"Eh?! You want to make me Club President?!"

If her jaw could hit the floor, Sayori was sure it would right now. That's how surprising what she just heard was.

Despite her outburst however, Monika maintained her calm disposition.

"I just asked what would you think about it," she explained.

"But you wouldn't be asking if you weren't seriously considering it!" Sayori frantically pointed out. "Why would you want to give me your position?"

Cracks in Monika's calm façade began to show after that question. It was a simple question and yet it very nearly brought her hidden insecurities to the surface.

"It's just… I think that you've been a better club president then I have," Monika somberly admitted.

"Really? How?" Sayori wondered.

"You know, you always keep everyone's spirits up and you've always been there for everyone more than me."

"That's why you want to switch places with me?"

"Not exactly switching. More like you take over as president and someone else can be vice-president."

Sayori looked worried. "Are you leaving?"

"No. Just stepping down," Monika assured her.

Suddenly, Sayori's worried face changed. Right now, she displayed a level of sternness she rarely reveals. "Then no."

"Why not?"

A bright smile stretched across her friend's face. "Because you're our president. This is your club, your vision, your dream. I don't want to take that; I want to support it and everyone else like I have. That's the promise I made when became Club VP."

Present Day.

Having that memory brought up to the surface at this exact moment seemed appropriate. If it had happened earlier, then it may have broken Monika even more. But now, it strengthened her newfound resolve.

Okay.

Letting her new resolve guide her, Monika walked up to the front door of Sayori's home, only to find something worrying.

Cracked open again…

While she knew Sayori has a habit of forgetting to close the door all the way at times, with everything that happened lately, Monika couldn't help but ponder if there was a sinister significance this time.

It doesn't look like it was forced open, but…

From what she gleamed from the documents that somehow vanished, it didn't appear force open when Sayori was taken.

Fear and worry natural followed that important reminder.

She gently gripped her chest and closed her eyes. For some strange reason, she felt tranquillity stifling her negative emotions.

A relieved smile now sat on her face as she opened her eyes.

"Okay… This time for real."

Monika slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside. There wasn't any sign of life downstairs.

Pushing the door further, Monika stepped inside and called her friend's name.

There was no answer. In fact, Monika was surprised by how eerily quiet it was.

I can't help but think life is doing everything it can to try and deter me.

It was something she found a little funny but she didn't have time to focus on that.

Monika walked upstairs. Like the front door, the door to Sayori's bedroom was slightly opened.

Like before, Monika walked to the door and peeked inside. She could see Sayori sitting on her bed, looking out her window.

Sighing in relief, Monika approached her friend and tapped her shoulder.

"Sayori?"

"Huh?!" Sayori immediately fell back and hit the floor headfirst. "Ow…"

Maybe I should have announced my presence better than that…

Monika looked down at her friend. She watched as Sayori opened her eyes and once again felt relieved as she witnessed Sayori's stunned reaction. Her face was surprisingly nostalgic.

"Monika?!" Sayori exclaimed.

"Are you okay, Sayori?" Monika asked.

"Yeah," Sayori nodded her head as she slowly sat up. "You know I'm used to hitting my head."

Monika was at a loss of words. Though they only spared a few so far, their short interaction was very uplifting.

Or it was until Sayori asked, "What are you doing here, Monika?"

Something about that question seemed odd. It didn't seem like she was asking just because she was surprised by the sudden visit.

"I mainly just wanted to see if you're okay," Monika answered.

Sayori was silent as stood up. Her eyes were peering at Monika as if she was trying to look into her soul.

"You… You don't look sad anymore, Monika," she noted with muted surprise.

"Yeah," Monika gently clutched her chest. "A lot of things happened but the short of it is that everyone helped me get better."

Monika smiled and confidently declared, "Now I want to make sure the rest of my friends feel better too."

"Oh." Sayori was once again silent. Suddenly, a bright smile stretched across her face. "Well, I'm sure that you can make Yuri and Natsuki feel better the way you are now."

Monika shot Sayori a puzzled look.

"Why are you excluding yourself? Of course I mean you too," she assured her friend.

"Me? But I'm not really a concern like they are," Sayori argued. "And besides… I'm really not that upset about everything,"

"You're not upset?"

"Yeah."

"…If that's true, then why did you suddenly stop coming to school?"

"I've kinda been waking up late lately and figured what's the point of going when its already so late…" Sayori answered with an embarrassed chuckle.

Her response was very convincing to Monika. It seemed very like Sayori to answer like that.

Still, it did render Monika silent. Her face showed no visible emotion as she continued to lock eyes with Sayori.

Finally, she opened her mouth.

"Sayori… I don't think you're being entirely truthful," Monika admitted.

"What do you mean? Is it really strange to believe that I'd oversleep a lot?" Sayori wondered, perplexed.

"Not that. You just said that you're not upset over everything meaning you're not upset over the state we all ended being in.

I just can't believe that someone who always goes to such lengths to make sure her friends are alright would be fine."

Clutching her chest tighter, Monika briefly recalled how she felt earlier.

"If I felt the way I did, then I know that you had to at least feel the same way,"

Sayori shook her head and continued to smile. "No, I really am fine with everything. That's why you don't need to be concerned with me."

"If that's true, then how come you haven't seen Shujinkou yet?" Monika pointed out.

"That's…"

Sayori's reassuring smile quickly faded away. Her eyes drifted to the side, giving Monika all the evidence she needed that there was something Sayori was hiding.

"I'm not really one to talk since I haven't gone to see him until just yesterday and I had to be verbally dragged there kicking and screaming, but still, that was a sign that I was nowhere near alright.

And for you, Shujinkou's best friend that always has his best interests in mind, to not see him at least once is just… It's seems like an even bigger sign."

Sayori looked back at Monika, hurt. "…That's not fair, Monika."

"But it's true, isn't it? You feel uncomfortable seeing him right now, especially with mixed feelings about how he was acting that night, but that wasn't his fault. I can't explain it but he was as much of a victim then as we wer-"

Sayori somberly shook her head again.

"You don't get it, Monika. I'm not 'uncomfortable' with seeing Shujinkou now. I don't deserve to," she corrected. "In fact, I don't deserve seeing you or the others either."

"What do you mean?"

A small smile was on Sayori's face as her gaze drifted again.

"I've been selfish. Shujinkou asked me to stop coming around him and yet I still did that behind his back. I badgered him into joining the club and succeeded by guilting him to join. I've put in him in so many uncomfortable situations just so I could have my best friend back.

I never considered his feelings; the 'best interests' I had for him were really just my own interests. It's always been my own interests."

She looked back to her friend.

"Same with you. I helped you find the others because it would give me something to fill the hole I've had in my heart for years. The "best interests" I had for you and Natsuki and Yuri were always just for my own benefit.

That's why you shouldn't be bothered with someone who was essentially using you."

Monika didn't utter a word in response, once again having no visible emotions on her face.

"…Remember what we talked about near the beginning of this semester?" she suddenly asked.

"Eh?"

"I asked you what you would think if you became club president. You made it clear that you didn't want to.

I didn't realize it then but now I get understand that you weren't just trying to cheer me up, that's why you didn't argue against my point for stepping down. You were reminding me that I had a friend that would be there to help me whenever I faltered."

"…If you faltered then the status quo that I worked hard to obtain would fall apart. No one would stay if you were gone," Sayori explained.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Monika pondered that response.

"You know, not too long ago, part of me believed that maybe everyone would have stayed if Shujinkou was awake," she admitted. "Everyone left so soon after everything so that only furthered that belief. Maybe not under normal circumstances, but it really seems like how we lost him caused us to take a bigger emotional hit."

"What are you saying?" Sayori queried. "That because I stayed behind a little after everything was ruined that I didn't have hidden intentions?"

"Did you?"

"I thought that it was possible to maintain that status quo, but it was clear that it wasn't so… I left. I didn't even say goodbye so…"

"Yeah, you didn't… And you just told me that everything was that happened was only for your own benefit." Monika slowly shook her head. "And yet, here I am, still standing before you."

"But why?"

"Because, big or small, my friends have been there for me through thick and thin. And every time, I could feel just how much they wanted to help me, to make me feel better. It was one of the reasons that made me feel worse over my perceived powerlessness to do anything because despite thinking I couldn't, that never stopped the one wish I had to be able to do the same.

That's why I'm still here."

Sayori looked away with and coldly asked, "Is that all…?"

"Yes, because even now, you're doing exactly that," Monika affirmed.

"Am I…?"

"Telling me that everything you've done was just to fulfil your own needs… I can see the intentions hidden behind that. You want me to focus all my attention on the others because you care more about them feeling better than you feeling better.

That's why you're trying to make me question if everything was a lie, right; So, I can do just that."

Sayori looked back at Monika. "But that's the thing, Monika… I'm not just trying to keep you from paying attention to me."

"Sayori…"

"It's like I said, you don't understand. Nothing I told you was a lie. I… I really am selfish.

You guys sometimes tease me about being a manipulative schemer, but it's true. I convinced Shujinkou to spend time with his father to force him to confront one of the major sources of his despair to speed up having the old Shujinkou back. I've always hung around him and his family like I was one of them despite how wrong that was and they only tolerated me because they're… them.

Whenever you or him or the others make decisions that doesn't align with mine, I always push you to making new ones that better fit into the status quo. Because… I really wanted that status quo to remain!"

Tears ran down Sayori's cheeks. Seeing her like this reminded Monika of how much she tried to hide them after Shujinkou rejected her first offer to join the Literature Club.

"Don't you get it, Monika?! It was never about you guys; it was always about me! I even took classified information that I had no right to look at just to use to try and fix the it when it was becoming to come apart!

And even today, when you told me that you were feeling better, that actually upset me because it happened without me around to be there! I'm upset that you're happy. How is that not selfish, Monika?!

How can I continue to I latch on to everyone when I-!"

Sayori's words were immediately cut off as Monika suddenly drew her into a hug.

"What are you doing?" Sayori asked.

"…You're not the only one who made a promise, you know."

"But why? Didn't you hear anything I just said?"

"I heard you, that's exactly why I'm still here. Let out all your feelings and know whether you think they're good or bad, I'll still be here."

"…Why…?"

"Because… if a friend needs me to be there, I'll be there-to help," Monika softly assured her friend.

"That's Shiko's…"

"So, you know that I'm not the only one who can't just overlook you no matter how much you insist we do."

"You and Shiko… You two really can't see the bad in people and always twist their actions into something good…" Sayori somberly noted.

"Maybe because we believe that there was good in their intentions after all. Maybe we can't do anything without a hint of selfishness guiding their decisions or even creating them in the first place, but even then, that hint doesn't outweigh the noble intentions that often accompany them.

You say that your actions were selfish, that everything was just for your own needs, but I can't just believe that because, as I said, I could always sense an honest sincerity thar accompanied your actions.

Besides, if you were really that selfish, would you decided to earnestly give up your chance at rekindling your friendship with Shujinkou?"

Sayori didn't respond to that question. Instead, she rested her head on Monika's shoulder, giving both of them a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Even at his lowest point, he could sense that that you were genuinely giving something up for him.

And he wasn't the only one who noticed that. Natsuki mentioned how she came to understand your genuine attempts to help her too and I know Yuri knew right away. If that wasn't the case, she wouldn't have been able to talk to you so easily after a rough start with everyone.

And even when you admitted you were trying to dissuade me, you said you weren't just trying to do that. You admitted that even though you believe you had wholly selfish intentions, you also genuinely wanted me to overlook you so I could focus on the others."

"I…"

"…At the end of the day, I think at least a part of us knew that a little selfishness doesn't overall make us terrible, selfish people. That's one of the things Ms. Hiro taught me."

"Auntie Hiro…"

"You know she's grateful to you, right; for helping Shujinkou smile again. The person you selflessly were going to cut ties with because you thought that would make him happy."

Those were the last words either of them said for a time. The silence continued for what felt like forever, but that was fine for Monika. She was determined to stay until her friend felt better, if just a little.

"…Sometimes it's easier to tell one person something and not others regardless of how close they are…" Sayori suddenly said.

"Hm?"

"There's something that I haven't really told anyone, not even Shiko. Would it- Can I tell you?"

"Of course," Monika answered in a soft, reassuring tone.

Sayori slowly glanced up at Monika, her lips trembling.

"I…"