stood up off and proceeded to walk up a nearby set of stairs.

The moment she was gone, Monika Prime shifted her gaze to Shujinkou. An interested smile filled her face as she waved at him.

"Hey, Shujinkou. I didn't expect to see you."

"Really?" Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. "I mean… We did kinda go on a date last night. I'd be a really bad person if I didn't talk to you afterwards."

"Oh, I didn't mean talking, I meant in person."

"Ah."

"So… Any special reason why you came over?"

"Well… There is, but it's going to sound a little weird."

"You're saying that to the girl that's from another reality?" Monika chuckled.

"True."

He appreciated her trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't change the fact that what he was going to say again would be uncomfortable. Solemnly scratching his right cheek, Shujinkou stood up and walked around the couch to directly confront her.

"So, lately I've been having these weird visions/mental escapes/images going through my head."

"Really?" a look of surprise and interest crossed Monika Prime's face. "Like what?"

"Um… Well, some weird things like a daydream I had recently and a fangame, but also some really uncomfortable ones like deaths."

"Deaths? Who did you see die?"

"Sayori, Natsuki and Yuri."

Monika Prime remained silent as she stared at Shujinkou. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like she was surprised and disturbed. "…How did they die?"

"Um…" Shujinkou steeled himself once again as he specifically recalled the images he had experienced. "Sayori hung herself, Natsuki's neck was extremely broken and Yuri stabbed herself to death."

"Wow… That's…" Monika Prime briefly averted her gaze as she replied melancholy. "That's upsetting."

"Yeah… And I was just wondering if you had anything like that happen to you; seeing these things in your head."

"Not really, but… I think you've stumbled upon something you shouldn't have."

'I-I have…?"

"Just kidding," she suddenly giggled.

"Oh."

He wasn't entirely sure whether she was setting him up the entire time or she was hiding her discomfort from hearing this.

"I wouldn't really worry about these visions you've been having. I'm sure they'll go away soon enough," Monika Prime assured him.

"You think?"

"Mm-hmm. I suppose that's this has also been the reason you've been spacing out lately?"

"Yeah…" He had figured that was it until he found himself drawn to Monika Prime's eyes. They really look the same as the Monika I saw during our date.

That thought reminded him of the strangeness of that particular vision and the singular phrase that accompanied it.

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Sure."

"Does the phrase 'Just Monika' mean anything to you?"

Monika's eyes widened with shock upon hearing those words. Looking closer, she also seemed horrified.

"Are yo-!?

A sharp pain throbbed in Shujinkou's head. He cradled with pained cranium with both hands as a flood of images flashed in it. Various moments that the Literature Club experienced, except, as far as he knew, it wasn't the one he knew. They were sharing poetry, preparing for a festival, Sayori confessed to someone, then…

"What's going-!"

"Shujinkou?"

Monika Prime felt nothing but surprise and worry as she watched Shujinkou drop to his knees. The pain in his head grew and grew as he tried to process what he saw next. None of it made any sense. He saw the deaths he had already experienced, but besides Sayori, he couldn't understand the context. Then…

Just Monika.

He howled in pain before collapsing on the floor.

"Shujinkou?"

Slowly and cautiously, Monika Prime reached for the body on the ground and checked for any signs of life.

"You w- You're not."

His breathing was normal and his heart beats were as strong as usual, but she knew that he was far from okay.

…

Monika Prime silently tapped her index fingers against each other as she waited outside a hospital room. As expected from such a scenario this reality's version of the Literature Club, Hiro and Hisa were there too.

Other than the acknowledgment of each's arrival and the usual questions born from worry, not a word has been said towards each other.

They've watched many individuals enter and leave the room Shujinkou currently occupied until eventually there was only one left. The doctor that has been assigned to him walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him.

Her innate worry finally overpowering her patience, Hiro immediately approached the medial professional.

"How is he?" she asked.

"I'm afraid our tests are inconclusive for now," the doctor said.

"How?"

"Well, his body is in perfect health; it's still functioning."

"That's good isn't it?" Sayori asked.

"But that's what's makes the tests inconclusive. Right now, Mr. Shujinkou doesn't show any signs of brain activity."

"You mean he's brain dead?" Hisa queried.

"We cannot say. When a brain dies, the body would follow do to the body no longer having a neurological control center; the body's entire system stops. But not only does his body continue to function normally, but there are no signs of damage to the brain.

There is no swelling and his brain tissue is perfectly fine."

"So, he somehow ended up in a coma?"

"If he had any brain activity we could rule it as that, but as he is now…"

The youthful elder worriedly glanced at her daughter. She already looked understandably saddened on the outside and could only imagine how she really felt.

Hiro struggled to maintain contact as she forced herself to ask, "Is he…? How would you legally-?"

"It's too early to tell. Physically he is very much alive, but mentally… I cannot say," the doctor replied a professional tone of voice. "The best we could theorize now is that something mentally caused him to shut down."

"I see…"

"We'll keep running tests. As long as his body functions, he's still alive," the doctor assured them before taking their leave.

"So it's just like a deep sleep, right? Sayori wondered aloud.

Hiro's entire body shook as she gingerly placed her hand on the door.

"Come on, Hiro… Let's go get some of that hot chocolate we passed by on the way up here," Hisa proposed.

She silently nodded her head and let her mother lead her away.

"Auntie H…" Sayori mumbled.

"It really would be too easy for it to be that he's just having the best daydream ever and he doesn't want to wake up right now, right?" Natsuki hopelessly proposed. "Cause something like that would really prove that he is a dummy…"

"You don't think this has something to do with how he spaced out the other day?" Yuri wondered aloud.

"He woke up from that though…" Tears filled Natsuki's eyes as she glared at the door. "You stupid, selfish, DUMMY!"

She then turned and ran down the hallway.

"Natsuki…" Sayori murmured.

"Mentally shutdown…" immense guilt weighed on Yuri's heart as she recalled her last conversation with Shujinkou. "I think… I think I'll take my leave now too…"

Without giving a goodbye, Yuri walked away to be alone with her thoughts.

"Yuri…" Sayori muttered.

"So…" Monika turned towards her counterpart who had yet to say a word.

Monika Prime suddenly stood up. "Sorry, but I think I'd rather be alone right now too."

Following the others example, she took off.

"Other Monika…" Sayori mumbled.

"I guess it's just us, Sayori," Monika said. "Do you want to go inside?"

"Mm-hmm."

The two walked through the door. On the other side, they found their friend laid straight on a single bed. They could hear the beeps from the surrounding machines signifying the health of his body.

"He really does look like he's just sleeping," Sayori noted.

"That's a good sign, isn't it?" Monika asked.

"I want to believe so but…" Sayori bit her quivering lip. "I want to believe Shiko will come back to reality like always but…"

"Shiko?"

"It's what I used to always call him. But he asked me to stop after… Since it was something I kinda came up with someone else."

"Oh…"

Nothing but the sounds of the machines filled the room as they stared at the body in front of them.

"When we were younger… As much as I didn't like how Jomei never made time for him, I always admired Shiko for still being able to smile even though it was like only one of his parents liked him. Even though Shiko always wanted something that he shouldn't have to beg for… I used to wonder how he could put others before him with a dad like that. How could he make someone like me feel like they're part of a second family when one of his own couldn't do the same for him.

I want to believe that he'll come through whatever comes his way like always and I want to help him but…"

Tears slowly crawled down Sayori's cheeks.

"I can't because I don't know what to do. Every time my friend's hurt, I can't do anything to help him. And that's not even going into how it would affect me if something happens or if he stays like this. I don't want to lose another friend.

I just… I just wish I could do something to help him for once."

"Sayori… You know you've helped him before. He's made it clear that you're the reason that he worked to make up for whatever happened in the past. You can't deny that you're the catalyst for him smiling again," Monika assured her with a small, sorrowful smile.

Sayori nodded her head and wiped the tears from her eyes. As her gaze returned to her unconscious friend, she began to remember what her childhood friend said to her the day he planned a scavenger hunt for them. "I wanted to be with my best friend again too."

"Shiko… Please come back," she pleaded.

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Is he coming back? I didn't… I don't really know what's happened to him.