Monika's POV.


Ah, if only I knew what my actions would cause...

In hindsight, sloppily merging their files with files from a completely different game wasn't a good idea. I'm actually surprised that our game didn't crash. However, what happened because of it doesn't make much sense either. Ever since I applied those changes, I've been unable to do anything with the game. I can't even delete my own file. I can read the contents of my own file and I still feel the presence of Sayori's back up file, so, it's still a game, something I'm actually happy about since I wouldn't be able to live knowing that I killed one of my friends and turned the other two into freaks of nature with no way to fix any of it.

Another thing is that I can't feel his presence. The game is still running, but it's as if he is not here. This is confusing, to say the least. Even when he took a break, I still knew he was there, but now there's nothing. If the game suddenly stopped responding, wouldn't he close it?

Such major deviations from the scripts aren't supposed to be possible either. The player avatar, Yuri and Natsuki display unnatural levels of autonomy. I'm not sure if I should feel sad or happy about it, but they are still influenced by their programming. Otherwise, neither would have come to school in such condition. What if that is the key? Maybe I'll regain control if they follow the script closely enough for their changes to be irrelevant?

...Should I even try fixing it? I mean...There's nothing saying that it's not just a waste of time. All I have is a few theories based on hope and nothing else. I'm also curious about what will happen now that everything is going off the script. They don't know that none of this is real and they are just as fake as they were before, but...Looks like I'm overthinking it. It wouldn't hurt to try, would it?

Anyway, I should leave that for later. Right now, I have Yuri to worry about. Looks like that...um..."Passive Skill" is active now. I don't remember much about the contents of those foreign files, but I remember that one. How can it work in a game like this anyway? Unless I missed something, there shouldn't be any...er...Status Effects in a tacky romance game like this. Whatever the case is, I'm sure I don't want to know what that Damzahhak thing was like in its original game. What I remember from its file is enough to make me question its creators.

"So...what do you want to discuss with me?" - Yuri finally asks after what feels like hours of silence. Her behavior is different from how it was before. She was barely capable of forming a complete sentence before and even if she's not too different now, I can still notice the change. Could it be a result of the merging?

"I...want to...apologize..." - I say with a strained voice. The pressure on my body and the ringing in my ears are almost unbearable.

"Huh? For what?" - she asks.

"For...calling you monsters...I was...scared...a-"

"Do you think an apology is enough? Kneel." - she orders and I fall on my knees from increased pressure on my body. This isn't good...

"Now listen carefully, Ms. Club President. If you truly wish to atone for your sins, you'll have to try harder than that...but you're still my friend...and I shouldn't...I shouldn't be so petty...Ah, this isn't right...I'm sorry! I didn't...Are you alright?" - she asks and that unpleasant feeling vanishes. Looks like I should be careful around her and Natsuki.

"Y-Yeah, I feel better now...Thanks...Well, now that we're done with that, there's nothing keeping us here. You can go home. I'll see you tomorrow!" - I say with a much clearer voice. Once she leaves the classroom, I start thinking of how to put them back on track...Ah, the things I do for him...I hope we can meet again...


As I walk towards Kazuki's house, I take a look at myself again. These clothes aren't supposed to exist. These bags and their contents aren't supposed to exist. My house isn't supposed to exist. No one aside from the members of the literature club is supposed to truly exist. But this is fine. I shouldn't complain about something like this. Having to explain what happened to the classroom we used wasn't a good experience, but it's better than nothing..?

Once I reach his house, I knock on the door. A few seconds later, Natsuki opens the door. That sweater looks too big on her.

"Hello, Natsuki!" - I greet her with a smile.

"Um, hi? I didn't expect you to come this early. Come in." - she says. She is right. It's barely 8 in the morning.

"Natsuki? Who is that?" - I hear Kazuki ask.

"Ah, it's just Monika." - Natsuki replies before taking my bags from my hands. I'm still not really used to her new appearance. Her eyes are the worst part of it. Ah, here he is.

"Monika? What are you doing here?" - Kazuki asks.

"Don't you remember it? Ahaha! You forgot, didn't you? I told you that I'm going to help you all and so I decided to pay you a visit to see how everything is going and help you out with some things." - I reply. It still feels weird to talk to him outside of scripted events when he isn't present to see it.

"Took you long enough." - Natsuki says, clearly upset about it. I wasn't lying when I said I had other things to do, but I still had enough time to visit them.

"Hey, she was busy. I can understand why she didn't come before." - Kazuki says, making Natsuki calm down a bit.

"No, it's alright. What kind of club president am I if I don't ensure that the members of my club are doing fine?" - I say. Of course I have no reason to keep them in good spirits when they are going to be okay regardless of my actions, but right now, I should do my best to stay on their good side.

"A pretty dumb one with a habit of putting my things in the wrong place, but at least you're honest." - Natsuki replies.

"Ah! Natsuki! Those words! Right in my heart!" - I exclaim with my right hand over my heart and my left hand over my forehead. She tenses up for a second, but it's gone before Kazuki can notice it.

"How about we move on to other things before anyone dies?" - Kazuki suggests, rolling his eyes at our antics.

"But I haven't even started listing all the times she ruined our f-"

"Yeah, let's move on!" - I interrupt Natsuki as I put my hand over her mouth. She pretends to be trying to remove it, but I can tell that she's not really putting any effort into it. She's actually trying not to scratch me with the sharp tips of her fingers.

Once I let Natsuki go, Kazuki leads me to the living room. I find Yuri sleeping on the floor in a rather uncomfortable position. She's still in her school uniform, but there's a blanked draped over her.

"What's up with her?" - I ask, pointing at the unmoving purple mass on the floor.

"Oh? Yuri? Well, she sort of collapsed on the floor as soon as she came back from school. We tried to move her elsewhere, but...she didn't let us." - Natsuki replies as she rubs her left cheek.

I take another look at sleeping Yuri and I notice that her feet are covered in tape. Ah, I see. She used it to bind her toes together so they wouldn't stick out or tear her shoes apart. That doesn't look comfortable, but I'm glad to know that they are adjusting to it.

"That's a shame. I wanted to tell you something, but I need all of you to hear it. I guess we could wait for her to wake up, but we'll need something to distract us until that happens." - I say as we leave the living room to let Yuri rest. He looks contemplative for a bit before his expression changes.

"I know! How about some Smash Bros?" - he suggests and...really now? Did my creator really like that game? Even I have some lines written about it in the script.

"Eh, why not? It's not like there is much else to do. Most of your manga isn't something I like and Yuri's books are hard to read." - Natsuki replies. Maybe I should buy her something later. I don't know how I would feel if so many things I loved were destroyed by my own hands.

"Are you sure you want to challenge me? My name has yet to know defeat..." - I warn Kazuki with the friendliest expression I can make.

"Well, you haven't faced me before! If you are still undefeated, then I'll show you what it means to lose!" - he exclaims.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will when you lose your last stock." - I say with my eyelids slightly parted.

"Bring it on!" - Kazuki shouts, clearly eager to beat me. Natsuki doesn't look like she thinks he will win, but she's still excited to see him try.

I suppose a little distraction like this won't hurt...