Chapter 10: I Imagine a Future Part 2
A Quiet Madness Made
A/N: This chapter made me switch this story's genre to horror. That should explain what you're in for here.
Edited on 12/12/2020. Added a paragraph for Sayori escaping Monika.
"Hi, MC! I've been waiting for you!" Yuri greeted the moment MC stepped into the club. Sayori had trailed behind him, still nervous about what they would have to do today.
"Are you ready to continue reading?" Yuri carried on. "I brought my best tea today-"
"Monika!" Natsuki interrupted. "Did you seriously… Wait, she's late again?"
Yuri turned her gaze at the pink-haired girl. "Inconsiderate as usual, Natsuki."
"Excuse me?" she retaliated.
"Must you always interrupt my conversations with your incessant yelling?"
"What are you talking about-"
"Guys, please stop!" Sayori yelled out again, rubbing her temples. "I don't want you fighting so much."
"And you, Sayori," Yuri continued. "You're just a child playing woman, wanting to remain at the grown-up's table. Let me tell you where you permanently belong, little girl."
She pointed to the corner of the room. "In timeout."
"Hey!" Natsuki cut in. "That was completely uncalled for! You didn't have to insult Sayori like that!"
"Yeah, she's right," MC added, looking back at Sayori's concerned face. "You didn't have to say that."
"Ah!" Yuri immediately yelped. "I-I'm sorry, MC! I don't know what came over me!"
'And she's only apologizing to me…' MC thought.
"Aw, man!" a voice, Monika's called out from the door. "I'm the last one here again!"
"Well, these two dunderheads just walked in too." Natsuki remarked, pointing at MC and Sayori with two fingers.
"Monika, were you practicing piano once again?" Yuri asked.
"Well, yeah," the brunette admitted.
"Incredible," Yuri smiled in approval. "You must be very determined to keep up with your practice, on top of the club and other things."
"Ahaha, you give me too much credit, Yuri," Monika laughed it off. "Well, I am quite passionate about the piano. I just feel like it helps me think about the other tasks we have to do, like the club and the festival."
"Heh, that's our president for ya." Natsuki hollered.
MC, however, was not impressed. Not if the person doing it was a murderer as well.
"Speaking of the festival," Monika continued, "Have we all thought about something to do for it yet?"
"Isn't the decorations and the cupcakes enough?" Natsuki asked. "Do we really have to do something?"
Monika sadly smiled. "I understand your feelings for this, Natsuki, but we can't have a successful festival by merely presenting a room. We need to show them our biggest selling point, and that is our members!"
"Uuuuhh…" Yuri moaned. "I'm still quite uncomfortable with this."
"Aww, come on!" Sayori cheered, trying to bring the mood in the club back up. "I'm really excited for it, no matter what we have to do!"
"Ahaha, thank you, Sayori!" Monika smiled at the coral-haired girl. "Anyway, I believe we can break for now. I'll call you when it is time for poem sharing!"
As Natsuki approached Monika, probably to talk about her misplaced manga, MC moved to Sayori.
"Hey," he started. "How are we going to do this?"
"I don't know," Sayori sighed. "I'm just really scared for Y-"
"Oh, MC!" Yuri walked up to the two, having eyes only for the dark-haired boy. "I thought we had plans to continue our book today? You wouldn't leave me by my lonesome, would you?"
MC looked into Yuri's eyes, boring into his. He turned to Sayori, who was slightly shaking in fear, from what was going to come soon enough. He then turned back to Yuri again, who's deranged look along with her gaze seemed to grow sharper.
"A-A-Alright!" MC almost yelled. "I'll join you, s-sorry!"
For a moment, Yuri's eyes got filled with so much excitement that they seemed to narrow into the size of her pupil. However, this vanished like it had never happened in the first place. "Ah, of course you wouldn't forget, MC," Yuri beamed instead.
Hesitantly, MC followed Yuri back to her desk. He looked back at Sayori, only to see er give him a hesitant thumbs up, letting him know that she's supporting him. MC smiled as he continued his march.
"I was hoping that I could make some tea to assist our reading." Yuri told MC, turning back to meet his eyes. "Would you care to join me, as I make some?"
"Uh, yeah, sure!" MC agreed. Yuri smiled as she dragged him to the back of the classroom and brought out her tea set.
"Ah, MC, can you please wait here for a moment?" Yuri said as she opened one of the kettles. "I need to fill this with water."
"Oh, okay," MC said. "Should I come with you?"
"No!" Yuri said with enough volume to alarm MC. "No, I'm perfectly fine filling this myself. It will only take a few minutes."
"Well, okay then," MC nodded and smiled, much to Yuri's amusement if anything was denoted by that wide smirk she returned.
As Yuri walked out of the room, MC approached Sayori.
"Hey, I've got a bad feeling," he told her. "We need to follow Yuri."
Nodding in understanding, Sayori got out of her desk and trailed behind MC to the door of the clubroom.
"And where are you two going?" Monika interrupted them as they were about to leave.
"Ah," MC hesitantly turned back to Monika, "Yeah, we were-"
"We're heading to the vending machine!" Sayori cheered out her lie like an absolute natural. "I mean, I am getting kinda hungry, sooo…" To further emphasize the point, Sayori rubbed her stomach innocently.
"Ahaha, that's okay, Sayori. I won't stop you two," Monika smiled. "Although, I would suggest watching out for Yuri. You might not like what you see if you find her."
'Huh?' MC thought. 'What does she mean by that?'
"Thanks, Monika!" Sayori yelled again as she dragged MC out the door. "We'll be back in a jiffy!"
The moment we both left the clubroom, Sayori let out a soft sigh in relief.
"Alright, MC," she stood back up again. "Let's look for Yuri now."
MC just stood there, admiring her for a moment.
"Sayori," he commended, "That was incredible."
"Ehehe…" Sayori's face started to grow red as she looked away from MC and twiddled her thumbs. "Well, thanks MC."
MC smiled and grabbed her hand to drag her forward. "Come on," he announced, "Let's go!"
"Ah, I'm coming, I'm coming!" she called out as she ran back up to meet him.
The two kept walking in the hallways to the nearest water fountain in relative silence, only to have it broken by an odd noise coming from a nearby classroom.
"Haah… Haah… Haah…" the soft voice heaved out as the two slowly stalled to a stand.
"Kgggghhh!" a sound like a sharp influx of air rang out, making Sayori and MC look at each other and nod.
Sayori and MC approached the entry and gently opened the door.
"AAAAHH!" Yuri immediately cried out from inside the room. She had her left sleeve rolled up, and she was currently holding a slightly bloody blue-hilted knife above her scar-littered arm.
"M-MC!" she cried out. "It's not what you think!"
MC paled, only having half expected this, but not expecting it to be actually true.
Sayori, however, turned green like she was about to puke. "Yuri…" she muttered. "Why… why would you…"
"Wait," Yuri turned to see the coral-haired girl. "Why is she here?"
"Yuri, I'm pretty sure she can be here, too," MC said. "I was worried about you, so I brought Sayori along to check in on you."
"Ah, ahaha…" Yuri eerily smiled as she looked at both of them sequentially. "I'm so glad, MC. I'm so glad to hear that you worry about me."
"However," Yuri grit her teeth. "I now see that the only way for you to truly look at me is if I take her out of the equation!"
Suddenly, Yuri gripped her knife firm in her right hand, blood still dripping from her left, and charged at Sayori's fear-stricken body. Right before she could plunge the blade into her heart, MC pulled his childhood friend out of the way and yelled out, "Day One: Rollback!"
As the green Stand came out and reverted time back by its full 12 seconds, MC and Sayori found themselves back in the hallway, only a few doors away from the club.
"Haah… haah…" gasped Sayori as she tried to come to terms with what had just happened.
"Sayori?" MC gingerly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
Suddenly, Sayori started wheezing. Straining to look at MC, she suddenly started to claw at her own throat. In her asphyxiation, she had collapsed onto her knees.
"Sayori!" MC almost yelled out as he bent down to face her. He recognized what was going on from the numerous anime and movies he watched: a panic attack.
"MC… plea… help…" Sayori wheezed out as she stayed on the ground, unable to breath.
Seeing her in this state was terrible for MC, making him turn to the very first method he thought of.
He grabbed Sayori's head in his hands and drove his lips in to meet hers.
Sayori immediately froze as she felt the foreign, yet incredible feeling on her lips. The kiss was sloppy, and his chapped lips had scratched hers as she returned it, but it was a kiss from MC regardless.
In a few seconds, MC slowly pulled his mouth away, leaving Sayori gasping in exhaustion and wonder at her first kiss being taken by her crush.
"T-That was…" she tried to mumble out.
"I… uh… I heard somewhere that… you had to hold your breath… to stop panic attacks." MC grumbled out as well, hiding his red face in his shoulder. "Y-Yeah, that's all, nothing else!"
"Y-Yeah, of course!" Sayori nodded, beet-red too.
The duo immediately stood up, but were forced to forego the awkwardness of the situation after hearing the light breathing from a nearby room.
"MC…" Sayori mumbled. "Let's head back to the club."
"Sayori, come on," MC insisted. "This is our only chance. Yuri is all alone in there. We might never get a chance to understand what is going on with her again!"
"I-I understand, MC, I really do," Sayori shivered as she spoke. "It's just… I can't face her again. Not when she's willing to do… that…"
MC looked at Sayori's jittering form for a minute, then sighed.
"Alright, fine, we'll head back," he relented. "I just hope we get another chance."
"Me too, MC," Sayori agreed. "Me too."
"Oh, you're back?" Monika asked them as they walked back into the clubroom. "That was rather quick. I also don't see anything from the vending machine, either."
"Ehehe, well…" Sayori chuckled. "We kinda forgot our money…"
Smiling at Sayori's well thought out lies, MC carried on with it. "Yeah, I spent all I had today in lunch. I forgot I didn't have enough for the machine, sadly."
"Ah, I'm sorry," Monika sadly smiled at them. "Do you need my help?"
"No, we're fine, Monika," Sayori smiled back. "I can control my hunger a little."
"Controlling hunger? You?" MC asked, looking at Sayori. "That's impossible and you know it."
"Ehehe, you know me so well, MC!" Sayori beamed back at MC. MC chuckled at the girl's antics.
"Ah, you two seem a bit closer," Monika's brow quirked. "Tell me, anything interesting go on back there?"
MC felt his face get hotter, but Sayori laughed and shook it off. "Nothing like that, Monika, we're just friends!"
"Y-Yeah, we are!" MC agreed too.
"Okay, then," Monika replied with a sly smile. "Keep your secrets."
Before they could say anything about it, Monika walked away from us. MC turned to Sayori, only to now see her reddening face.
"Who knew that lying to her would be so hard…?" Sayori whispered to MC. MC let out a light breath as a chuckle, and walked back to his old position by the tea set. Seeing his message, Sayori walked back to her own desk too.
"I'm back," Yuri opened the club door and walked up to MC. "Thank you for waiting so patiently."
"Uhh, don't mention it, Yuri." Now that he was seeing her, he was finding it incredibly difficult to not look at her sleeved arm, the one which he knew contained a flurry of little dark scars.
As Yuri prepared the tea, MC rummaged through his bag to see a bar of chocolate that he had kept in reserve for Sayori that day.
'I should probably give this to her,' he thought. 'Unless…'
Heading back to Yuri, chocolate in hand, he flashed it to her. "You think chocolate would go well with tea?"
Yuri smiled. "Yes, I believe so. I'm glad you brought that, MC."
"Well, I do try," MC smiled in return.
Soon enough, the tea got ready, and it was poured into two cups by Yuri's elegant movements.
"Can we sit on the floor today, as we read?" Yuri asked MC as she took a delicate sip from her glass, testing her product. "I find it rather easier on my back."
"Oh?" MC quirked a brow as he accepted his own glass and saucer. "Why is that?"
Yuri froze for a moment. "Ah, well…"
MC suddenly realized why she had said that, and immediately thought of a way to correct it. "Your posture, right?!" he almost yelled. "Your reading posture is terrible, so you need some support."
"Ah, yes, you're right," Yuri breathed a sigh of relief. "My… posture."
"Okay, we'll sit down, then," MC said as he sat down by the wall, setting his teacup and chocolate beside him. Yuri followed, with her own tea and the book.
Sitting next to each other with a book in between them, having to reach for the teacup and chocolate on his side without accidentally brushing Yuri's 'posture'. This was where MC found himself at that moment.
Yuri, however, had stopped noticing. As expected, she had gotten absorbed into the book. MC took a sip of the tea that she had given him.
"This is pretty good, Yuri," he commended. Yuri, however, returned no reply, having been lost in her book at the moment.
Mc then leaned in for the packet of chocolate. Opening it with that satisfying peeling sound, Mc broke of a small piece and put it in his own mouth. He broke off a second portion for Yuri, but as he was about to hand it to her, he noticed that both her hands were holding the book at the moment.
'Don't want her to get smudges,' MC thought as he turned to see Yuri's face, lips slightly parted.
'Maybe, I can…' MC raised the piece of chocolate up to the gap in Yuri's mouth, and placed it within there.
"Hmm? HMM!" Yuri almost shrieked and pressed her lips together, making the piece of chocolate fall on the ground.
"M-MC, what was…" Yuri gasped as she turned to face him, and let her breathing get incredibly wild.
"A-Ah, sorry!" MC immediately apologized. "I wasn't thinking."
Yuri, however, started to heave as she looked at MC. "MC… you… I can't…"
"Um, Yuri, your breathing is kinda…" MC started to back away, in a slight trepidation.
Yuri, however, didn't heed his hesitation. She grabbed his arm, pulled him up to a stand and dragged him into the closet. Natsuki was already inside, but she got shoved out earning Yuri a, "Hey, what the hell?!"
Yuri didn't pay heed to her ramblings as she closed the door to the closet, sealing them both in together.
"MC…" she spoke in a low, husky tone that would have seemed sexual if it wasn't for the fact that she was scaring the living daylights out of him. "My heart… it won't stop pounding, MC…"
She jerkily pulled MC's hand to her breast, pressing it upon her, making MC feel her heartbeat. "Can you feel it?" she asked.
He could, and it felt like it was going at the pace of a horse gallop. The intensity of the beat had made it audible even through Yuri's large chest.
"I can't calm down, can't focus on anything anymore," she continued, still keeping his hand on her breast. "I don't care about the club. I don't care about my books. All I want to see… is you…"
Yuri pushed MC back against the closet wall and leaned in close. Close enough for MC to feel her raspy breath falling on his face and to look into her incredibly glossy and narrow eyes.
"MC…" she continued, "You-"
"Hey!" Sayori jerked open the door, breaking sunlight into the dark closet to MC's relief. "What are you guys doing?"
Yuri froze as she was caught in the act, and she was close enough for MC to see the quiver in her lower lip. She immediately thrust herself away from MC with a shrill shriek.
"I-I'm sorry!" she squeaked. "I don't know what came over me!"
"Okay, everyone!" Monika called out from the front of the room, seemingly ignorant about what was going on. "It's time to share poems!"
Yuri immediately charged out of the room and whipped out her poem, now ready. The commotion at the closet died down, leaving the others to get their poems as well.
As MC got his poem out of his bag, Sayori approached him, seemingly to share her poem first. Peeking from the corner, MC could see Yuri crossing her eyes at Sayori's actions. However, he ignored her motion for focusing on Sayori.
"What happened?" Sayori asked with an inquisitive look, as she handed MC her poem.
MC accepted the poem, but only pretended to read it. It really didn't matter what it was, after all. "I'm starting to think this is all because Yuri has feelings for me."
"Huh?" Sayori was taken aback as she accepted MC's poem too, once again, not reading it. "How would feelings for someone make her act like that?"
"Have you ever heard of the term yandere?" MC asked.
"Not exactly," Sayori admitted. "It's something related to anime, isn't it?"
"A yandere is a type of character trope," MC started to explain. "They have highly obsessive feelings for someone else. These feelings are strong enough to make them want to do anything to be with their love, even terrible things like manipulation and murder. Normally, you would never get someone like this in real life, not the way they depict in anime, at least, but we can only imagine what can happen with Monika's influence."
"Oh, wow," Sayori frowned. "Is that why she tried to…"
"Yeah," MC nodded. "She sees you as a threat. In her eyes, you're competition for me. That's why she'll try to kill you again."
"O-Oh…" Sayori moaned as she gulped in fear. Seeing her reaction, MC placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Sayori," he said. "We'll save her. We just need to gather some more information about all this, and then I'll reset."
"Wait, so is that the plan?" Sayori asked as she turned to meet MC's eyes.
"Yeah, I hope so," MC nodded. "Hopefully, after our reset, we'll be able to save Yuri from being influenced."
Sayori nodded, and the two handed each other their poems back to each other. Looking around, MC could see Natsuki approaching him, hands shaking as hey clutched onto her poem.
"Hey, Sayori," he said. "Can you distract Monika for a moment? I think Natsuki has something important to say to us."
"Yeah, alright," Sayori agreed as she suddenly wore a bright smile and skipped over to meet Monika.
"That's really weird," Natsuki said as she walked up to him. "It looked like she about to shit herself just a second ago."
"Well, yeah," MC admitted, "But she's gone through a lot. It helped her become an expert in keeping her true feelings hidden, and that's helping us keep this going on."
"Keep what going on?" Natsuki asked.
MC looked at Natsuki, frowning a little. "I'm pretty sure you already know."
"I-I guess… just…" Natsuki suddenly cried out. "Just read this!"
"Okay, okay, don't worry," MC took the poem, but didn't lift it up to read it yet. He turned around to check on Monika, who was currently engaged in conversation with Sayori.
Smiling, MC finally revealed the poem to himself.
Sure enough, it wasn't a poem that he read. It was a message to them, sharing Natsuki's concerns about Yuri and Monika. She could see that something was going on, but she didn't know what to do to help. And she was scared about it.
MC knew that Natsuki said that he was supposed to treat it like a regular poem, but he had to reply to Natsuki's problems. So, as he handed her poem back, he spoke up, keeping his voice low enough to not be heard by the two perpretrators.
"Don't worry, Natsuki," MC said, "Sayori and I are still figuring out what's going on, but we've got good leads. I promise that if anything happens to Yuri, I can fix it."
"B-But how?" Natsuki replied, eyes shimmering in fear. "How are you going to-"
"I need you to trust me on that," MC said matter-of-factly. "I have a plan, or something of the sort. And I can help Yuri."
"O-Okay," Natsuki nodded. "I-I have no choice, but to trust you, then."
"Good," MC smiled. "You can trust Sayori, too. You can ask her about any other questions you might have, maybe even show her this poem."
"I-I'll do that," Natsuki nodded as she turned up to meet MC's gaze, now more determined than ever. "Thanks."
MC smiled. "Don't thank me yet."
With that, MC and Sayori swapped partners. Sayori showed her poem and concerns to Natsuki, while MC approached Monika.
"Hey, MC!" Monika greeted him as he walked up to her. "I hope you had a great time with Sayori and Yuri earlier today?"
"Er, yeah," MC hesitantly agreed, still unsure of Monika's intentions.
"However," Monika continued, "I need to warn you about something. You see, Yuri can get… excited… whenever she's around you. I'm afraid that she might hurt you if you spend so much time with her, or even herself. So why don't you do us all a favor and stay away from her?"
'I would,' MC thought, 'If it wasn't for the fact that I have to clear up your mess.'
"Did you know that Yuri's actually mentally unstable?" she continued. "Did you know that she has a knife collection that she cuts herself with? Did you know that she's even named every single one of those knives with her? Haha, how pathetic can she get, don't you think?"
'That may be true,' MC thought, 'But who was it that made her like that in the first place?'
"And Sayori, let's not get started on her," Monika chuckled and continued. "I honestly think she's a hair's breadth away from hanging herself. Did you know she has crippling depression? Ahaha, that must be quite the surprise for you, right?"
"Don't worry about any of them, MC," she continued, voice turning more somber. "Just come with me. We can be together once again. I can make you whole again."
"You know, Monika," MC said, making the girl look at him. "I would have kept my mouth shut as you talked badly about your own club members, but bringing Sayori into it was the last straw."
"Huh?" Monika asked, taken aback by MC's lack of confusion.
"You talk about them being that way, but you're forgetting the last person who's worse than any of them combined," MC replied. "And that's you, Monika. You can suicide-bait Sayori all you want, you can modify Yuri's psyche all you want. In the end, I will be there to save them, and to stop you."
"A-Ah," Monika stuttered as she stared at MC's determined eyes, full of hate directed at her. "That is…"
MC decided that he didn't want any more of this, so he left Monika alone, not having switched their poems.
Monika stared at MC's retreating figure and smiled. 'He's changing too,' she thought to herself. 'Can he actually do it? Can he perfect himself without anyone else helping him?'
MC wasn't privy to Monika's thoughts, so he had gone on the meet the last person to share his poem with. Yuri.
"Finally! I was waiting for this!" Yuri skipped as MC approached her, and immediately claimed his poem.
Instead of reading it like a normal person, she had brought the page to her nose and took a deep whiff. She then returned a contented smile to MC.
"I love it," she declared. "I love everything about it! Can I keep this poem, MC? Can it be mine?"
"Uhmm… sure, you can keep it," MC hesitantly responded, still wary of Yuri's actions. He held Day One at the ready within himself, just in case he had to Rollback at any point.
"Thank you, MC!" she cheered, eyes dangerously narrowing as she stared at him. "I'm going to keep this poem close to me at all times! I hope it make you feel good, thinking about how I'll keep reading this poem over and over again. Touching myself. Giving myself papercuts with it so your skin oil enters my bloodstream."
MC was still rather freaked out by Yuri's haggard expression and words. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't see a Stand here, so he had nothing to touch. Nothing to hit, to stop whatever was hurting Yuri.
"Please, read my poem too, MC!" Yuri handed him a stained paper. "I know you'll love it as much as I did!"
Hesitantly, MC accepted the oddly damp piece of paper. The moment he brought it to his face, the first thing he noticed was its smell. It smelled heavily of something metallic and strong, enough to overwhelm his nose. Only when he saw what it was did he suddenly feel the urge to vomit.
None of the handwriting could be deemed as legible, so it was impossible to read the poem as it was. However, the poem was almost drenched in red and yellow fluids. MC didn't need to think twice to identify what those were.
As soon as he dropped the poem in shock, he noticed that Yuri was right at his face once again, staring at him. "Did you like it?" she asked. "If you didn't know, the poem was about everything I think of when I see you, MC. I've also imbued it with my scent, to make the poem remind you of me whenever you read it. Aren't I the most thoughtful person, ever?"
As she said this, MC noticed that her eyes started bleeding. As she got closer and the blood dripped lower, MC followed the path back more closely to her eyes, only to finally see it.
A gray gremlin-like figure, hugging Yuri's head, fading in and out of existence. It turned back to face MC, showing its toothless gaping mouth and hollow eyes. It revealed its right hand, holding two fingers up in a V, a peace symbol. It whined with a shrill voice, "Tokkkeeaaa…" as it drove its right arm into Yuri's eye. It seemed to phase through but forced another drop of Yuri's blood to spill out from it.
Just as it had appeared, it vanished as Yuri suddenly jerked away from MC. "I… I need to go…" Yuri's face turned green as she rushed out of the clubroom.
MC stood still where he was. He had no idea how to process what he had just seen. Slowly, he crept his head towards Monika, who was beaming at him.
Monika then brought up a hand and flashed him a V with her fingers. A peace symbol.
"Okay, everyone!" Monika announced as the poem sharing got completed and Yuri returned. "Can we all meet in the center to discuss our preparations for the festival?"
"I'm baking cupcakes!" Natsuki said as she walked up to them. MC sighed, happy that Sayori managed to convince her to keep up an act.
"Of course, Natsuki, they're to die for!" Monika replied.
Natsuki faltered for a bit, but smiled regardless.
"Yuri, you can…" She turned to the purple-haired girl. "You know what, I don't care, you can do whatever you want."
"I'm not useless, you know, Monika?" Yuri said, with a light sad undertone.
"Yeah, of course you aren't! Monika's just being a meanie!" Sayori added. "Yuri, can you make some decorations for the place? To make the atmosphere better?"
"I love atmosphere!" Yuri suddenly declared, as she started to mumble to herself about things that she would add into the room.
"Ahaha, I knew I could count on you, Sayori!" Monika cheered. "You can help either of them with their tasks, by the way. I've only got to make the pamphlets and put them up around the school, so you can help either one of them."
"What about me?" MC asked.
"You'll be helping me, of course!" Monika declared suddenly.
MC froze. Helping Monika was the last thing he needed to do. That would be like walking straight into the maw of a lion's den.
"Hey, what do you mean, he should help you?" Natsuki immediately interfered. "You have the least amount of work here!"
"I'm sorry Natsuki, but it is what it is." Monika sadly smiled at her.
"I must disagree as well, Monika!" Yuri intervened as well. "I can't let you take MC away from me, not when I have so much work to do."
"Hey, MC can help me too, you know?" Natsuki added as well.
"Oh, of course," Yuri sneered at the girl. "Because MC would absolutely love to interact with an impertinent brat like you."
"H-Hey!" Natsuki immediately grit her teeth in frustration but she held her tongue. 'Seems like Sayori told her more than I expected,' MC thought.
"Guys, please, stop fighting!" Sayori immediately cut in. "Why don't we leave it to MC to decide who he wants to work for, and I can help someone other than that?"
"That sounds fair to me," Yuri smiled, then turned to MC. "Don't worry, MC. You only need to choose me. You know I can take care of you better than these other pests."
MC looked at the three girls, and opened his mouth to speak. Suddenly, MC noticed Monika's lip quiver, like she was saying something under her breath.
That was when it showed up again.
Monika's Stand appeared right at MC's face, taking MC aback. With a quick whine of "Tokkeeaa…" it managed to drive an arm into MC's left eye. He hadn't felt anything piercing it, but his mouth suddenly moved on its own.
"I'll work with Monika," it said for him with his mouth.
The Stand immediately disappeared, revealing a beaming Monika standing by them and the confused rest of the club.
"Yay! You picked me!" Monika hollered for herself.
"I-I mean, I-"
"Argh, Monika, what the hell?" Natsuki interrupted him. "You can't abuse your power like that?"
"I didn't abuse my power, Natsuki," Monika added. "As you saw, MC chose me out of his own volition!"
"Monika, you pesky whore…" Yuri suddenly grumbled, getting up close to Monika's face with a dangerous gleam in her eye. "Time and time again you have tried to take my man away from me. Here's an idea, have you considered killing yourself? It's can be quite beneficial to your mental health."
Sayori's eyes widened, seeing how badly Yuri was changed. Natsuki, however, trembled. "Y-Yuri," she mumbled. "You're scaring me."
"It's okay, everyone," Monika smiled like nothing happened in the first place. "I believe Yuri and MC here need to simply talk about a few things."
"That wasn't so hard, wasn't it, Monika?" Yuri sneered at her. "You finally see that all I want to do is talk to him for a little bit."
"Come on, everyone!" Monika immediately grasped Sayori and Natsuki by their arms and dragged them away, ignoring their protests.
Finally, it was only MC and Yuri left in the clubroom.
'Well, it's now or never,' MC thought.
"Yuri," he started. "Are you-"
"Finally," she interrupted, then revealed her intensely focused eyes, staring right at him, like she was experiencing him for the first time every time. "Finally! I have you all to myself!"
Yuri then walked closer and grabbed MC's hands, gingerly rubbing them. "You don't need to meet that whore during the weekend, you just need to meet me, MC. I'm all you need, aren't I? The whole day… just the two of us… doesn't that sound wonderful?"
"Yuri, I need you to listen to me," MC finally decided that he wouldn't sit idly anymore, and brought his Stand out. "You're not yourself. Monika did something to you."
"You're right," Yuri turned her gaze to herself. "There's something wrong with me, isn't there? Ahaha, but you know what?" Yuri looked back at MC with a crazed look in here eye. "I don't care anymore, MC! I'm too addicted to this feeling!"
"Yuri, please!" MC yelled back, holding his hand out. "Let me help you get better!"
"I feel incredible already, MC!" she grabbed MC's hand and brought it close to her chest. "I need to tell you, MC! I'm madly in love with you! I feel like every single cell in my body is screaming your name! I want to do all sorts of things with you, MC, I want to feel your body on mine, I want to taste you, I want to pull your skin open and crawl inside of you, so, so many things! I felt like something horrible was going to happen, but I was just lying to myself! I love you too much for that!"
"Yuri, please, you're not thinking str-"
"Tell me you love me too, MC! Please! Do you accept my confession?"
MC was stumped. He had absolutely no idea how to respond to this. He knew that there should have been some way to stop Yuri from taking things too far, but there was only was that he could think of. Just enough to keep Yuri safe and sound until the next reset.
"Yes," he said.
Yuri smiled, wider than anything he had ever seen on her face. "Ahaha…" she chuckled, until her eyes widened further.
"AHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAH-"
Suddenly, Yuri pulled out the same ornate blue knife from earlier and positioned it above her chest, ready to stab herself with it. MC widened his eyes and immediately sent Day One out to stop her.
But it was too late.
Yuri held the knife in her gut, blood oozing out of the wound. MC ignored the leaking blood and grasped the blade in his hand, and started a Rollback.
Having entered reversed time, MC focused on the blade in front of him getting pulled out. That was when he made himself focus on only one thing.
'Keep the blade on me as I move back in time but make the blood on it return back into Yuri. Heal Yuri from the hole on her chest as well.'
And so, it did.
As time resumed again, Yuri gazed at MC, laughed hysterically and reached for the knife in her pocket, only to see nothing there.
"Looking for this?" MC said as he held up the blood crusted designer blade in his hands.
"You…" Yuri gasped. "How do you have that? Give it back!"
Yuri charged ahead to grab the blade again, but MC immediately dove out of the way.
"Sayori, JoJo, I need you!" he yelled out, hoping that his friends were there to hear him.
… But no one came.
"MC…" she grumbled. "I see you want to join me as well… no matter, I was hoping that we could be together in the afterlife."
Yuri pulled another blade from her other pocket, much to MC's surprise. This blade had a blood red hilt, with a serrated edge.
"Let's dance."
"Where are you taking us?" Sayori yelled out as she was dragged with Monika alongside Natsuki.
"We're just giving those two some time, that's all!" Monika declared as she pulled them into the adjacent classroom, which was supposed to be empty at the moment if it wasn't for their sentry already stationed there.
"Oh, sorry, we'll move somewhere else," Monika told JoJo as she raced out of the room once again, pulling the two behind her along with her.
"Monika, let us go, dammit!" Natsuki called out. "We can walk ourselves, you know!"
"I know you can," Monika told them as she dragged them into another class. "I just want to make sure you come with me."
Sayori frowned. "But MC-"
"MC will be fine," Monika waved her off as she set them both there. "I just need to stand outside and stay on guard in case anyone tries to interfere with us, alright?"
The others didn't say anything as Monika beamed at them and left the class, only to keep standing outside.
"What the-" Natsuki was about to yell, if it wasn't for Sayori immediately covering her voice.
"Keep it down, Natsuki," Sayori whispered to her. "I know you've got questions, but we've gotta help MC first. I need you to help me with that, okay?"
Natsuki nodded from underneath her hand, letting her know she was in.
"Good. Now, here's what we do…"
As this was going on, Monika stood outside the new temporary clubroom, keeping an eye on their original one to ensure that no one walked up on them at any point.
However, she noticed the boy from the class they had first moved to step out of his door and look around. Seeing her, he smiled and approached her.
"I'm sorry," he asked. "But I was wondering what was going on? I mean, it's not every day that people are dragged by someone else, after all."
"Oh, it's nothing for you to worry about," Monika reassured the stranger. "I've got everything handled."
"Well, I guess that's okay?" Joster replied sheepishly, rubbing a hand behind his neck like he had seen MC do many times before. "Just let me know if you need any help with anything, okay?"
"Hey, Monika!" Natsuki barged out of the class. "I need answers, dammit! Why the hell did you force us out here?"
"Force?" JoJo asked from the opposite end of Monika's view, making her turn back to him. "You forced them here? Why?"
"We have no fucking clue!" Natsuki yelled out as she walked up to JoJo and pointed at Monika.
"Natsuki, it would be best if-"
"Monika, you better start explaining!" Natsuki walked up to her, getting up close and personal. "What the hell happened?! Why did you leave MC and Yuri back there like that!"
"Natsuki, please, you don't understand-"
Monika wouldn't be able to finish her sentence, as a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over her, making her collapse onto her knees and palms.
"Take Me to Church," Sayori said from behind her, walking up to her. "Natsuki, now!"
Suddenly, Natsuki threw a wild haymaker at Monika's face, and paired with her exhaustion, the impact knocked her out, sending her sprawling onto the floor.
"Yikes," Natsuki winced as she shook her hand. "That was a rough one."
"Sayori," JoJo looked at her. "I'm hoping you have this handled?"
"Don't worry, I do," Sayori nodded. "Keep her in bay in the meantime."
JoJo smiled as he extended his limbs. "That I can do, with Renegades," he said, as he wrapped his extended limbs around Monika's body, trapping her.
"W-What…?" Natsuki recoiled, stepping back in shock. "H-How the hell can you do that? Stretch your arms out like that?!"
Sayori turned to JoJo with an inquisitive look. JoJo sighed and replied, "Non-Stand Users cannot see my Stand, but they can see its effects. You need to get going right now."
"Right," Sayori replaced her curiosity with her newfound determination as she ran back to the clubroom, ignoring Natsuki's rant behind her.
Yuri charged at MC with her blade, ready to dive it deep into his chest. MC having an additional weapon in Day One, decided to block Yuri's approach with a solid punch from it.
Yuri went flying back, losing her grasp of the knife in her hand. MC walked ahead, and picked up the red blade sitting on the ground with his free hand.
Holding both blades in his hands, he walked up to Yuri.
"Please, Yuri," he begged. "I don't want to hurt you. Let me help you, please!"
Yuri sat up and looked at MC once again, face bruised from her collision.
"MC… is that you?" she asked. "What… happened to me?"
"Yuri, you're okay!" he shrieked as he embraced Yuri. As he did, he dropped the knives in his hands to the ground beside him and her to free up his space.
"Thank you… MC," Yuri moaned. "I'm fine now… because now we can be together forever."
"Huh?"
MC felt something enter his stomach, and warmth filled it. Looking down, he noticed that the blue blade was stuck within him, mixing his blood with Yuri's from the red blade.
"Ahaha, we'll be together forever now, MC!" Yuri laughed as she suddenly pulled MC in for an incredibly sloppy kiss. MC couldn't respond, he could feel himself getting weaker.
"Day… One…" he moaned. However, the green Stand stood by his side, unable to do anything.
"It relies on energy?" MC remembered Oyanagi vaguely remarking when he was still alive. Since he was dying, he didn't have enough energy left to operate a Rollback.
He was going to die here, wasn't he?
He collapsed on Yuri, not knowing how to go further from here. He couldn't use his Stand anymore. He couldn't Rollback, he couldn't save Yuri.
Surprisingly, the last thing in his mind before he drifted away was Sayori.
He remembered her gentle smile, easing all of his worries away. He remembered all the times they would mess around when they were kids, two peas in a pod. He remembered that quick kiss between them as he tried to keep her safe from the trauma of the Stand world.
'If she's safe,' MC realized, 'Then I can die happily.'
And so, MC closed his eyes.
Only to feel himself buzzing with energy once again.
'Huh?' MC thought as he opened his eyes again. The pain from the wound didn't seem too bad anymore, but he was definitely re-energizing somehow. Looking around his body, he soon realized the source was from a glowing-yellow bit of rope wrapped around his hand, and a panting Sayori from nearby.
"You can do it, MC," she said with a smile, as she collapsed onto the ground. "You can save her. I know you can."
MC felt his wound closing up, but that didn't matter anymore, not when Yuri was losing her life in front of him.
"Day One," he called out once again, this time feeling the Stand ready to do his bidding. 12 seconds had passed a long time ago, there was no way to fix this with a Rollback.
However, there was another way.
Gently placing a hand on Yuri's body, he used the other to press the second lit up slot on Day One's chest.
"Load Save."
Just as he vaguely remembered from when he saved Sayori in the last run, the world around him broke apart, leaving only him with two other figures besides. Sayori was by his side, with her light flickering slightly. She, for some reason, had a green strand that was connected between her and MC's hand.
The other person was Yuri, with a flickering purple aura. There were flecks of red trailing her body as well.
MC hesitantly placed a hand on Yuri, allowing Day One to reach into her. Suddenly, the flecks of red were pushed off, along with some grey steam that evaporated from Yuri's head. Her aura suddenly became lined with a familiar green, as a strand got formed between himself and Yuri.
Suddenly, MC could feel himself get pulled back in the timestream, and he let the flow carry him. However, he pulled back on to the two connections he had, as those two travelled back along with him.
MC woke up in front of Day One, in his living room. The Stand, however, fizzled out and retreated into MC's body.
Looking around, he saw his calendar.
Tuesday. It was Tuesday.
Turning back around, he could see Sayori gasping back on his couch. She turned to face him, then smiled.
"MC… you did it!" she announced.
She got up and ran up to MC, hugging him for dear life. MC returned the hug, still reeling from what had happened mere moments prior.
"Sayori," MC whispered into her ear. "Thank you. You saved me."
"I'm just glad I got there in time," Sayori bemoaned. "Monika was trying to stop me, but I managed to push past her with Natsuki's help. But what was going on between you and Yuri?"
"She had tried to confess to me, but I tried to help her instead," MC smiled, as he pulled himself back to stare at Sayori's eyes. "You know, I thought I was going to die back there."
"MC, please, you won't-"
"In those last moment, all I could think of was one person," MC admitted. "And that was you, Sayori."
"W-Wha?" Sayori gasped. "Wait, I thought you still needed-HMM!"
MC cut her off by placing his lips on hers yet again. Sayori was tense at first, but eventually relented into her lover's woes.
As they soon split off, they stared at each other again.
"MC, does this mean…" Sayori asked.
"Well, yeah," MC replied. "If you want it to be, that is?"
"B-But so soon after what Yuri did?" Sayori asked.
MC smiled and replied, "If anything, she only affirmed my feelings for you. I hadn't enjoyed being with her at all. And when she forced herself upon me, all I could think of was that time we had kissed in the hallway."
Sayori paused, then smiled. "Ehehe, I'm so glad…" She rested her head upon MC's chest. "I… Thank you."
"No, thank you, Sayori," MC said, wrapping his arms around her tighter and resting his chin on her head. "I wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for you."
Sayori leaned back to look at MC again. "How about we call ourselves even, then?"
MC smiled. "Yeah, we're even."
Sharing another kiss, they went back to holding each other. However, their session was abruptly interrupted by a notification from Sayori's phone.
"Ehehe, I should probably get that…" Sayori said as she pried herself away from MC.
'Cold,' MC felt as he was left alone and Sayori went to pick up her phone. However, his remnant joy got replaced upon seeing Sayori's shocked look.
"What is it?" MC asked.
Sayori said nothing, but showed him her phone. They were messages from Yuri.
Yuri: Sayori, I need you to ask MC what happened to me.
Yuri: Why is it Tuesday? Wasn't it supposed to be Friday?
Yuri: Why am I in a library at the moment?
Yuri: What have I done to MC? Is he still alive? Please tell me he is!
Yuri: I don't understand why I did any of that! That wasn't me!
Yuri: Sayori?! Please, respond! Let me talk to him, please!
A/N: And there we have it. The end of the Yuri arc.
This doesn't mean that she'll stop developing, no. In this story, the end of an arc idealizes the resolving of their suffering. She will keep developing in the later arcs, as she tries to help the others who are suffering as well.
Also, I've finally confirmed the ship for this story, as determined by the chapter. I don't expect things to get saucy between them anytime soon, so depending on who you are, (I'm sorry/you're welcome). Who knows, maybe someday, my mind might change.
My new struggle is going to be finding family names for the Dokis. Also, I'll finally write a new chapter of Ascension, after leaving it be for 3 months.
The two knives introduced in this chapter are Sky and Wolfbite. Sky is the first knife Yuri uses, her favorite, and the one she stabs MC with. Wolfbite is her second choice. I actually took these names from a DDLC mod that I was trying to write for a while, but I scrapped it because I didn't know any artists or musicians to help me and I was too introverted and poor to ask in the subreddit. Pity, though. It's an awesome idea, yet I can't write it as a fanfic either, considering how it relies on its different routes to achieve the True Ending.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that Monika's Stand was scary enough to give you chills. I will soon begin the Natsuki arc, but only after my next Ascension chapter is out. Normally, that takes about a week.
I'm gonna travel back home tomorrow. I got my rudimentary COVID test done and everything. I'm just hoping that the flight isn't infected somehow.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll see all of you in the next arc!