13.1 – A Class Unlike Any Other, by Eastwind of Azarath.
(DDLC)/(My Hero Academia)
Bakugo was, not happy. A bit of an understatement, actually. It was Deku's fault, somehow, he was sure of it. As it stood... he was currently sitting in a classroom, but he was a girl this loop. He still had his signature spiky hair, but it was now a dull pale-pastel pink. The three other occupants of the room met his glare with a stare. For quite some time, nobody said a word. Then, Bakugo spoke up.
"So, why the hell am I here? And why the hell am I a girl?"
"Good question. My loop-memories tell me that your name is Katsuki? Is that typical?" Monika asked. When he grunted and gave a nod, she continued, "Well, then I know exactly why. You are replacing our friend Natsuki. She's had a really bad run of pun loops. Yggdrasil loves to replace the first syllable of her name with other, similar sounding ones. She's a cat, a hat, a bat, etc. Looks like you took the blow this time. Yggdrasil has an interesting sense of humor, and it's best not to test it eith-."
"While all of that is interesting, I get the feeling that you wanna fight something, right?" Sayori cut in with a half-smirk on her face. Bakugo looked at Sayori with a touch of intrigue, eyebrow raised. "Monika, think you can whip something up so we can do some sparring?"
Monika sighed before affirming that she would get them set up for their sparring session.
13.2 – Comfort, by Masterweaver.
Natsuki's eyes shot wide with a gasp, and for a moment she clutched at her chest.
Then she frowned, giving an aggravated sigh. "Great. Just great. Three, two-"
The door burst open, the three other members of the literature club falling in and babbling.
"Your code had a big spike-"
"-felt a disturbance in the force-"
"-blood gem started humming like crazy-"
"Natsuki," said three voices at once, "are you alright?!"
"See, this?" Without even rising from her bed, Natsuki gestured at them. "This is one of the reasons why I hate having such a tiny loop. A girl can't even wake up from a nightmare in peace! I'm fine, really, I promise."
Monika stood up, brushing herself off. "Are you sure? Because it felt like you were glitching hard there for a second."
The pink-haired girl winced, sitting up and patting herself down. "I'm not buggy, am I!?"
"No! No no," Monika assured her, "it was more of a hiccup then an actual, you know, issue. I'll give you a once-over if you like."
"...that's okay, I was just..." Natsuki trailed off for a moment. "Anyway, I'm fine. It's fine, it was just a nightmare."
"It felt like a pretty terrifying nightmare," Sayori said. "I haven't felt a fear spike that high since... you know, THAT loop, that we don't like talking about."
All four of them shuddered.
"Did your nightmare have something to do with that loop?" Sayori asked gently. "Because, you know, even if we don't like talking about it, we should at least help each other with-"
"No, it wasn't THAT loop," Natsuki assured them. "Look, seriously, I am cool. A little annoyed that you're all in my room, but I get it, really-"
Yuri put a finger to Natsuki's lips. "I understand you're trying to spare us some suffering, but we are going to worry if you shut us out like this."
"...I don't want to talk about it."
"We don't have to talk about it right now. Tomorrow, in the club maybe, but not right now."
For a moment, the room was quiet.
"...It was a nightmare about baseline," Natsuki admitted quietly.
She sighed, rubbing her hands together. "I know, I know. We're not like that anymore. We can handle all that baseline throws at us, we... I have better ways to handle all that. And it's not like I can control my nightmares, right, I shouldn't be guilty over them, I know all this, but..."
"But it doesn't matter how you cover up the cuts," Yuri said quietly, "how much they heal, the pain still happened. The scars run deep."
"...Yeah. Look, I don't... I don't want any of you making a fuss over this or feeling guilty." Natsuki looked up, attempting a cocksure expression. "I'm raw awesome in a tiny package. A few, you know, recovery cupcakes and I'll be back to spitting fire like I always am."
Sayori glanced away. "Natsuki... I can't agree to that. I don't think any of us can."
Natsuki bit her lip. "...fine. Fine, since I woke everyone up anyway... why don't we drop by the holodeck and, I dunno... have an outdoor sleepover?"
Monika nodded. "I'll go and prep it... you two have everything handled here?"
Yuri and Sayori nodded.
Natsuki shook her head as Monika stepped out. "...Seriously guys, it's nothing. Really."
Yet despite her words, her tone was grateful and there was a small smile on her face.
13.3 – Poor Little Piggy, by Boohooo!
(DDLC)/(Dragon Ball)
Oolong lay in a fetal position in the corner, occasionally making a high-pitched whine.
"Geez louise, what did you guys do to him?" Yamcha asked while Puar poked his nemesis with a stick.
"Nothing! I just sent him over to talk to Yuri when he was bugging me!" Natsuki insisted.
"...You sent the shapeshifter to the freaky pervert? ...Er, no offense." Yamcha deadpanned.
"None taken!" Yuri called from the ceiling, having gotten glued there trying out a new jumping ability.
"Back on topic, that decision was like sending a fly to a spider! You wouldn't BELIEVE how many kinky people want to go out with me and Oolong 'cause we can shapeshift!" Puar complained.
"Wait, What?!" Yamcha exclaimed, looking like he was going to have a heart attack.
"Yeesh, Yamcha, don't go into overprotective dad mode again!" Puar exclaimed.
"I think I have a right to be worried about this!" Yamcha exclaimed.
"...This conversation took a weird turn." Monika lamented as the two Z-Loopers started arguing. Oolong whimpered some more as Sayori attempted to soothe him.
13.4 – Fun in the Sun, by Masterweaver.
"A beach party?"
"Yeah!" Sayori repeated gleefully. "We're middle, high school students, right? We deserve a summer vacation every now and again! Come on girls, you think I'm right right?"
"I guess I could go for some sun," Natsuki agreed.
"Well..." Yuri considered. "...if there's a parasol, I'll be good."
Monika shrugged. "Alright, I'll look into it." She opened the door, striding into the holodeck and locking it after her.
A few hours later, she came back to the club with an awkward grin. "Okay everyone! I have... mostly good news. I did figure out how to program a pretty good beach. Waves, wind, sun, sand, all that. It's just, um..."
Sayori tilted her head. "Just what?"
"Erm. Well. Do... do any of us have swimwear?"
The four Doki loopers looked between each other silently for a moment or two.
"...thought not." Monika rubbed the back of her head. "See... I know I upgraded us all to 3d rigs and all, and... I can, uh, technically copy assets from another game, it's just-"
"Spit it out," Natsuki said flatly.
"...the only game I can copy swimsuits from that's on this system is the third Dead or Alive volleyball spinoff."
"Oh, right, that game." Natsuki rolled her eyes. "I've heard the reputation. Yeah, I guess that means there won't-"
She was cut off when Yuri slapped a hand over her mouth. "Excuse us for one second."
The smaller girl gasped after the pair of them were dragged into the closet. "Yuri, what the hell?!"
"Nonono, listen to me. We want to get Sayori and Monika together, right?"
Natsuki frowned. "I mean... yeah? What, you think that them seeing each other in bikinis will get them to look at each other?"
"Bikinis or, you know, some other saucier swimwear." Yuri grinned. "Think about it. Sayori was the one who suggested the whole thing, and we both know she can make layered decisions-fun on the surface, but with more meaning underneath."
"So... she wants to show off for Monika? Yuri, that's kind of a cliche."
"We're dating sim characters, cliche romantic gestures are probably automatic."
Natsuki conceded the point with a shrug. "Alright, but... Dead or Alive swimsuits? I mean..." She gestured at herself. "Petite pride, you know?"
"I'm sure that we'll be able to adjust a onepiece for you. Alright?"
"...Alright, alright. And I guess a day at the beach would be fun, even if those two were oogling each other in bikinis."
"Great! It's a plan."
When the two re-emerged, Natsuki faced Monika and Sayori with her hands on her hips. "Alright, alright. I'll endure a bit of stupidly designed swimsuits this time around-but make it a onepiece!"
"Great!" Monika beamed, opening the door to the beach and gesturing. "Why don't you get set up while I go copy some swimsuits?"
"Sure thing, prez." Natsuki and Yuri wandered out onto the sand.
"Huh." Monika gave Sayori a glance. "You know, I thought for sure that Nats would turn it down after she heard about the Dead or Alive thing."
Sayori smirked. "Or maybe Yuri said she wanted to show off a bit and Nats decided to pretend 'oh fine I don't care baka' like she does."
"...Maybe. I'll be back with the swimsuits in a minute."
13.5 – Sleeping Concerns, by Masterweaver.
"Why do we sleep anyway?" Yuri asked apropos of nothing. "I mean, we're technically just digital programs with no physical needs. Eating is fun, so I can understand us having a structure based around that, but sleep is... there. An unnecessary recharge."
Natsuki shrugged. "I mean, I like dreams... when they're not nightmares. But... yeah, come to think of it, the whole sleeping thing seems to be an artifact of the whole... you know, dating sim aspect of our reality. I appreciate the gesture of realism, but-"
"Some people turn off their computers for the night," Monika said simply. "I tie our circadian rhythm to the real world version... and to battery power. Trust me, it's better to be asleep for that then awake."
She and Sayori shuddered as one.
"...Okay, mild violation of personal sense of self in exchange for not experiencing true terror," Natsuki allowed grudgingly. "Yeah I'm not... comfortable with that. I can see how it's necessary, I just... I'd like to have been informed, you know?"
Monika winced. "Sorry, I... guess I should have brought it up earlier? It was after our first flesh and blood loop, I lumped it under quality of life updates... you know, when I was really experimenting."
"Yeah, I remember that," Natsuki agreed. "I guess I can let it slide. Maybe you can put up patch notes regularly though? In case you forget any other, you know, things, and we can talk about them."
"That's actually a good idea," Sayori pointed out. "I mean, just in case we get a variant where you're not the club president and it's, say, Yuri who has access to the code."
Yuri sighed. "We're all going to have to learn python, aren't we?"
"...nnnnnnot just python," Monika said slowly. "There are... a number of other programs..."
13.6 – Pocket Full of Sunshine, by BIOS-Pherecydes.
The sun is so bright
It's pure light shines and makes everyone
Happy
All the world shares its warmth equally
But the sun doesn't feel its own warmth
It's all alone
Nobody can look at it
No one sees it's solitude
Even the other stars are all far away
But that's fine
As long as the sun keeps shining
Everything will be okay
Sayori sighed to herself as she lay in her bed. Normally she'd have already gotten up and gone to the club room, but Monika had recently taken to enforcing 'Mental Health Days' for everyone. Mostly that tended to mean time spent doing their own things without needing to involve anyone else. Sayori usually ignored that and hung out with the others anyway, but today she didn't quite feel up to it.
It was always like this. She'd gotten very good at moving past her own problems by being with her friends, but that didn't actually make the problems go away. She could hide behind her smiles and laughter and her bright infectious enthusiasm as much as she wanted, but she knew full well that every silver lining had a cloud. Nothing could be ignored forever and sometimes the price for happiness couldn't be postponed any further.
Whenever that happened she usually took a Loop to just lay in bed and think.
Force Meditation helped. It helped a lot actually, but even it required her to actually make the effort to engage in it. And sometimes she just... didn't have the motivation. It was like that today. She simply... didn't want to do anything. If she had biological prompts like the need to eat or use the bathroom it would probably be harder to just stay in bed all day. As it was, she just let herself drift in a half focused state between thought and intent. Not quite meditation, but close enough that her emotions slowly evened out anyway.
Eventually she'd get up. She'd go to Monika and let her try her hand at programming anti-depressants again, as much for Monika's own sense of guilt as for her own benefit. She'd go to Natsuki and read manga together or bake something tasty. She'd go to Yuri and they'd discuss the latest book they'd read. She'd laugh and plot romance and generally be the bright center of the world that made everyone she cared about feel good.
But not right now.
Right now she stayed in bed and listened to the quiet sound of the silent rain only she could hear.
13.7 – Commiseration, by Masterweaver.
It was a rare occasion when Yggdrasil threw the girls into a Fleshy variant. Where they weren't just a game, where they weren't just images on somebody's screen. Where they breathed and walked to school. But, occasionally, it did happen. The girls had mixed feelings about it, but in general they were alright.
It had never been a null loop as well before, though.
"Okay everyone!" Monika clapped her hands together. "I'm ready to anchor our minds and souls!"
"Loopy," Yuri replied casually.
"Same," Natsuki added.
Sayori blinked. "Hmm? Oh, yes. I'm looping too."
Monika's smile dropped. "Sayori-?"
"My usual anti-depressant methods are out of reach in a null loop. I'm..." Sayori sighed. "Not there yet, don't worry, just a bit melancholy."
"...If you say so, but I'll be walking you home today."
"Monika-"
"It's fine. I could use a break from my parents this loop." Monika frowned for a moment. "Weird to think about... me having parents."
"Oh?" Sayori glanced up, a curious grin on her face. "What are they like?"
"Every hard-working education parent trope in existence," Monika said dryly. "If I don't get straight As and if I don't exercise all my talents the world will end in hellfire tomorrow."
"Hrmf." Natsuki crossed her arms with a grumble. "I want to whine about you being lucky to have parents that care about you, but..."
The room fell silent for a moment, as they all contemplated the nature of the loops, of all the might have beens and maybes.
"...Well, I live alone," Yuri admitted. "This loop, anyway. Apparently I lost my parents a couple of years ago, and..." She trailed off, rubbing her arm awkwardly.
"Ah," said Monika.
"...My mother doesn't know how to help me," Sayori said quietly. "She cares, genuinely, she's just out of her depth."
Natsuki sighed. "Are we all just sharing our home life, now?"
"It's not often we get a loop with home lives," Sayori pointed out.
"Mmmrngh."
Yuri looked her over for a bit. "...Second-run father?"
"...yeah," Natsuki grumbled.
Monika winced. "I am so sorry-"
"Save it. This one isn't your fault."
"I can take you in," Yuri offered. "It'll be a bit tight financially, but that's not really a problem."
Natsuki groaned. "Can I just say, I hate how we all know each other's problems? I mean I like that we're all supporting each other and all, but I hate how none of us really got the chance to confess about them, to talk about them. We all just know." She leaned against the wall. "Fucking loops and their fucked up lack of privacy. I can't even be completely angry because we'd all be dead without them."
The others all hummed in agreement.
"...Hey, where's Hiroaka?" Yuri asked.
"Probably the anime club," Sayori said flatly. "It's a fleshy loop, so he's..."
She trailed off.
"...Yeah." Monika cleared her throat. "I am definitely walking you home."
13.8 – Doki Doki Haiku, by Masterweaver.
"Monika did you
without our knowledge again
mess with the game code?"
"Natsuki I swear
I haven't touched it at all!
Come on, you know me!"
"I guess you are right
It's just instinct to blame you
I didn't mean it."
"You two, come on now
We can have fun with this glitch!"
Back me up, Yuri."
"I am of two minds
It stretches our writing minds
This much is too true
but within this frame
communication is just
a touch limited.
Listen, Sayori
I had to use three haiku
to finish this thought!"
"But you did it, right?
It's a mark of your talent
and we are all skilled."
"Sayori, just no.
I can't properly snark now
Monika, fix this!"
"On it, Natsuki
but Sayori, you can still
haiku, if you want."
13.9 – The City of Love, by Masterweaver.
"Paris?" Natsuki gave Monika a sly smirk. "So the big project you've been hogging the holodeck for is replicating the city of love, eh?"
"Down to the last brick!" Monika confirmed. "I felt that maybe we could have more poetic inspiration here."
"Hmmm."
The club president blinked, turning to her. "What? What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong," Natsuki assured her with a smirk. "On an entirely unrelated note, I'm guessing you want to h-er, to go around town with Sayori?"
"Are we going to be dancing around 'hang' for eternity?" Sayori asked flatly.
"It is kind of a traumatic thing," Yuri pointed out hesitantly.
"...Right. I'm sorry, really-"
"Today is not about sorry," Monika said firmly. "Today is about exploring scenic Paris, and gaining inspiration!"
"Of course, prez." Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Come on, Yuri, let's let these two have their day."
"Oh... right of course!" Yuri smiled, trailing off after the smaller girl. "We'll meet up for lunch, alright?"
"Sure thing!" Monika waved with a bright smile.
Then she turned to Sayori. "Anything?"
Sayori shook her head. "Nats thinks you did this as a romantic gesture for me and are just embarrassed to admit it."
"Drat. What about Yuri?"
"She's happy to hang around with Natsuki, but she's not... probably not going to confess right now."
Monika groaned, banging her head against a wall. "I said we shouldn't interfere. We should let them go at their own pace. Why am I doing this to myself?"
Sayori put a hand on her shoulder. "Because you want your club to be happy and you have a compulsive urge to meddle."
"Thanks. Really. That helps a lot."
"Not a problem! Hey, let's check out the Eiffel Tower."
13.10 – Easter Eggs? Maybe? Who Knows, by Eastwind of Azarath.
"Oh hey, Yuri. Monika." Natsuki spoke suddenly, both of the named girls looked up. "I had a thought. So, the only book that is actually read by Yuri in Baseline is that "Portrait of Markov", right?"
Both girls nodded and Yuri spoke up, "Yeah... it is. Why? Let me guess, you were wondering if this book had anything actually written in it in our code?"
It was Natsuki's turn to nod. Yuri walked over to the pink haired girl with a copy of the aforementioned book and opened it. The pages were blank. Yuri spoke again, "Unfortunately, no, thee's basically nothing here. Well, except for one page weirdly enough."
This piqued everyone's interest and they all gathered around the book on the table. Yuri turned to the page in question and continued, "It's... random every time, what page it's on. I never did figure out why it was only the one page. Though sometimes it doesn't even appear"
Suddenly, Monika pulled out a label-maker (with black, easy-remove labels) and silently asked Yuri for permission to "vandalize" the book. Yuri nodded and made a gesture that seemed to say "all yours". So Monika started to "redact" most of the text. until just a few scattered letters were left. The letters spelled out 'nothing is real?'
"That's one of the 'special' poems that The Player receives during the game's "second act". I think its very likely... not "garbage data" per se, but definitely leftovers from our Baseline's code. It may or may not even be from "The Portrait of Markov". That's why it's not consistent. It might be a page from that book, or it might be junk text. Yggdrasil hasn't decided yet. I haven't got a clue. There are also a few more weird things in the game's code that Ganesha says may or may not just be pointless junk..." Monika paused for a moment before continuing, "You see, when poking around the game's files... I discovered some oddities. Did you know, for instance, that there is an image hidden in Natsuki's file?"
The others turned to each other with a tad bit of mild shock. Natsuki spoke though, "Wait, really? What kind of image? It's not anything lewd of embarrassing, is it?"
Before them appeared a seeming mess of an image. As far as the other girls could tell, it was just some random blues and greys warped and twisted. They couldn't make heads or tails of it. When it was made clear that the other club members were clueless, Monika started again, "If you take this image and invert the colors; and then wrap it around a cone like so, you get this image instead"
Before them was the image of a blonde woman with whited out eyes. None of the girls recognized her. After the girls had been given some time to take in the the image, Monika spoke once more, "There are all sorts of weird bits of extra data that just go unused. Though, tell me Natsuki, I'm sure that you could remember all of the poems that you give to Hiroaka from the various points in baseline, right? Because there's one in particular that is extra interesting."
At Natsuki's confusion, Monika pulls out a piece of paper with a bunch of random letters and numbers that Natsuki does recognize as the "poem" that she give Hiroaka during the latter half of the game and Monika says, "That bit of letter vomit is actually written in ASCII. Base64; and it is fascinating. The point is, there is some weird and interesting stuff in here. but a lot of it might just be random junk. Or they might be a part of our baseline that just needs Yggdrasil to recover it properly. Whatever the case is, there's just too much that can't be known or even speculated on yet. Whatever happens though, we remain will remain us."
13.11 – A Class Unlike Any Other: B-Side, by Eastwind of Azarath.
(DDLC)/(My Hero Academia)
Izuku Midoriya was surprised when he got to school and realized that his friend and rival Katsuki Bakugo... well, wasn't currently Katsuki Bakugo. In his place instead, was a girl that was a bit shorter than him and had vivid pink hair. Although, it was still spiky. She was apparently NatsukiBakugo this loop. He did his best to see if she was a Looper, or if it was just some weird Variant... but to no avail. As far as he could tell, she wasn't a Looper. She definitely had his ego and overzealous confidence. Though, she was a tad less violent. Now though, class had just ended, and he decided to let things play out and see what she would do after class...
"...Just pray that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off-" his pink haired "tormentor" stopped. To Izuku, she looked like she was in pain, but she hid it well enough that her "lackeys" didn't seem to notice. She suddenly looked thoughtful, before telling the others to go on ahead without her. That she would catch up later. After they were gone, she smashed a desk to splinters. The look of anger now properly reflected the person she was here in place of. Izuku could tell, she was absolutely livid. Of course, the observation was helped by the massive tsunami of swear words that the small girl had unleashed. There were ones he had never heard before. He took mental notes.
"So, i take it that you are Awake now?" Izuku slowly prodded once her swearing started to slow down. She took a deep breath and nodded. Izuku continued on, "So, uh... 'nice to meet you', i guess?"
"Nice to meet you too. Sorry about all of that. I just could not believe that stupid Tree had me Awaken mid-way through saying that. It pisses me off." Natsuki noticed the curiosity on the boy's face. "It's a sore point for me. My friend Sayori. She uh... well she's got really bad depression. In our Baseline she uh, well she hung herself. She's gotten much better, in the Loops... but-"
"-but it's still there, right? Lingering in the background. Yeah, i can see why that would make you so angry. Don't be too mad though. It's not like what you were saying was made by Yggdrasil specifically to mess with you. Kaachan says variations of that to me at the beginning of every Loop when he isn't Awake." Deku shrugged at that last bit.
"Kaachan?" Natsuki asked as she tilted her head with an eyebrow raised.
"My friend-slash-rival that you are replacing. His full name is Katsuki Baku-" Izuku couldn't even finish his sentence before Natsuki let forth yet another storm of swears. Also, now every desk in the room suddenly shattered simultaneously. Izuku felt a headache coming on...
Compiler's Commentary:
13.1: Bakugo might blow her away, but I'm sure Sayori will prove herself a Force to be reckoned with…ayyyy.
13.2: Apparently, Yuri has a magic blood gem. Masterweaver has informed me that she has one for each of her friends. How about that?
13.3: Perverts, the bane of shapeshifters everywhere.
13.4: Life's a beach, and then you fry. So don't forget the sunscreen, folks.
13.5: Between the choice of sometimes having a nightmare or regularly living a nightmare, I think I'd prefer the former as well.
13.6: Welcome to the Doki Doki Literature Club Loops, BIOS. (Chucks a cupcake at your shiny head.)
13.7: Serious Mode: Friends are the single most important thing a healthy human being can have. And I'm not talking about "being popular", I'm talking about having true-blue thick-and-thin friends. Some would argue that family is even more important, but let's be honest; some of us have straight-up shitty families. But your friends are the family that you choose for yourself, rather than having them thrust upon you by circumstance. And some of us have shitty friends, too, but the thing about shitty friends is that they can only be shitty to you for as long as you let them. If you have just one, good friend that's always there for you when you really, truly need someone, then you already have the most valuable thing in the world. Just make sure you're the kind of friend that deserves to have those friends.
13.8:
I love to haiku.
It's an easy thing to do.
So why don't you, too?
13.9: What happens in Paris…gets loudly bragged about when you show off the pictures after you get home.
13.10: Now I want an omelet.
13.11: Oh, look, the bullying victim Looping in as a bully. This Loop is just hitting all of Nat's buttons. But on the plus side, SHE CAN MAKE THINGS GO BOOM!