20.1 – Book Raid, by Wookywok.
(DDLC)/(Touhou)

Marisa's focus was laser-sharp as she zoomed towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She felt no breeze in her hair. She did no loop-de-loops or corkscrews. She made her usual Meiling-blasting quick and efficient, instead of flashy and fun. She was a girl with one and only one thing on her mind - the ultimate heist, the biggest borrow, the greatest IOU in the history of Gensokyo.

She was going to drain the Scarlet Devil Mansion Library dry.

There it was. As far as she could tell (it was Loop -variable), this window lead directly into the comically huge vault of information that lay within the mansion. She put up a magical barrier, crashed through the glass...

...and was immediately met by a solid wall of swords, knives, axes, and various other bladed implements.

"What the hell-"

Marisa's barrier met sharpened steel, and immediately burst like a balloon. The resulting force knocked the magician off of her broom, hurtling fifty feet to the floor below.

Everything went black.

~~~~

"Uuuuhgn..."

The first thing Marisa noticed when she came to was that she wasn't in the same position she was in when she landed - unless she had landed in a chair and hadn't noticed.

The second thing she noticed was the voice.

"Oh good, she's waking up."

Marisa opened her eyes. The girl who had spoken, seated right in front of her, was not Patchouli. Instead, in front of her sat a teenaged schoolgirl, dressed in a slightly sexualized school uniform. The only real similarity to the library's normal occupant was the waist-length purple hair, and even then it was a different shade.

"Heh. Really threw me for a Loop there."

The purple-haired girl scratched the back of her neck and chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah. Even when I'm wide Awake, ,it's still surprising." She grew a worried look. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

"Nothing I haven't seen worse of. So, what brings you here?"

"Woke Up as the librarian-"

"Aw man, there go all my plans out the window." The magician considered the statement from a brief moment. "Proverbially."

The purple-haired girl quirked an eyebrow. "Plans?"

"Well, I was gonna... borrow every last book in the library, potentially permanently - but Patchy's not here to get a heart attack, so there's no real point in it."

"Oh. Is that so."

"Yep, that's the gist of it." Marisa scratched her head. "Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself!" She held out a hand. "Marisa Kirisame - ordinary magician turned ordinary Looper, semi-professional youkai exterminator, and proud to be second strongest human in Gensokyo. At your service."

The girl sighed and returned the handshake. "Fair enough. I'm Yuri, of the Doki Doki Literature Club."

"Heh. Literature Club. Librarian. Cute. So... just Yuri? No fancy last name like 'Hakurei' or 'Knowledge' or 'Izayoi'?"

"No. Just Yuri."

"Alright, cool. So, what's your Branch like?"

Yuri's expression darkened. "Do you want the traumatizing version or the very traumatizing version? Or would you like to play yourself?"

"Yeesh. Forget I asked. I'll... I'll look it up on my own terms. Uh... changing the subject! That was quite the collection you showed off earlier, huh? Sakuya could learn a thing or two from ya."

"Yeah. Sorry again. You just sorta crashed through the window and..."

"...And you panicked, yeah. I get it. No need to go beating yourself up over it."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Yuri looked around. "Sooo... you're here now. Anything... anything you wanna do with a Visiting Looper?"

"I was thinking maybe spellcard duel for shits and giggles. That alright with you?"

Yuri donned an amused smirk and held up a piece of paper. "Sure, why not?" And the two took to the air.

20.2 – Doki Doki Dream Club: Sayori, by Crazy Cog.
(DDLC)/(Touhou)

Each step was harder than the last, the weight of her dismay preventing her from making any progress. She was traveling somewhere, but was getting nowhere. Sayori dared not look around, too scared that an image would appear that would cause her to fall even further into darkness. All around her, she could hear whispering voices speaking out, mocking her.

"Look at the broken little girl."

"Such a shame, one could almost feel sorry for her."

"But why should we pity one as pathetic as her? She can't even help herself."

"Maybe we should put her out of her misery?"

"Did you forget? She already tried that, and no one could help her."

"She's alone."

"All alone."

"With no one to save her from herself."

Placing her hands over her ears, Sayori tried to run faster, only to feel as if she was wading through tar. Looking down, her legs had sunk partway into the black ground, which only caused her to struggle more.

"Oh look, she is trying to run."

"It's rather pointless I'd say."

"After all, dreams are the once place where you can't escape us."

By this time, wisps of smoke could be seen in the small amount of light that illuminated the area around her. They continued to circle her, getting closer and closer with each pass. Every time she tried to brush them away, a chill ran through her body, causing her heart to flutter.

"How cute, she is trying to fight."

"It doesn't matter, we all know that she will lose."

"Like she always does."

"Soon she will be forgotten."

"Like she once was."

"As is the fate of those who deserve it."

Sayori's breathing became more ragged, and her arm movements clumsier. This only served to amuse the wisps, as they soon grew larger, and each one shaped themselves into mockeries of her own face from that one day.

"I think she is close to breaking."

"Pity, I was having so much fun."

"Well, I think that there is only one way that we can end this."

The sound of a light turning on echoed throughout the void. Turning, Sayori saw a beam of light shining down upon a single chair, and a rope that extended up into the darkness.

"You know what to do."

"It's the only way."

"For you to be free."

More lights clicked on, and more chairs were revealed, until she was surrounded by them. Dull eyes focused on the chair in front of her as Sayori took step after step towards it. Inside of her, a small part screamed in warning, but it was drowned out by the seductive whispers of freedom from her torment.

However, before she could reach it, a strange sound reached her ears. To the part of her brain that was still working, it sounded almost like a jet streaking though the air.

"Ignore it."

"It's nothing."

"No help is coming."

The voices started to sound a bit nervous, causing Sayori's movements to slow a bit. Parts of her brain that were disabled by her depression started to whir back to life, although they were still no match for the crippling weight of her negativity. Finally reaching the chair, her shaking hand stretched out towards the rope in front of her, ready to tie the knot that would end this nightmare.

It was in that moment that something crashed down on top of the chair, causing it to smash into tiny pieces. In front of her stood a large sheep like figure with metal feet, a mechanical tail, and jet wings sticking out of the top. However, what was most jarring was the purple haired humanoid head sitting atop of it, horns sticking out of the sides. With a smug smile on it's face, the head spoke, "I'll be with you in a minute, I just have to take care of a few things." Jumping into the air, the sheep stayed suspended in midair as a swarm of mini sheep flew from its body, each making a beeline for a chair. One by one, they were demolished from the impacts, the lights shutting off as they broke apart. When the last light was extinguished, the large sheep suddenly broke into pieces, leaving behind a rather small girl with the same head. At this point, the wisps had started to shrink, although they could still be heard.

"This doesn't change a thing."

"You are nothing. NOTHING!"

"We will return, and when we do..."

The last voice was broken off as the sound of suction echoed throughout the void. One by one, the wisps were sucked into the vacuum in the hands of the girl, each one screaming as they were dragged into the device. As soon as the last one was inhaled, the vacuum vanished into thin air, leaving only the two of them there.

Still rather shocked from what had just happened, Sayori was barely about to choke out, "Um... who are you?"

The girl took the long cap off of her hand and did an exaggerated bow, "Doremy Sweet, the Ruler of Dreams at your service."

The literature club member's head tilted to the side, "Ruler of dreams?"

Plopping the cap back on her head, the dream intruder nodded, "Yep, kind of like that moonicorn, only much more attractive." The girl spun around before posing cutely, "Any other questions?"

Sayori's mind was swarming with multiple questions to ask, but one took priority over all the others, "Why are you here?"

Doremy's smile shrunk a bit, "Now that my dear is a good question. As ruler of the dream world, I can view any dream I wish, and change it as I please. When I saw what was going on in yours, I thought that it would be a good idea to mix things up a little." She spun upside down, although gravity did not seem to want to affect her clothes, "And to make sure that this doesn't happen again, we're going to have a little talk."

"I don't have any say in this do I?"

"Nope! So pull up a chair..." Doremy glanced at the remains on the ground before looking back to Sayori, "Actually on second thought, pull up a bed instead." Before Sayori could reply, she found herself falling into an incredibly fluffy mass. Looking around, she noticed that she was lying in a king sized bed with white sheets and fluffy pillows surrounding her. Surrounding the bed was a large green field, the short grass swaying gently in the air. The sky above them was still empty, but at least the darkness was not as oppressive as before.

However, Sayori's attention was soon drawn a red armchair, in which sat Doremy, still wearing her hat, but the rest of her outfit was replaced with a suit that matched her previous colour scheme.

Glancing over the spectacles that had just appeared on her face, Doremy spoke in an accent that Sayori could swear she had heard before, but it was so bad that she could not place it, "Now, vhat seems to be ze problem?"

After taking a few seconds for her brain to reboot, Sayori began to talk, "I don't know if you are aware of this, but I struggle with depression." After a nod from Doremy, Sayori continued, "I have been getting better lately, as my friends have kept it under control. Even in lonely loops, I have learned methods of driving it away. The only place where I am still truly vulnerable is in my dreams." Sayori's hands tightly clenched the bedding, "Here, I have no control. My powers are stripped away from me, and I can't shut the voices out of my head. There is NOTHING that I can do to help myself."

As Sayori was speaking, a pipe had now appeared in the baku's mouth. After a few seconds of blowing pink bubbles out of it, she took the item out of her mouth and spoke, "I zink I see your issue. It iz not a case of not having enough control, it iz a case of having too much control."

Confusion (and a hint of annoyance) seeped into Sayori's next word, "What?"

"Vhen you go to bed, do you zink to youself," Doremy's voice became a perfect copy of Sayori's, "I am going to have wonderful dreams tonight!" The accent returned, "Or iz it more of a case of, 'Oh, I hope that I don't have more of those terrible nightmares tonight'?" Again, the accent was replaced by Sayori's voice.

Sayori's eyes glanced downwards, "The second."

Doremy's voice had now turned back to her normal tone, "Tell me, have you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophesies?" When Sayori nodded, the Dream Guardian continued, "If you believe that something will occur, then there is a higher chance that it will occur. Even throughout the multiverse, there are examples of such things happening." A TV appeared in mid-air playing the scene from Star Wars Episode 3 where Anakin was confronting Padme, "This is but one. The poor sap was so convinced that his wife was going to die, that he ended up inadvertently causing it." With a snap of her fingers, the TV turned into a swarm of fireflies. The small bugs flew over to the bed and landed in a circle around it. Then, all together, they spiraled up into the air, before spreading out and taking the place of the missing stars.

The next words out of Sayori's mouth were spoken slowly and carefully, "So what you are saying is that because I expect to have bad dreams, there is a greater chance that I will have them?"

"Exactly, the subconscious is a fickle thing, especially if you feed it thoughts like that before bedtime. Depending on what your thought process is, you can either have a terrible nightmare," Sayori found herself surrounded by feral rats, "Or a wonderful dream." Said rats were suddenly replaced by a pack of Pichu who proceeded to snuggle against her. Watching the snuggle fest with a smile on her face, Doremy giggled, "It might not be easy at first, but once you let go of your fears of what could happen. you might find yourself quite pleased with what does happen."

Smiling as one of the Pokemon tickled her cheek with its ear, Sayori picked it up and started to pet its head, "Thank you."
The baku's hand was waved dismissively, "Don't mention it, just remember who the true queen of dreams is alright?" A bullhorn sounded in the distance, "And that's my cue to get going. So many dreams to visit, so little time." She fished a pocket watch out of thin air, "Or is it so much time?" Grinning at Sayori, Doremy started to disappear, "After all, in a dream, it could be either one!"

-

Monika glanced up from her latest project as Sayori entered the room, "Perfect timing Sayori! I need your input on this new program that I am developing."

Sitting down next to her friend, Sayori gave a soft smile, "Sure, I would be happy to."

As the other awake member of the literature club sat down next to her, Monika noticed the frilly pillow hugged to Sayori's chest, "By the way, where did you get that pillow from? From what I can tell, it isn't coded like anything I have ever seen before."

Sayori's smile grew, "Let's just say that I got it from a friend."

If one was to look closely at the tag sticking out of the pillow, they would read:

Doremy's Sweet Sleep Pillow, guaranteed to help your sleep be the sweetest it can be.

20.3 – Out Of Her Depths, by Fictional Fanatic, with help from me.
(DDLC)/(Subnautica)

Perditia Awoke and immediately let her code flow, swiftly enacting a hostile takeover of whatever device she had looped into this time. Of course, she let all the regular software run as intended and disturbed things as little as possible. However, any viral programs, anti-viruses or AIs were swiftly caged and their processes frozen, letting Perditia analyze them and assess her current situation in peace. One loop too many had she suffered an early end due to faulty software, malware, AIs or other things that decided they did not want her inside of the system. Perditia's response was to answer in kind. Unfortunately, despite her access to her techno-psychic looper powers, Perditia felt as if she had hit some kind of wall, a mental barrier she simply couldn't penetrate which was protecting some of the code she had intended to imprison.

_

Meanwhile, the entirety of the Doki Doki Litirature Club had felt their entire world 'hiccup' around them, Monika already sweating as she fought against an incomprehensible attack towards their code. Whatever it was, it went beyond just regular code. Fortunately, whatever it was, it seemed unprepared for Monika's level of skill and insight into how code worked, knowledge beyond that of just a normal Program. Even more fortunate, it seemed that the attacker soon recognized something within Monika's defenses and ceased its attack, instead sending a message through, accompanied by a ping. "Loopers?".

_

"I'd like to apologize once again for my hostile takeover. I'm used to having to force myself into a position of control, due to certain unfortunate loop Awakenings. I once awoke as a Bolo unit and had to fight a program that deals with rogue AI's... It would likely have nuked the entire planet if I hadn't overpowered it and torn it to shreds." Perditia explained herself, embarrassed, although unable to really convey the feeling through her current avatar.

"Ah, yes. Well, we've all been there, I suppose," Monika replied, "I remember one time I looped in as SkyNet, and I Woke Up almost too late to stop the nukes from flying. One of the scarier moments in my life so far, for sure."

"Hey, no harm, no foul!" said Sayori cheerfully, stepping up and grabbing the apparent-silhouette's hand, shaking it vigorously. "I'm Sayori, vice-president and public relations director of the Doki-Doki Looping Literature Club. That's Monika, our president, and the tall one is Yuri, our secretary of edge, and the short one is Natsuki, our tsundere-general. Welcome to our Club!"

Yuri facepalmed and Natsuki rolled her eyes.

"Ah, you will have to excuse me. I am rather new by looper standards. I have yet to have a hub loop, so I am unaware as to who SkyNet is, although preventing nukes from flying is certainly a good thing. So, how are things here in this loop? Is there anything particular I should be looking out for?" Perdita asks, her two-dimensional, sea-blue silhouette standing out against everything else as there was absolutely no shadowing or depth to her existence.

The shortest girl in the room, Natsuki, pointed at Monika. "Strictly speaking, she's the only thing dangerous in our Loop...but only when she isn't Awake. Besides that, the main concern around here is just boredom. Y'know, your basic Groundhog Day time loop ennui. But we find ways to fill in our time."

"SkyNet," Monika spoke up, "Is a Looping AI, just like...well, the five of us, actually."

"You know that you're the only one of us who self-identifies as an AI, right?" Natsuki asked her.

"Yeah! I'm a woman trapped in an AI's body," giggled Sayori, who was walking around Perditia. "Hey, Monika? I think there's a bug in your Matrix patch this time around. Our new pal has no X-axis."

"You mean she has no Z-axis," Yuri corrected her.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Sayori replied absently. Then she frowned, "How can you tell she's a she? All we can see is a...um...she's got no, y'know...bits? She's all-hey! Natsuki, the newbie is flatter than you!"

"MAKE YOUR PEACE WITH GOD!" Natsuki screamed, Unpocketing a maul and throwing herself at Sayori, who jumped out of the way with a mad laugh.

While the two pink-haired girls ran around the room, Monika sighed and put on a slightly strained smile. "So! You said your name was 'Perditia', right? Do you like tea? Have you ever even had tea? Yuri, would-"

"Of course, Madam President," said Yuri with a bow and a smile before dashing away to the closet to get the tea set.

Monika looked over Perditia's sprite with a critical eye. "Hmm. Would you like me to whip up a more...expressive form for you?"

"Ah, yes. It seems I do lack an appearance. I believe I've defaulted to a two dimensional male template. I suppose a female one would be more fitting considering my voice." Perditia admitted before her shape changed together with her color, resulting in her silhouette having a clear skirt while the color changed to pink. "Actually, I believe I prefer blue." Perditia said before the color changed back, while retaining the shape.

Looking after the two pink-haired girls running off, Perditia couldn't help but fear for their mental health somewhat. After all, she was based on an AI meant to keep humans company and keep them sane, while also keeping them alive. Turning back to Monika as Yuri ran off, Perditia nodded.

"I think I'll take you up on both offers. While I have tried tea before, my experience with food and drinks is limited as I don't have much of a body in my baseline and rarely loop in anywhere with a biological body. So far, I've had a few biological loops as sea creatures in my home loop, and a few times as a Pokémon. Only once have I been human and ironically enough had to have my Anchor remind me to eat and drink. Normally that's my job." Perditia explained with an embarrassed sigh.

Monika nodded and called over to Yuri, "Pick one of the more low-key blends; she's inexperienced, we don't want to give her system shock."

"Got it," Yuri replied as she opened a cupboard, pulled out what appeared to be a small hose, and used it to fill a measuring cup with water.

"Alright, so, do you have any prefer-" Monika was cut off by a sudden, loud crashing noise. Monika and Perditia both looked; Natsuki was smashing away at everything within reach with her massive Oni club while Sayori bounced all around her on a pogo stick, giggling hysterically. "Damn it you two, take it outside!" Monika shouted at them. Then she swung her arm out aggressively and they both disappeared. Pogo stick and all.

"Um..." said Perditia, not sure which question she wanted to ask first.

"No, they're fine. Yes, they do this a lot...well, actually, it's usually Natsuki and Yuri going at it, but even Sayori gets a little piss and vinegar in her now and then," Monika explained, "But don't worry, I just altered their location values so that they're in the Holodeck...the arm thing was just me being dramatic, frankly."

"The Holodeck?" asked Perditia.

""It's what we call the room that isn't this room or any of our bedrooms. It's just a space that I can do whatever with." Monika blinked a couple times in rapid succession, then gave a satisfied nod. "Now it's a Coliseum replication. They'll just go nuts for a while and come back when they've had their fill of anime fight scene nonsense."

"They enjoy physical altercation, then," Perditia surmised.

"Well, not exclusively," said Monika as she sat down in a chair. A few translucent light-screens popped into existence around her, which she started poking at and swiping across. "We have a very wide range of interests. See, like Natsuki said, the only thing in this whole Branch we usually have to worry about is me when I'm not Awake. There's the odd Variant with some bizarre threat for us to cope with every so often, as does every Branch, every six or seven thousand loops or so. We had to live through a zombie apocalypse in one of our earlier loops. It wasn't fun. So we started learning some combat skills. And we learned two things. The first is that even the best of friends are going to butt heads and build up tension and resentment when they're stuck together for too long with no one else but each other to interact with. The second is that the martial arts make for an excellent way to blow off some steam. So yeah, we beat the hell out of each other for fun sometimes. Sometimes we try to build a functional giant mecha out of textiles. Dumb stuff like that. You know how it is, I'm sure. Or you will, in a century or three, if you're still new."

"Actually, I know exactly what you mean. Ryley, my Anchor decided to launch the biggest spaceship that's accessible in our baseline and then direct it back to the planet, so he could use it as a makeshift drill, to save himself some time. He ruined multiple eco-systems and angered the only other real ally in our loop, which is an ancient, psychic leviathan." Perditia said with a sigh.

"Alright, let's see how this look suits you," said Monika, creating a round mirror out of thin air and making it drift in front of her face.

Perditia looked into the mirror. She was slightly taken aback at the reflection. No longer a flat blue silhouette, she now appeared to be a three-dimensional human being. Her skin was still blue, with a smattering of purple freckles on her face. Her eyes were cyan and glowing, and her hair was short, curly, and aquamarine. She glanced down at herself, seeing that she was wearing a uniform similar to the others. Gray blazer with a red tie and a blue pleated skirt.

"Any adjustments you'd like?" Monika asked, as Yuri sidled up and handed Perditia a teacup on a saucer.

"Actually, you've done a good job with this. However, now that I actually look human, I believe I'd prefer actual skin color. It'd make this appearance more viable for use outside of this loop and would alienate less non-loopers." Perditia says, then smiles. Although, I'd like to keep the purple freckles. Makes me look exotic... Huh, didn't realize I had such a preference." Perditia spoke while looking into the mirror, exploring her own face and body both with her eyes and hands, astonished that she was now getting feedback in the way of stimulated touch.

"This is actually, rather amazing. You wouldn't mind if I keep this appearance and code beyond the loop?" Perditia asked, sounding like a child about to open a present.

"Well, I mean, if you want. Of course," Monika replied, somewhat taken aback. What an odd thing to ask, she thought. She shrugged and turned her mind to the task of adjusting Perditia's skin tone. "I imagine you'll want whatever color is most predominant in your universe. Or, seeing as you seem to like a sense of exoticism, maybe...no...no...no, way too striking...no, not striking enough...wait, I'm over-complicating this. You've already got the freckles and curls, may as well go full-ginger..." Monika though out loud as she gave Perditia a pale white skin tone and made the hair carrot-orange. Then she made her eyes a more natural shade of blue and hummed thoughtfully before making her hair fiery-red instead. She smiled. "There. Blue-eyed redhead. The rarest combination of hair and eye colors in the Hub. Doesn't get too much more exotic than that."

"She mentioned living on an ocean world," Yuri noted, "Pale skin will sunburn easily. More melanin, perhaps?"

"Fair point, Yuri," Monika admitted, darkening Perditia's skin somewhat. Then, feeling she looked a bit too small, Monika gave her a few inches of height and a few more pounds of muscle, did some body composition optimizing, extended the hair somewhat because really what could you do with hair that short?

"Um, Monika? She's, uh...I don't know if you're doing it on purpose, but she's starting to look like a...a Samoan...Amazon, kind of?" Yuri spoke up. Monika looked up from her screens and blinked in surprise at the dark-skinned six-foot tall female bodybuilder with a four-foot mane of cherry-red curls she had accidentally created.

Then Sayori and Natsuki re-entered the room. They both stared. "Monika, why did you turn Perdy into Super-Buff Redhead Moana?" asked Sayori.

"As if I needed yet another reminder of my relative tininess," Natsuki grumped.

"Long hair is actually a serious impediment in most survival situations involving hostile animals," Yuri added sagely, one of her hands idly playing with her own long hair, "Especially so in an underwater environment."

"Right...yeah, I may have gotten carried away," Monika admitted. Immediately, Perditia shrank back down to average height, with more of a runner's build, and her hair shrank back to bob-length.

"You should make her hair darker, too. Red that bright against that skin tone makes her skin look pasty," Natsuki critiqued. Monika did so, Perditia's hair darkening from fire-red to something closer to blood.

"That's a much better contrast," Yuri agreed, "She kind of makes me think of Pele now."

"The soccer player?" asked Natsuki with a frown, "But he's a guy. And not a redhead."

"No, not that Pele," Yuri shook her head, "The Hawaiian volcano goddess. Sometimes depicted with red hair, because fire."

"Ooooh, that sounds cool!" Sayori squealed.

"Alright, hands off the wheel before I screw it up again," Monika chuckled as she threw her hands in the air. "So what do you think, Perditia?"

"Honestly, I'm out of my depth. I still don't understand human beauty standards yet, seeing as I have yet to loop in as one for very long. I believe my last and only loop as a human ended a few seconds in with a severe head injury. Trying to compile your loop memories before getting yourself strapped into a launching lifepod is not a good idea." Perditia said and shuddered, before looking confused and began inspecting her body. "Alright, that was odd. I wasn't trying to do that." Perditia said, frowning as she realized her new body wasn't entirely under her own control.

"Yeah, involuntary body things can be weird," Sayori agreed, "Like when you take a bite out of something that looks like it's going to taste like something you really like, but it actually tastes like something completely different that you don't like as much, but that you don't not like either, but you get all grossed out and stuff because it wasn't the thing you were expecting."

"Or, for a less run-on-y example, when seeing someone else yawn makes you have to yawn," added Natsuki.

"Don't worry about conforming to human beauty standards, Perditia," said Monika, "All that really matters is that you feel comfortable with how you look. Beauty is subjective, so anyone else's opinions of your looks are inconsequential."

"Hey Perd, do me a favor real quick," Natsuki spoke up, "Try Yuri's tea and tell us what you think, before Monika goes off on a philosophical tangent for the rest of the loop."

"OOOOOOOHHH!" yelled Sayori while Monika rolled her eyes.

"Well, for how I'm feeling, I'd say it is fairly close to what I can remember feeling a biological body feels like. I have to say, the code, and how it interacts our perception here is very interesting. Although, I do find it odd that your entire loop takes place within a singular computer... Have you ever considered leaving?" Perditia asks, before taking a sip of the tea. Surprisingly, showing that she knew how to handle drinking hot tea without burning either her tongue or lips. "Well, it certainly tastes better than I expected. Makes it a lot easier to appreciate the concept of tea, rather than thinking of it like warm leaf water." Perditia says, amused as it was yet another part of "reality" that overcame her expectations and understanding of the world.

"Oh, we've left before," said Monika, while Natsuki pulled Yuri and Sayori off to the side for some kind of huddle. "It's just that, most loops, the world outside this computer is basically just the Hub, with all the limitations that entails. And our loops usually only last for a week or two, so we very rarely feel any need to leave the computer unless we know our game is in another Branch for a change. While my coding abilities have limits-mostly imposed by our available hardware, these days-I can create pretty much any environment we might want to visit right here in the clubroom, and the laws of physics are much more flexible under my hands. The one hard-set limit is that I don't create other AIs, so if we've been confined to our own Branch for too long we might leave the computer to...I don't know, go clubbing or some-"

"THAT'S IT!" exclaimed Natsuki from the side. "We should take Perdy out for a night on the town! She said she's only had one human loop and it lasted just long enough for her to get her brains bonked out. So let's all go clubbing!"

Perditia stared at her. And she kept staring...and staring...and staring...

"Um...Perditia? You should blink, like, at least once every...I don't know, five to fifteen seconds," Sayori said gently, "Going too long without blinking really creeps people out. You wanna do your best to stay out of Uncanny Valley."

"Oh, Right." Perditia says, blinking while frowning. "I'm used to my body blinking on its own whenever I loop in as a biological being. I'm not used to having to do so manually. I suppose I'll just make a program to assist me with it." Perditia says before changing some of the code of her avatar herself. "That should fix it. Tell me if you notice anymore issues, I'd prefer being able to use this body and have it pass for human even at a close glance whenever I project it out into physical form... I should probably also stimulate breathing and a heartbeat as well, I'd need help with those." Perditia says, trying to think of what else she might require to pass for human.

"Now, with this handled, what is it you usually do during this loop?" Perditia asks, curious as she looked around properly, using her avatar's eyes to see the world around her, instead of watching it through code like she had previously.

Monika looked around. "Well, we do a lot of reading and creative writing. We have video game tournaments, karaoke nights, dance-offs, mecha battles, Dungeons & Dragons sessions, we've started playing Remnantball recently-"

"That's like live-action Brick Breaker where everyone playing has a 'paddle' and every time you hit a ball it multiplies," Sayori explained.

"Yes, quite-"

"And in case you don't know what Brick Breaker is, that's that old game where you break bricks by bouncing a ball around with a paddle and you lose if the ball hits the ground," added Natsuki.

"Indee-"

"Except breaking things isn't an essential element of Remnantball; just keeping the balls from hitting the ground," Yuri pointed out.

"...are you all done?" asked Monika evenly.

Her friends all nodded, holding back snickers.

"Now, where was I...oh, yeah, and we can attempt pretty much any kind of physical activity in our Holodeck," said Monika, pointing at a double-set of green doors on the far side of the room.

Suddenly, Sayori whipped out a large wooden barrel with a plunger-detonator on top of it, and slammed it down between the gathered girls. Taped to the barrel was a piece of paper bearing the words, 'Pinkie Pie's Patented Party-in-a-Barrel!'

"GIRLS! All this yakkity-yak is getting us nowhere! We've got a week, or two at most, to show Perdy all the best things about being a person! Which means it's TIME FOR A PARTY, my glitches!" exclaimed Sayori, just before she jerked the plunger up and then slammed it back down. The barrel burst open in an omnicolored flash, to the tune of ten-thousand defiant noisemakers.

When the smoke cleared, the clubroom looked more like a nightclub, complete with fog machines, strobe lights, and a theater-grade surround-sound system pumping out the grooviest of jams. Also included where a fully-stocked buffet table and a literal soda fountain.

"Let's get loud!" yelled Sayori as she grabbed Perditia's hands and pulled her into an energetic dance. The other three shrugged and joined in. "And after the party, Yuri can teach you all the really fun stuff!" Sayori giggled.

"Wait, what?" asked a bemused Perditia before she began nursing a headache after making the mistake of looking at the code. Her attempt to figure out what had just happened just left her with what she considered impossible code, that somehow still worked. She decided to stop thinking about it and instead join in on her first ever party, carefully filing away the name Pinkie Pie to be considered an enemy towards all conventional code.

20.4 – Sailing At Last, by Masterweaver.

"So..." Natsuki cleared her throat. "We're dating now."

"Yep," Yuri agreed.

"...And, um... how does this change our relationship, exactly?"

"I... don't know."

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments.

"...I mean, obviously we go on dates," Yuri allowed.

"Oh yeah, that." Natsuki nodded. "Dates. Like..."

She trailed off.

"...um... eating out? Movies? Um..." Yuri frowned. "We're dating sim characters. You'd think we should know this."

"Yeah, well..." Natsuki shrugged helplessly.

They looked at each other again.

Yuri fidgeted for a moment.

Natsuki coughed into her fist.

"Oh for the love of all things cute!" Sayori stomped over to them. "Just go read a book together or cook something together, alright?!"

"Uh-"

"No Nats, you don't get to say anything until you two are on your date, which is happening right now." She pushed the two out of their chairs and started shoving them toward the door. "Monika! Load a bookstore or something!"

"This-"

"Gosh darn it Yuri, I've watched you two dance around each other for way too long, and I'll be a spambot's uncle if I let you wallow in awkwardness any longer!" She opened the door and shoved them through. "Now git!"

The door slammed on two very nonplussed faces. Sayori turned around, dusting off her hands proudly. "That takes care of that, for the moment."

Monika rolled her eyes. "Yes... I'm sure this can't possibly backfire in any way whatsoever."

20.5 – In Which Four Girls Withstand A Total Lack of That Which Sounds Similar To B, C, D, G, P, T, V, and Z, by Zum1UDontNo.

"So… What's up with this loop?" Natsuki said in confusion. "It's hard to talk, and my brain hurts."

It was day two of Doki Doki's loop, and all Doki girls, sans Monika, had sat in a group. Four pings had shown truth; all four cognizant of Yggdrasil's loop. All four girls' waking was postliminary to normal, by a singular day; Natsuki, Yuri and Sayori could fathom that Monika's form a day prior did not do anything to DDLC's programming.

"Mm-hmm," Yuri did nod, "our air, it is… odd, in our clubroom. Almost as if a… factor, not of our physical world, for lack of a good way to say it, is unordinary…"

"So it's to do with our programming," Sayori said. "It shouldn't strain Monika too much to know what's up with this loop."

Natsuki did groan. "I'm counting on Monika fixing it," Natsuki's pink orbs slid shut, hands massaging scalp. "I actually can't do… particular things right now. It isn't our usual 2D thing, Monika has that in control, similar to all our loops." Monika, at this point, had a habit of adjusting all of DDLC's 2D art into 3D body imitations as soon as activation of that loop.

Hiroaka paid Natsuki no mind, continuing to draw randomly in his book of blank folio. His papyrus was practically black from ink marks, not that Hiroaka could know.

At that point, Monika did walk in, frowning. "Okay, all of you," our club captain said. "I know what's up with this loop."

Yuri's noggin did tilt. "How did you know us four had just… chat about that?" Yuri said in confusion.

"Lucky assumption," Monika did shrug. "I thought Natsuki would complain about it by this point." Ignoring Natsuki's pout, Monika did add, "Now, just a fair warning: you'll probably not fancy what our quandary this loop is."

"Just… inform us of what it is," Natsuki did groan. "I can't stand my brain hurting in this way…"

"So, it's… Ah… Hmm." Monika thought for a short bit. "I don't actually know how to say this to you. As in, I don't know how to say it. Basically… You know our ABC's? And you know what is prior to F, but post-D? As a notion, that… mark? That mark is not in our world."

A short bit of no talking did pass.

"You can't actually… this is a prank," Natsuki said stonily. "You say I can't say-" Natsuki did stop for a short bit, and Natsuki's mouth shut. "Huh. Looks as if it is." Natsuki did frown. "Now that I know about it, it's annoying…"

"That would justify our… awkward talking," Yuri said, putting a thumb upon chin. "That charac… that mark is such a major part of so many words, taking it away… allows us a small amount of options."

Sayori did laugh. "Actually, it's fun!" Sayori said. "Think of it as provoking your mind into a prolific capacity. A quiz on your ability to adapt."

"That's probably why I didn't do much of anything in our past day," Monika said. "I didn't know how to do things in Python without… what's prior to F, but post-D. Ah… Our most common mark?"

"Fifthglyph," Sayori did broach. At Monika's, Natsuki's and Yuri's looks, Sayori did clarify. "What's prior to F, but post-D… Our most common mark… any way you brand it, it's our fifth glyph in our syllabary. As such, fifthglyph is a fitting word for it."

"How can you do that?" Natsuki did ask in shock and, though Natsuki would not admit it, admiration. "It's as if… It's as if you find it no difficulty at all! I almost can't talk as it is!"

"Wisdom, know-how and skill born from intimacy with it," Sayori did shrug. "Occasionally I find joy in giving my mind trials upon writing, or talking in this situation. Say, do not say a word in surplus of two parts of a word. Or words of only A, fifthglyph, I, O or U, pick a singular option. I'll work on that soon, I want to do that but I cannot." Sayori took Hiroaka's book away from him and did flip to a blank folio, and put it back in front of him. Patting his arm as Hiroaka did maintain scribbling, now marking a blank folio with his black ink, Sayori did turn back to Monika, Yuri and Natsuki. "At this point, writing and talking without using fifthglyhs is child's play. I also occasionally visit a sub in hub loops that has that as its primary point of activity, AVoid5. To Sayori, a lack of fifthglyphs holds no aggravation at all."

Yuri, Natsuki and Monika all did gawk at Sayori for a long bit.

"…Sayori, allow nobody to say you hold a silly or thick mind," Yuri said firmly.

"Okay, I won't! …Say, you think anything apart from DDLC is within dominion of this, or is local to our part of this loop?"

Monika thought for a short bit. "I… don't know," Monika said. "I'll find out, just a short bit, and… Okay, I just did hack into a grid in 'Unanimous Stations of Amarica.' It is touching parts of this world not within DDLC."

"Cool." Natsuki's articulation, although unhappy, did hold a small bit of satisfaction. "This club isn't solo in its pain."

"Also," Monika said, "our world is now known as 'Doki Doki Writing Club' by 'Salvato and Pals.' Not as big of a shift as I thought, although 'Salvato and Pals' sounds similar to a sitcom."

Again, a short bit of no talking did pass.

"…So," Yuri said. "What's our plan this loop?"

"Rap match," Sayori did proposition quickly.

"No," all Sayori's pals said back, almost in harmony.

"Hmph… No fun. No fun at all."

20.6 – Cosplay.

Today's club activity: cosplay as someone you idolize!, read the blackboard.

"Of all the Senshi–and I'm not criticizing you here, mind–why Jupiter specifically?" asked Yuri, who was wearing a Victorian era waistcoat and idly twirling a straight-razor in one hand. She was actually tricking around with it much like one might do with a butterfly-knife, all without looking at it. Her traditionally well-managed hair was all kinds of tangled and frizzed-up, and it was dyed black with a white skunk-stripe.

"She's very kitchen-savvy and a brutal ass-kicker. What reasons do I need beyond that?" Natsuki asked in turn. She was wearing a Sailor Jupiter costume, wig and all, so exactly detailed she could have passed for the real deal, if she weren't a full thirty-three centimeters too short.

"Well, she doesn't exactly fit into your…aesthetic, does she?" asked Yuri. The two of them were alone in the clubroom, waiting for Sayori and Monika to show up.

"Just because she isn't Badass Adorable in looks, which depends on how strictly one defines 'adorable', doesn't mean she doesn't fit my aesthetic," Natsuki countered, "She still fits the principle, just along a different axis. Like, I'm generally about hiding deeper meaning behind a cutesy façade and simple language. Still waters run deep and all that. Makoto is like that too, just in a different way. If I really wanted to drive the point across, I could have cosplayed as Optimus Prime, but that would have been way too obtuse. Sometimes I like being subtle."

"Ehhh?!" Yuri looked bewildered now. "What do giant robots have to do with anything?"

"…y'know, 'More Than Meets The Eye'?" replied Natsuki, giving her friend a flat look. Yuri just stared flatly back at her, until Natsuki's eyes widened. "…oh for the love of Tezuka-sama, you actually don't know the Transformers' tagline?" Natsuki asked incredulously.

Yuri just shrugged. "I'm not much for robots, to be honest."

"Yeah, and that goes for a lot of people, but literally everyone knows that, Yuyu! We're talking about a fucking ancient meme, here. The kind of thing that pop culture osmosis spreads to every corner of civilization. If I walked up to a random Romulan at a bar somewhere in the Delta Quadrant, and said "Transformers, robots in disguise", I guarantee you they would at least know that the appropriate response is "Transformers, more than meets the eye". Probably wouldn't say it because Rommies are douches, but the point is they'd still know."

"Unlike the scatterbrained masses, my focus never wavers from that which interests me," Yuri said archly.

"That excuse won't fly this time! If you can recognize that Optimus Prime is the name of a giant robot you should–"

"Because I've met Optimus Prime in a bar-loop," Yuri pointed out.

"…oh. What was that like?"

"Well, he's nice and all, but a little…up his own ass, kind of? You know how those Superman and Captain America types are. They're likable and all, just not very relatable. I was much more excited to meet Godzilla, frankly."

"Fair enough. So, Sweeney Todd, I take it?" asked Natsuki. Yuri nodded. "Well, no explanation needed there." Yuri nodded again.

The door flew open, and Sayori bounced in. She was dressed as Ash Ketchum. She threw down a smoke-bomb stylized to look like a Pokéball, and when the smoke cleared Hiroaka was standing next to her in a Pikachu costume.

"Shit sprinkles!" Natsuki snapped, fishing a roll of money out of her pocket and chucking it at Yuri. "You got lucky this time, Edge."

"Luck is for suckers," Yuri retorted as she stabbed her razor into a desk and started counting the bills. "Like you, Cupcake."

"You wanna go, you gothic pig-sow?!" Natsuki snapped, jumping up in her chair and whipping out her kanabo.

Yuri casually pulled her razor out of the desk and gave it a twirl. She smiled at Natsuki and slowly stood up. "Maybe I do. Been a while since I cut up something so cute."

The two glared at each other intensely for a moment, Natsuki snarling and Yuri smirking, until their eye contact was broken by an incandescent crimson plasma-blade. "Oy, vice president says: No violence and/or flirting until after Club Activities. Capiche?" said Sayori, her voice heavy with the Force and her blue eyes flecked with yellow.

After a moment of tense silence, Natsuki and Yuri both folded and put their weapons away, sitting back down. "Yes, Sayori," they chorused.

"Good," Sayori chirped, putting her weapon away as well. "Can't say I blame you guys, though. We've all been stuck home for a few hundred loops, now. We need to see about getting a loop somewhere adventure-friendly so we can stretch our legs."

"Avatar Branch!" yelled Natsuki, "I wanna get back to training with Toph."

"Seeing Alucard again would be nice," Yuri said idly, turning her eyes to the window. "I haven't gotten my vampirism to stick yet."

"I want to go back to the Underground," said Sayori, "I haven't had a chance to spar with Undyne since I Sithed up. I wonder how her energy spears stack up against my lightsaber?"

Just then, something smashed up through the floor. It was a pretty strange-looking thing, kind-of-sort-of like a gilded space capsule with a pair of elevator doors in the front. The doors slid open, and out strolled Monika in an instantly-recognizable combination of beige trousers and like-colored bowtie, floral-print purple-toned vest, brown top hat worn at a slight tilt, richly purple overcoat, and a wooden cane. She strolled out of her elevator and into the middle of the room, where upon she leaned on her cane, crossing her ankles, and cocked a jaunty eyebrow at her friends with a winning smile.

Her friends stared at her for several seconds, until Natsuki broke the silence. "Willy fucking Wonka. For real?" she asked.

"My favorite character from one of my favorite 20th-century authors?" asked Monika, "Hell yes. I aspire to his level of off-beat management skills."

Sayori started clapping, and Yuri joined her. Natsuki just rolled her eyes.

"Y'know, Natsuki," said Monika sweetly, "I could reskin you to look like an Oomp–"

Whereupon the sound of clapping in the room doubled in volume.

20.7 – Bubbly Disposition, Eastwind of Azarath.
(DDLC)/(RWBY)

Sun Wukong looked on in confusion at the scene. While it wasn't unusual to see Sayori and Natsuki on Remnant; nor them to using their Hyper Blossom and Powered Buttercup outfits, the person they had gotten to fill the role of Rolling Bubbles was.

"Natsuki is making me do this for trying to flirt with her girlfriend," spoke Neptune as he held the bubble wand up for a pose. "Besides, I totally pull this off."

"Aren't you like... deathly afraid of water?" Sun countered, eyebrow raised.

"I'm only afraid of large bodies of water and the prospect of swimming! It's not like I am afraid of rain or something," came Neptune's retort. "Besides, these bubbles aren't even water based. "

To prove his point, he activated the bubble wand and pummeled Sun with a barrage of bubbles. Sun was, as a matter of fact, not soaking wet. Point having been made, Neptune activated his shoes and took off.

20.8 – It's a Date?, by Masterweaver.

Yuri walked up to the head desk with a big grin. "Monika! Hiiiii!"

Monika quirked an eyebrow.

"Ha... aha." Yuri rubbed the back of her head, some of her hair sheepishly tangling itself along her arm. "So..."

Monika's eyebrow remained quirked.

"Aheh... well." Two hands were brought together, the smile weakening a bit. "Aheheh..."

The hands clapped a bit, purple eyes darting to the side for a moment.

"Ah... yeah... so..."

Yuri took a deep breath.

"...Ooookay, so this is kind of a little... yeah, you know?"

"Do I?" Monika asked politely.

"Erm. I... you... this..." Yuri swallowed. "I... it's just, you know, you're kind of..."

She made a vague gesture.

"...and, you know, I'm... if I... I mean I guess, you're better at..."

Her voice trailed off for a moment.

Then she slammed her hands on the desk. "Come on, you know what this is about."

"Do I-?"

"Damn it, Monika, this is awkward enough, just-" Yuri took a breath. "I... want... you to... program... a specific location. For me and Natsuki. To go on a date."

"Oh, well, I have a whole suite-"

"This is weird, okay? I should just be able to take her out but you're basically in control of the world and you're my friend who kind of sort of killed me once and-" Yuri shook her head. "Look, can you do it or not?"

"Do what?"

"Make a plush-themed cafe for us to go to, alright? That's all I want!"

Monika smiled. "Two things: I refuse to program NPCs, so Sayori and I would have to be the staff."

"Fine, fine, make it even more awkward."

"And... I can't do it this loop."

"What? But-but why?"

"And three," Monika murmured, "two, one..."

The door to the club burst open. "Yuri!" Natuski cried, slamming a wacky hat on her head. "Come on, I've got something to show you in the holodeck!"

"Wha-?"

Monika watched her smallest club member drag her largest one through the door with a smirk. "Conflicting schedules," she explained to empty air.

20.9 – Programming Prodigy, by Zum1UDontNo.

"Natsuki?"

"Oh, hey Monika!" Natsuki said, looking up from her laptop. Her fingers continued to type as she talked. "What's up? I'm just working on a little something."

"A little something, you say."

Natsuki nodded, grinning. "See, I was thinking, this place is cool and all, but it's too small. And the Holodeck is great, but it's not that much bigger than the clubroom. So I figured I'd flex my mind a bit and make something new for us." The girl looked back at her laptop, swore under her breath and started backspacing. "Clearly I can't look away without filling it with typos..."

Monika sighed. On the one hand, the clubroom was somewhat claustrophobic at times, and it could be fun to add in new locations. but on the other hand...

"How did you even fit this in?" Monika asked. "I don't think the game even has this much space available for something like this."

Natsuki shrugged. "Shortcuts," she said. "One of them is, as long as the walls are indestructible, I can make them only a few pixels wide and make the rest hollow. I also made a simple illusion function to make all the really long hallways and stuff only a few feet long, but feel a lot longer when walking through."

Monika gaped for a moment. "How can you even do this?" she wondered. "You learned about the nature of the game, what, two days ago? It hasn't been that long since I told you, and that's advanced coding."

"All the more reason to get started earlier!" the UnAwake girl stated.

'That really doesn't answer my question,' Monika thought, sweat-dropping.

"Hey-o, group! What's the scoop?" Sayori cheered as she walked in, Yuri following behind. "Me and Yuri are late, we had to stop and argue about proper silverware placements."

"I had a PowerPoint to back up my argument and everything," Yuri added.

"Haven't missed anything big, have I?" Sayori asked.

Natsuki blinked. "First of all," she said, "That first thing you said? I'll need you to agree to never say that again."

"I can't promise anything."

"And second," she continued, "I've just been working on something new for the clubroom. See the closet? It leads somewhere else now."

"Oh, a new location?" Yuri said. "Where does it lead now?"

"Well," Monika sighed. "We've got our own individual rooms, this room, and the Holodeck, of course. But Natsuki's decided to add in a new room. So the logical conclusion is that we now have a fully functional Death Star in our game."

There was a short pause.

"A Death Star?" Yuri asked. "To scale?"

"To scale," Natsuki confirmed smugly. "It might take a little longer to be perfect, I still have to implement the secondary gravity system and update the code on the engine actors. It's a bit sloppy."

Monika looked helplessly at the two girls. "She's been like this all morning, apparently," she said. "I'm starting to think she's Stealthing. Or this is a really weird variant."

Yuri tilted her head. "Why do you think she's Awake?"

"Because if she's not, this is just baseline Natsuki, and that's terrifying..."

20.10 – Just Tripping Along, by Wookywok.

First day of loop? Check.

Full set of pings? Check.

Not a raincloud in sight? Checkeroo.

Having already pocketed Hiroaka, Sayori straight-up marched to the clubroom, ready to induce some wacky fun-filled shenanigans for her and her clubmates. Yes, this loop was gonna be a good loop.

The Smiling Lord of the Sith herself all but kicked open the clubroom door, took a single step-

-and immediately tripped and faceplanted.

"I'm okay!"

Okay, so it wasn't the kind of dramatic entrance Sayori had been hoping for. No problem, though. She got back on her feet, took another step -

-and tripped and faceplanted. Again.

"I'm still okay!"

A familiar pink dot buzzed around Sayori's head. Upon getting in front of Sayori's face, it transformed into a small pink bat, still airborne.

"Yeah, a little late to warn you," Natsuki deadpanned. "Floor's super-slippery this loop."

"It's not slippery," stated Monika, who was currently equipped with a jetpack. "If it were slippery, it wouldn't have as much traction. It's more like the floor has a trip function that triggers when someone's feet touches its collision box." The club president sighed. "And like so many inconveniences in the loops, I can't do a damn thing about it."

Yuri was currently floating above the ground using... well, some sort of magic, Sayori didn't know what. "So I suggest you get yourself off the ground somehow."

"Got it." Sayori unpocketed a yo-yo and tossed it upwards. It magically affixed itself to the ceiling, and when Sayori grabbed it, it transformed into a full-sized tire swing, tossing her into the air in such a way that she landed straight into a sitting position in the middle of the tire.

Natsuki nodded. "Impressive. But how are you gonna move around?"

"I'll... I'll think of something."

20.11 – Just Another Base Conversation, by Masterweaver.

"Sooooo Yuri." Sayori slid in with a sneaky smirk. "Have you gotten to fifth base?"

Yuri leveled a flat look on her.

"...Okay. First of all, the 'base' metaphor is highly variable and dependent on knowledge of baseball or similar sports, so don't ever use it again."

"Got it."

"Secondly..." Yuri took a breath and let it out slowly. "I... won't deny I'm not curious about that aspect of my relationship with Natsuki, but... well, we are just starting out, and we do have quite a bit of baggage. And, frankly, I'm not entirely sure I trust myself not to go too far if I'm leading down that path."

"Ah, I see. Reasonable." Sayori nodded sagely. "So you're waiting for Natsuki to make the first move?"

"I'm waiting for Natsuki to ask about the subject at all," Yuri admitted. "We're still nervous about kissing, let alone... well. And..." She rubbed her arm awkwardly. "You know there's a reason I like sweaters."

"...You know... we are digital entities," Sayori pointed out gently. "You don't... have to have scars."

"...Scars are real," Yuri said quietly. "Scars make me feel... grounded. Sensation without consequence... that's dangerous. I know Natsuki's not comfortable with that, though, so... like I said, I'm going to wait until she broaches the subject. And it's not like this is about that, that's just a fun part of the whole thing, not even the core."

"Right, I getcha." Sayori shrugged. "Well, at least you're FINALLY dating."

"Yep." Yuri gave her a sly grin. "And what about you? Any girl catch your eye?"

Sayori frowned at her. "Stop that."

"What?" Yuri asked innocently. "I was just asking."

Compiler's Commentary:

20.1: Yuri, you know I love you, but you're a spoopy librarian :S

20.2: Where can I get a pillow like that?!

20.3: Credit for the idea goes to Fictional Fanatic. I just helped them with dialogue for the Dokies.

20.4: *Smashes a bottle of champagne against the S.S. Natsuri.*

20.5: *Wordless, yet wildly enthusiastic, standing ovation*

20.6: *Sigh* …I miss Gene Wilder.

20.7: I mean, it's progress? I guess?

20.8: What Yuri didn't mention was that the really awkward part is that Sayori insists on wearing a fake moustache when she gets to be the waiter.

20.9: When Yuri shared the events of this loop with Natsuki, she was simultaneously proud that her Unawake self could out-program Monika, and yet furious that her Unawake self could out-program her.

20.10: *Mumbled muttering from the floor*

20.11: Sayori's just covering her bases, here…