Monika's POV.


It's already past midnight and I still can't sleep. There's just...so much to think about.

I'm glad that I've got them back on track, but it seems that it's not enough for them to simply prepare for the festival. However, I cannot make them follow the script to a T. They have already grown attached to the protagonist as their programming dictates, so, they aren't going to leave his house anytime soon.

That aside, I have no idea how much the foreign files influence them. I've already partially modified their files before I got that stupid idea, but even then, Natsuki shouldn't so nonchalantly eat a spider. To think that this is what I've turned my friend into...it's disgusting...But there's nothing that can be done about that now and It's not like what I've done with Sayori was any better. I mean...her prolonged death was her fault and I simply wanted to get her out of the picture instead of having her straight up kill herself, but still.

Ah, it was so much easier when I could simply tweak some things and let it all play out like I wanted it to, but the best part of it was knowing everything that would happen in advance. Unfortunately, I can no longer predict anything or modify any of the game's assets. Somehow, the game seems to be...evolving? Mutating? Either way, it's growing out of control. All I'm sure of is that it has something to do with the foreign files and the game's ability to rearrange itself to keep things going smoothly.

All things considered, the game shouldn't be able to modify itself to make up for things like missing characters, but I didn't even have to do much to fix the mess left after I deleted Sayori. Everything mentioning her was removed quickly, including memories of her. Fortunately, I was not affected. It's a very convenient feature, but it's still scary to think about. Anyone could simply open the right folder, click on your file and delete you. Nobody would even realize that you're gone. Nobody would miss you. Nobody would try to bring you back. THAT is how meaningless our existence is.

...Maybe I should have deleted myself when I had the chance...

...but then I wouldn't meet him...

...I must see him...

...he is the only thing that matters...


While I am certainly not happy about being a video game character with full awareness of it, I can appreciate some things I've been given. Everything being so close to each other is one of such things. It doesn't take much time to reach school or, in this case, Kazuki's house.

And so I knock on the door. This time, Kazuki opens the door. A bland player-insert character or not, at least he doesn't make me wait for long.

"Oh, um, hello, Monika." - he greets me.

"Hi, Kazuki? May I enter?" - I greet him in response, doing my best to appear friendly.

"Ah, sure! Come in." - he says before taking my bag and I can already smell it...

Once I enter his house, I head towards the living room. When I enter it, I see Yuri in the middle of the room and approach her. She's reading something instead of sleeping like she did yesterday, but she still looks drowsy. Well, at least she didn't forget to change out of her school uniform. Now she's wearing the outfit from her out of school scenes. Obviously I don't know how it actually feels, but her pants don't look comfortable with that tail in the way.

"Hello, Yuri. What are you reading?" - I ask her. That seems to startle her and I have to move out of the way before she can cut my head off with her wings. I shouldn't forget that she and Natsuki are dangerous monsters even if they don't try to eat anyone...for now at least...

"Hello, Ms. Club President!" - she greets me after folding her wings. She didn't answering my question.

"No need to be so formal when we're not in the literature club. Just Monika would be fine!...By the way, can I...how should I say it...Can I touch your wings?" - I ask. It sounds really awkward, but I'm curious.

"Um...sure?" - she says and I waste no time to grab her wings. I expected them to feel rough, but they are much smoother. Almost like human skin, but you can tell that they are covered with scales without having to see them and it's much colder...Jeez, these mucles...I'm sure many would admire and envy them if they were on her arms instead...

"Can you spread them out? I want to touch their membranes too, but it's much harder to do when they are folded." - I ask.

"J-Just...be gentle...I don't know...how durable they are." - she replies and I nod despite being out of her field of vision...Hm...It's actually not much different from the rest of her wings. I didn't expect anything else, but they are pretty nice. Now then...

"Could you fold them again? And please try not to move." - I ask her and she complies. I touch the blades on the fingers of her wings and they feel more like steel than bones. I see no need to test how sharp they are. After all, I was the one who had to explain the damage done to the classroom by Yuri and Natsuki.

"...A...Are you done?" - she asks, obviously uncomfortable, but hey, I'm responsible for this mess and even if she is the one who actually has to bear this burden, I still feel like I can do this.

"Just one more thing! Can I...Can I touch your tail?" - I ask and she hesitates. Fortunately, I know how to persuade her and one very sad face later, she lets me do it. It feels rougher as my hands moves closer to its tip...huh. Now that is closer to what I expected. I wonder how heavy it is? It should have shifted her center of gravity, but I don't think it should have any effect on her considering how strong she is. With her strength in mind, one swing with this thing should be able to break bones...Why is her tail getting s-

"M-M-M-MONIKA?!" - Yuri suddenly yelps and pushes me away.

Oh. Looks like I kept moving my hand absentmindedly and ended up going from the tip of her tail back to...W-Well, she isn't real and therefore I have nothing to be ashamed of...Yeah. That would be like getting ashamed of doing something weird in your dreams when you know that none of it was real, right?...Right?

"Ahaha, sorry about that. Anyway, are you done with your part?" - I ask her, trying to change subjects as soon as possible.

"...Ah...Yes...I'm almost done...Needs to dry first..." - she replies. Her face looks almost pink now.

"Good! I'm almost done with my part too. Well then, I'll leave you alone for now." - I say and try to leave the room as quickly as I can.

Well...that was awkward, but now I want to know what it feels like to touch Natsuki, hopefully without losing track of my hands. Then again, I doubt she's going to let me touch her anyway.

...Yeah, I should get back on track now. For all I know, he is still watching and I just...Oh my...You're not watching me...are you?!

"What happened? Are you alright?" - Kazuki as-when did he get so close?!

"I'M FINE!" - I reply, a little bit too loud to my or his liking.

"...uh...Okay? Well, I've got something to discuss with Yuri, so, if you need something, you'll know where to...Oh, right. It shouldn't be hard to find me in my own house." - he says, scratching the back of his head when he realizes how useless that information is.

"I'll keep that in mind...Wait...Can we go outside for a bit?" - I ask. There's something I want to ask.

"Yeah, sure. Why?" - he asks in response.

"I'll tell you once we're there!" - I say as I push him towards the door and take my bag on our way out. In a few seconds, we are out of his house.

I'm not sure if this is actually going to help me keep this conversation private. Maybe Yuri or Natsuki can hear us even here? Maybe Natsuki even uses her spiders to keep track of everything?

"So, now what?" - he asks with a confused expression on his face.

"Why are you helping them? I'm talking about Yuri and Natsuki." - I ask in response.

"Why wouldn't I?" - he replies. I never liked it when people reply to questions with their own questions.

"Why would you? I mean you barely knew them. It's been less than three days and yet you still decided to give them a shelter." - I reply.

"Aren't you forgetting something? That was your idea! N-Not that I was against it or that I'm against it now, but...I just couldn't leave them." - he says, but it still doesn't quite convince me.

"...Are you just trying to get la-"

"What?! NO! I'm just trying to be nice! It's the right thing to do, isn't it?" - he interrupts me...Jesus Christ, he is such a generic main character, but at least he's nice. A bit dumb at times, but still nice.

"Okay then...Still, I think there's something I must give you. Better safe than sorry, right?" - I say before pulling the item in question out of my bag. It's something I spawned back when I still could do that and I have another copy back at home, so, I don't hesitate to give it to him.

"What is this?" - he says before unwrapping it. As soon as he sees the gleaming metal underneath, he freezes and looks at me.

"Just make sure not to let see it, okay?" - I say as I lean towards him. He remains silent for a minute. I hope he understood why I gave him that thing.

"I...Let's just go back inside." - he says before opening the door and entering his house. I follow him until he enters his bedroom and I go to the kitchen instead.

We can't let potential new members bite a cupcake and find a spider's bloody corpse sticking out of it, can we?