Author's Note: My last project is on hiatus for the moment due to writer's block. I've been working on this particular one for a month now. I haven't finished yet, so I hope this won't experience the same. I'll get back to it one of these days.

Have you ever heard of Dissociative Identity Disorder? Of course you have, you microcephalic addlepate. Yeah, I just quoted that video, call me a nerd all you want. But don't deny that Abridged Kirito is the funniest badass with the most unique voice you've ever heard in any YouTube anime abridged series. But enough about that. Dissociative Identity Disorder was once known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Watch The Three Face of Eve if you'd like to know more about what it's like to have that disorder.

So why am I asking you this, you might ask? Well here's the thing. The tale I'm about to relate has something like that as a plot point, I guess you'd call it. Just keep on reading and you'll see what I mean.

Readers will please note that the description of the house I provide later is my best guess at the layout based off of the background for the MC's house, the kitchen and bedroom. I've taken some liberties as I have some knowledge of Japanese house design, but for the most part I've tried to stay true to the layout I deduced from what limited information I had.

Narration

"Speaking aloud"

MC's thoughts to Josiah

Josiah's thoughts to MC

Text messages

[3rd Person POV]

The cold October evening threatened snow. Thick nimbostratus clouds had rolled in only three hours earlier, and the weather forecast was predicting a heavy snowfall starting at around 10 PM or so. A small car pulled up to the only 7/11 in the small town of Belshire Oregon and a man got out. He was young, with a smooth shaved face and short brown hair that was well kept and parted. The feature about him that stood out from the rest was his heterochromia, a left sky-blue eye and a right bright leaf-green eye. At twenty-two years old, he was in his very last year of college, with his scheduled graduation time at the end of the fall term.

He walked into the convenience store and found that no one else was there save for the cashier, a bored looking teenage boy with shaggy curly hair, who greeted him politely enough before returning to his phone. Walking to the alcohol cooler, he grabbed a few cold cans and brought them to the counter. On his way to checkout, he spotted a display that had packs of Pilot G2 07 metallic pens. He grabbed two packs and headed up to the counter. The cashier rang him up, scanned his ID, bagged his stuff up in two plastic bags and told him to have a good night before returning to whatever he'd been doing on his smartphone. Josiah walked out into the night, holding up the bags triumphantly…

[Josiah POV]

"Jamie! Harv! I got the goodies, bitches!" I held up two plastic bags full of booze, a few Four Loko for Jamie and Harvey, two of my best friends, and Mike's Lemonade for me.

"About damn time!" Jamie, a short blonde with a bombshell body but with a fierceness that one would normally ascribe to a redhead, opened the window and grabbed the bags from me, putting them on the chair next to her.

"Alright, let's go back and get shitfaced!" Harvey announced. Harvey was a head taller than I was, with a large muscular body to fit the typical bodybuilder image he'd been going for ever since high school. However, as opposed to what his build would suggest, he wasn't just some dumb jock. He actually had good grades to keep his scholarship going.

Me? I was nothing like Harv. I was actually quite skinny. I had no muscle to speak of, no visible muscle anyway. I was no pushover, though. I went to the gym once a week for a run on the treadmill for about five miles or so, nothing too strenuous. I was also what people would call a nerd, but I still managed to be friends with two people who would normally never give me the time of day. I also wasn't the brightest scholastically. Harvey had said once, "Your type of smarts are more life lessons and life experience. And useless Doctor Who trivia." I'm sure he was just trying to make me feel better, but at the time it hurt to hear that. I'd since come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be as smart as Harv, but I'm happy that he trusts me with what he calls my "life-street smarts."

I climbed into my car's driver seat and headed out of the parking lot. The roads were empty, which was unusual for this time of night, but the weather forecast had already caused everyone in our small town to stock up earlier in the day just in case. Our local weatherman was normally pretty reliable, so a lot of us trusted him. Of course, like most, he got the weather wrong on occasion, but he was more reliable than most major networks. I actually was good friends with his daughter Bethany and she'd told me once that her father did all the research himself for the local news. His backyard was full of all sorts of weather equipment and, being a lover of all things weather related, I would spend hours just talking to him and his daughter about weather.

"So, what kind of show are we going to be watching tonight?" Harv was asking me. "Not another high fantasy, I hope."

"I know you don't like those," I replied, "so I picked out a classic. Supernatural."

"Classic? That show isn't that old," Jamie laughed.

"Classic to me," I chuckled as I turned into my street. "I've been watching it since it came out."

"Holy shit dude, your parents let you watch that at that age?!" Jamie asked, looking at me astonished.

"Oh hell no. They were gone most nights so I would sneak an episode a week," I said proudly.

Harv looked at me impressed. "Never thought you were the sneaky naughty type," he chuckled as he patted me on the back a bit harder than I'm used to. "Then again, I'm not surprised. With that mouth of yours, you probably learned a thing or two from the Winchesters."

I shrugged it off and laughed. "There's a lot you don't know about me." I played with an invisible mustache and grinned wickedly.

"Kyaaa! Save me from the bad man!" Jamie squealed playfully, clinging to her boyfriend. This elicited a laugh from all three of us as I pulled into the driveway of my small one-bedroom house. The garage door opened and I pulled in. Once I turned off my engine, the others and I climbed out. I took the bags of booze and the fast food we got earlier from Jamie and walked through the garage door into my small kitchen.

Once I placed everything on the kitchen counter and threw my backpack on my bed, I began pulling out the food and separating them onto plates for each of us. Jamie and Harv took theirs and went straightaway to the living room. I followed after putting extra cans of booze in the fridge and cleaning up to find the two of them had already snuggled up close on my couch. I rolled my eyes. "Damn normies," I murmured playfully under my breath but enough so that they could hear.

"Hey, you have a house all to yourself, who's not normal?" Harv teased right back as I sat in my reclining chair.

"Wait, you mean you don't already have your lives figured out?" I chuckled as I got comfortable in the chair. "Like yours truly. And here I thought you were smarter than me."

"Har har. Seriously, how do you afford such a cozy pad?" Harv asked.

"My parents help out a lot," I admitted. "They pay for the rent and upkeep, and I pay for stuff like the utilities and internet."

"You've got great parents," Jamie said.

"I know it. Now let's watch some TV and get drunk!" I said, opening my first can of cold Mike's. I turned on the TV and switched to my external hard drive. I selected the first episode of Supernatural…

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I groaned as I woke up to the sound of an alarm going off loudly next to my ears, its sharp piercing wails causing me to develop an instant headache. I thought to myself that last night was the last time I'd ever drink five cans of Mike's in one sitting. I slowly sat up and held my head, trying to remember the events of the previous night. I remembered going out with Jamie and Harv to get some booze for the night, then going back to my place. We all got incredibly drunk before the lovestruck but wasted couple stumbled out of my house back to their own home a few blocks away. My memory got fuzzy after that, but I thought I remembered stumbling to bed.

In my half-asleep state, I reached over to turn the alarm off, only to slowly realize that I didn't set an alarm the night before. I couldn't have, considering how I never set an alarm in the first place as my body naturally got up early for work or school even with a hangover. Not that I needed to get up as today was Saturday anyway. I rubbed my eyes and looked around the room I was in, only to realize that it was completely dark.

"What the hell-?" My eyes widened. My voice didn't sound like my voice. It sounded more youthful than mine was. "What happened last night? Am I sick or something?" I tried to feel for my phone which I normally kept on the nightstand to my left. However, my hand hit a wall. I was in a full-blown panic mode now. My right hand finally landed on something that felt like a phone on what I assumed was a nightstand on my right, only it wasn't my smartphone but a flip phone. I opened it. The alarm was coming from the phone so I turned it off then used it as a light to help me look around the room.

It wasn't even close to the shape of my room. Across from me there was a large bookshelf stocked with a few books on the shelves. There was also a flat-screen television sitting on one of the shelves. Beyond my feet I saw a desk with a desktop computer sitting on it. There was a closed brown door at the other end of the room. On my left was a window with the shade drawn, but it was apparently still nighttime outside so the entire room was dark. To my right was a small closet. The room as a whole looked somewhat familiar. I saw a light switch next to the door.

I got out of bed and almost fell flat on my face. My body felt much lighter than it did before. I caught myself and carefully stood again, getting my bearings as best as I could. Once I had, I walked over and turned the light on, blinking as the ceiling light blinded me. My eyed adjusted and I looked at the room. With the new view of the room, I felt a rush of recognition and fear wash over me. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me! This is the MC's room!"

I'd played Doki Doki Literature Club two years ago after Harv and Jamie convinced me to play, and after getting the shock of a lifetime after completing it and becoming an emotional wreck for a few days, I'd played a couple of the mods, looked up the alternate routes on the wiki, and even looked up and downloaded a few of the fan songs, but I then left it in my Steam profile and had nearly forgotten about it. I had to give props to the creator, it was a well written visual novel. Not my favorite game but it was up there. It really affected me and got me to consider myself lucky that I had the choices that the girls didn't have. I couldn't listen to Monika's song without tearing up, though; I still couldn't.

I approached the door cautiously, slowly opening it. The room I was in was located just at the end of a small hallway, with two more closed doors to the left of the MC's and another across from this room. From the room to the left room I heard the sound of soft breathing from two sources, one feminine and one masculine. I guessed it was probably the MC's parents. I slipped out as slowly and quietly as I could, still using the light from the phone to light my way.

I put my ear up to the other door and, hearing nothing, very slowly opened it. This room was a little bit bigger than MC's, with a large bed situated in the corner with two windows. Next to the foot of the bed was a desk with a desktop computer similar to the one in the MC's room. Against the adjacent wall was a large dresser with a mirror attached. On the wall next to the head of the bed was a closet similar to the one in the MC's room. There wasn't anyone sleeping in the room and it looked like no one had slept in the bed in a while. The clothes I saw in the closet looked female.

After exploring a bit, I closed the door and headed downstairs. I reached the base of the stairs and found myself facing a small hallway. To my left there stood the kitchen and to my right a room with a door that was closed as well as a living room behind the stairs. I walked down the hall and saw two doors standing side by side on my right, a door at the end of the hall and one on the left. I opened the first one ion the left slowly and saw a fully stocked bath in modern Japanese style. There was an outer and inner room, the inner room being the bath and shower and the outer being a laundry room/changing room. I walked in, quietly shut the door, found the lightswitch and flipped it on. There was a sink to the left of the door and I walked over. A young teenager looked back at me, eyes wide with astonishment. "What the…" I was completely dumbfounded. I looked Japanese in every way. The face I saw looking back had straight dark brown hair, brown eyes, was clean shaven and looked very generic.

The door next to the bathroom was the toilet, nothing spectacular about it save for the bidet and the sink built into the toilet itself. At the end of the hallway was another door which, when I looked, was just a closet with a few towels, spare bathroom and toilet supplies on the shelves and a good-sized washing machine. On the left was yet another door. I opened it and saw, to my further astonishment, that the MC's house had a basement which I decided to explore later.

The kitchen was exactly the same as the image from the game itself, containing a full sized silvery gray refrigerator, a large countertop, cupboards and shelves, a two-level oven, four burner stove, full sized sink and a table with four chairs around it. I walked over to the fridge and, to my relief, there was a decent amount of food inside. The cupboards weren't bare either. Some had canned food in them, others had snacks that didn't need to be refrigerated like chips, and others had plates, bowls, and cups.

I next went to the closed door nearby and when I opened it I saw a small study with a sliding glass door opposite. I saw two small desks with what appeared to be state of the art PCs sitting on two desks. One was to the left of the door, the other was to the right. On one wall was a bookshelf full of DVDs as well as some older VHS cassettes.

Last, I came to the living room. It was, by far, the largest room in the house. There was a long window that faced out the same direction the front door faced. There was also a sliding glass door that looked out into the yard, which wasn't terribly big but when I looked out, I saw a couple of lawn chairs folded up and leaning against the wall. I first noticed here that a part of the second floor seemed to stand out farther than the first floor. I tried to remember in detail what the background for the MC's house looked like, but I couldn't for the life of me remember there being anything like what I was seeing. It wasn't as if I had studied the house in detail. The living room slightly resembled the background for MC's living room in the Purist Mod. There was a small walkway down to the genkan. Mounted on the walkway wall in the living room was a large flat screen television. On the floor beneath was a small entertainment center which had a small cablebox that displayed the time, which by now was 4:12 AM. It also had a DVD/VHS player and a Blu-ray player stacked together. There was a connected sectional couch, part of which was underneath the long window.

From upstairs I heard a door open. The light on the ceiling in the upstairs hallway turned on and someone walked over to the stairs. "Meiji? Is that you down there?" a mature sounding woman asked.

Assuming that Meiji was the name of the game's self-insert protagonist, I walked over to the stairs again and looked up. "Yeah, it's me. Sorry, I had a nightmare and was going to get a glass of water."

A woman stood at the top of the stairs. She was a middle aged but still attractive and beautiful Japanese woman with loose flowing shoulder length brown hair. I heard the door open again and a man appeared. He looked a little like Meiji, but with black hair instead and with a few wrinkles. "Meiji? Why are you up? It's not even time for us to get up yet."

"He had a nightmare, sweetie," the woman said, "Meiji, do you want me to get it for you?"

I smiled a bit. "I'm already down here, so I can get it. I'll go to bed afterwards, I promise. Sorry if I woke you."

The older woman began walking down the stairs and before I knew it her arms were wrapped around me. "Let me worry about my little boy a little," she said, stroking my hair.

For some reason, the gentle touch of the woman I now guessed was Meiji's mother, brought all my sudden feelings of fear and apprehension at being in this particular world to a head. I hugged back, allowing the warm tender touch to calm me down. I heard the man, Meiji's father I guessed, walk down and put a heavy but comforting hand on my shoulder. "It was just a nightmare, son," he said in a gruff but obviously kindly tone.

"Yeah…I know…it just felt so real."

"Nightmares often do," Meiji's mother said. "Come on, let's get you back to bed and I'll bring you some warm milk."

Despite myself, I smiled. "I'd like that, thanks Mom."

Meiji's mother led me upstairs and into the MC's room. Meiji's father simply said good night to me and went back into his room. I sat on the edge of the bed and soon Meiji's mother came up with a nice warm mug of milk. "What was the nightmare about, sweetie?" she asked, rubbing my back as I sipped.

"I…I don't really remember much," I lied. "I just remember the fear. Fear of loss. And I felt like I wasn't in control."

She hugged me again. "You're not going to lose anyone, you hear me? Not for a very long time."

I finished the mug and smiled gratefully. "Thanks Mom."

"Now go to bed. You can at least sleep in, but Dad and I can't." She gave me a kiss on the cheek and left. I lay back down in the darkened room. "Alright, so I'm officially freaking out," I said quietly to no one in particular. "First, I wake up in MC's room-"

No, this is my room! And who the hell are you!?

I stopped and sat up quickly. That voice had come from my head, but it wasn't my thoughts. I frowned, tilting my head in confusion. "Who said that?"

I did! What's going on? Why can't I move? The voice sounded exactly like the one I was using, and it sounded terrified.

"Hang on a second, are you…Meiji?"

Damn right I am! Who the hell are you!?

I lay back down. "Listen, I'm sure you're freaking out a lot, but it's nothing compared to how I'm feeling. But I suppose you should know my name. My name's Josiah Bordeaux."

Chizu Meiji, he replied. Now seriously, what the hell's going on?! You have control of my body, how are you any more terrified than I am!?

"If you want to know, just calm down and I'll tell you."

Calm?! HOW CAN I BE CALM! I'm trapped in my own-

SMACK! I held my hand up, having just smacked my own cheek. "Calm. Down."

Damn it…I felt that.

"Good. Now just take a few deep breaths, alright? It's not doing us any good just panicking."

The voice in my head sighed. Alright, alright. So, I guess I'm not going crazy?

"No, you really aren't," I said. "but what I'm about to tell you is going to make me sound crazy, so you're going to have to bear with me, alright?"

What other choice do I have? Meiji said.

I sat up. "First of all, I need to ask you a couple of questions to get my bearings. How old are you right now?"

Eighteen.

I nodded. If that was the case, that meant the game was more than likely about to begin or would begin when we went to school. "Alright, so far so good. What's the date?" I looked at the phone and saw that the date was October 22, 2017, a Sunday. "Hey, when's the school's festival?"

A week after this one. Why do you ask?

I frowned. "One more day until the game begins."

Game? What game?

"A game of life and death involving you. Well, us."

There was a pause. What do you mean? His voice had become apprehensive now.

Being thrust into this world so suddenly and in such an unusual manner, I wasn't expecting to have to come to such a hard decision as the one I had before me. Do I or don't I tell him? Such thoughts were running through my head. "Ah hell, screw it. Listen very carefully," I said. "What I am about to say can never leave these lips by either of us. Got it?"

Y-You're scaring me.

"Take a deep breath. Your stuttering makes you sound like Yuri," I said. "Now, make me that promise. You cannot tell a soul, not yet anyway."

Okay, I don't know how I could tell anyone, but I promise.

It was my turn to take a deep breath. "Tell me, do you know what the Simulation Theory is?"

No…

"I figured. The Simulation Theory is the theory that the universe is a hyper advanced computer simulation. In some sense, the same theory applies to your world." I stopped and waited to see how Meiji would react.

Go on… I could hear the disbelief in his tone.

"The world you live in, this world, is a lie. Now before you go calling me crazy, just listen. You know what a visual novel is, right?"

Of course.

"You're a part of a visual novel called Doki Doki Literature Club. In fact, you're the main protagonist."

Don't screw with me!

"I'm not, I promise."

If that's true, then why me? I'm not anybody special.

"Exactly! The people who created the game wanted to create a person who didn't stand out much even as a background character in an anime."

Oh wow, thanks for that…

"I don't mean anything by it! It's just that the player is meant to identify with you. Normally, people who play visual novels and dating sims are nerds like you and me, right?" I took a breath. "I get how this sounds, believe me, but if you want proof, I do know some things about you that I learned from playing the game before."

Go on.

I cleared my throat. "You have a childhood best friend named Sayori. Short hair, red bow in her hair, bright blue eyes and always smiling and happy. You're going to high school with her, but you haven't hung out with her much since high school started. Oh, and you also had class with a girl named Monika last year."

How do you know about Sayori and Monika?!

"They're both characters in the game."

I see…so what do we do now?

I stroked my chin. "Alright. For starters, why don't we spend part of today with Sayori?"

Sayori? Why? I sensed a reluctance coming from him.

"Why not? You guys are friends, right? Why wouldn't you want to spend time with her?"

I…I don't know. I always thought she could do so much better than me. Like you said earlier, I'm no one special. She's pretty well known at school and I'm sure some of her classmates even have a crush on her.

That caught me off guard. I imagined that the DDLC protagonist stopped hanging out with Sayori because of him being so generic and something of an asshole, but the truth was a lot more realistic and depressing. "Do you really think that? If she thought that would she have played with you as kids? Didn't you help whenever she hurt herself? What about when she nearly burned her house down when she tried cooking?"

How do you know about that?

"It came up in the game." I caught something on the desk. Standing I walked over and saw a picture with a young Meiji and a very cute girl with a red bow and long hair. Unlike her sprite, this image of Sayori showed her as having a lighter shade of brown hair than Meiji instead of the pinkis hue seen in the game, but it made sense. Pink hair is naturally impossible and the only reason anime, manga and games gave characters unnatural hair color was so that they'd stand out more. "Wow, I didn't realize Sayori had long hair at one time. She looks so cute!"

She cut it a little while ago; wanted to go for a new look, I guess.

"Shame. She should go for longer hair. It would suit her." I put the picture down and sat back on the bed. "By the way, your parents said they work today, but today's Sunday, right?"

My parents normally work on Sundays. They work from Sunday to Thursday with Friday and Saturday off.

"Alright, I wasn't expecting that."

Hmm? I could literally feel the confusion from my new, unwilling companion.

"In the game, your parents are never around, so I assumed they would be either overseas as is the stereotype or something."

No, they just work very long hours.

"Alright I got it." I said. "Should I continue? About the game I mean."

Yes…

"Alright…To continue, Doki Doki Literature Club was made by an American team to appear as just another free run-of-the-mill dating sim. You've got a bunch of stereotypical anime female tropes to choose from, such as the childhood friend, the responsible and perfect club president who's way out of your league, a classic tsundere and a shy but very busty and nerdy bookworm. However, the club president becomes aware that she's in a game and attempts to get the Player, not the protagonist but the Player, to choose her. However, the president has no route. Now before I go on, can you see this?" I closed my eyes and imagined a very clear image of a tree.

That's a nice tree, but why are you showing me this?

"A test. I was going to show you something."

Why?

"As further proof."

I doubt you can show me-oh wow… I immediately began imagining Sayori's room as best I could remember it. Alright, I think I get it. Some of the details are wrong but still…

"Now how could I know what Sayori's room looked like without having seen it as I've described it?"

You've made your point.

"I need to show you a few more things. Here." I showed him the sprites for Yuri, Sayori, Monika and Natsuki. "These are the girls. You already know Sayori and Monika, Yuri is the shy bookworm with the dynamite body and Natsuki is the classic tsundere with the pink hair and cute look. Out of all of them, Monika is the one who becomes self-aware. She attempts to get the player's attention by making the other girls appear less appealing to the player. She messes with their negative character traits."

But Sayori doesn't have any-

"She suffers from depression, and if we don't do anything about it, she will hang herself at the end of the week before the festival!" I had to make my whispers louder to make my point as I didn't want to bother the parents.

I didn't hear him for a while. Just when I was about to ask if he was okay, I heard him ask in a very shaky voice, Are you sure?

"It's a pretty common thing for people with depression to hide it. They act all bubbly and cheerful when on the inside they feel no happiness. I have some depression, although not to the extent she does, so trust me." When he didn't reply, I said, "I know I've just thrown a bunch of information at you at once, but we don't have the luxury of time."

It's…my fault. I felt tears coming to my eyes despite not feeling sad myself. I haven't been there enough for her. I should have been more aware…

Startled by the tears and the guilt that washed over me, but not from me, I took on a calmer tone. "Hey whoa, I didn't mean to make you upset, I just-"

It's my fault! Why didn't I see the signs?! The tears kept flowing now and I was dabbing at them with my shirt.

I sighed and once more slapped his face. "Breathe, okay, breathe. We can do something about it."

But what can we do about it?

"First, we're also going to try and spend more time with Sayori."

I felt a wave of guilt coming from inside me again. I...I didn't mean for that to happen. I just...well…

"You can explain it to me another time. For now, we should spend today with Sayori. In the meantime, let's get a bit more sleep. I don't mind sleeping in, but we shouldn't sleep in too long. After all, a day with Sayori is always an adventure, right?"

I heard him chuckling and the tears began to stop. Yes, it always it. Alright, we spend some time today with Sayori.

"Let me take the reins for today. I know what's coming, you don't."

I don't exactly like the idea, but we don't have a choice, I guess. Well, goodnight. And just like that, I felt him fall asleep. I'm not sure how I knew, but it was as if a pressure in my head relaxed a bit. I lay down but couldn't sleep. After an hour, I heard movement from the outside of my room. A light turned on and I heard footsteps exiting from another room. I saw the bedroom door open just a bit so I lay there pretending to be asleep. After a bit the door closed and I was alone again.

However, I still couldn't sleep. I played over different scenarios in my head, how many things could go wrong. I didn't know what I should do. Should I confront Monika? Should I even join the damn club? If I don't join the club, will Monika even get her epiphany? Or will something else cause Sayori to hang herself again?

"Gah, enough of this!" I said loudly, sitting up. It was then that I noticed something I hadn't seen before in the corner of the room not normally seen. Next to a large dark blue dresser was my backpack. I got out of bed and unzipped it. "Jackpot!" I shouted as I pulled out my laptop. Not only that, but I had a few of my other precious electronic devices, like my phone, a few external hard drives with all my TV shows on them as well as a Bluetooth boombox and headphones. When I looked through the other pouches, I also found the two packs of pens I'd bought at the convenience store. The accompanying chargers were neatly tied up and placed in a separate pouch just as I'd left them. I attempted to open my internet browser on my phone. Nothing happened. I tried on another browser, but still nothing happened. "Guess I can't access the internet…unless the Chizu's have wifi?" I checked the wifi and found a few, but they were all locked. I decided to ask for the password later. I plugged my phone in and lay back on the bed, covering myself with the blanket. As I lay there, I pondered over the choices I had before me. I had a day or two to prepare for the upcoming encounter with the girls and I still didn't quite know how to approach it. As I went over the ideas, a new one struck me. My eyes widened in astonishment and I chuckled. I grabbed my phone, put a note in it then lay back down. "I'll run it by Meiji tomorrow," I said as I tried to relax. Eventually I was fast asleep.

When I next opened my eyes, I saw light from the window next to the bed. I slowly sat up, yawned and stretched. Hey you. You're finally awake, Meiji said. He sounded exasperated

I decided to try and bring some humor in to calm him down. "Walked right into that Imperial ambush while I was trying to cross the border," I chuckled as I slowly swung my legs over the bed. "How long have you been awake?"

Not long, but I still couldn't even take control even when you were asleep, I heard him reply in a frustrated tone.

"Really? That's odd." I looked at the clock on his phone, which read 9:38 AM. "Not too early but not too late either, good. Gives us time to shower and eat breakfast. Well, why don't we get ready for a day of fun before school tomorrow?"

Yeah…I guess…

I sensed something reluctant in his tone. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

It's just…I still feel bad about leaving Sayori alone for so many years. For drifting apart…for causing her depression…

"You didn't cause her depression, dude. Depression is a medical issue caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Besides, today is the day we can start amending for it. I may be the one in control, but I want to help the two of you get closer again. It's the least I can do in our current situation." I cleared my throat. "Also, I had an idea after you went to sleep last night…about one way to save the girls."

Am I going to like this idea?

"Probably not, but I want to run it by you anyway." I took a deep breath. "We should let Sayori know about…me."

What?! That's insane! She'll never believe it! She'll think I'm just playing a trick on her like- he stopped suddenly.

"Like you have in the past, right?" I said. I felt more sympathy for the guy. Despite how he was portrayed in the game, I didn't think he was a bad guy. Maybe a bit insensitive, but not all that was his fault. "Meiji, I'm not saying we tell her about everything. I'm just saying that we tell her that I'm another personality that emerged recently or something. I tell her I have memories of a life I've never really lived and that I woke up in your body. I tell her you and I can communicate with each other and that we're working on a way to let you take control again."

And her club?

I paused. I hadn't thought it through completely the night before, but when he mentioned the club another scenario played out in my head. What if Sayori didn't invite Meiji to the club after I told her what was going on today? "She may not take us to her club that day," I said aloud. "You're right, but I still think telling her is a good idea. Maybe instead of telling her alone, we tell them all at once. Maybe the other members of her club can help too. Yuri may know of some way to let you come through. And we're going to need Monika's help too."

That…makes a bit more sense. So, are you going to act like me today when we hang out with Sayori?

"I'll do my best. I hate doing it, but it's for the best. But if you don't think we should do that we can just stay home and experiment or just relax. This is your body, after all."

There was an almost pregnant pause as I waited for Meiji to reply. Finally, I felt a sigh. I think what you say makes sense. You can act like me today. But I have the right to change my mind, okay?

"I've no problem with that," I replied. "I'd say shake on it, but that'd be redundant."

Haha, I heard him laugh dryly.

"Oh, I'm a funny guy. Alright, let's text Sayori and ask if she wants to hang with us today, but first…Meiji, where's your wallet?"

On my desk, he said.

Looking over I spotted a small brown wallet. I opened it and counted out the bills. "Geez, how rich are your parents to be able to afford giving all this money?" I asked.

It's a part of my allowance. I don't really go out much so I've been saving it.

"For anything in particular?" I asked as I put it back down and headed to the closet to look for a change of clothes.

Not especially, he said, I'm not very social.

"I get that, I am too," I said as I grabbed a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt with a hoodie to match. "Alright, now let's text Sayori. I'm gonna need your help too. I don't know the layout of your city. What is your city's name, anyway?"

I've been relegated to internal GPS, he grumbled. And it's Kōzai.

"Oh stop. If I knew how to let you take control, I'd give it back. And Kōzai huh? Good to know. What's the name of the school?"

Sakura Academy.

"Of course it is." I opened Meiji's phone and looked through his contacts. I saw Mom, Dad, Sayori, and someone named Aiko. "Who's Aiko?" I asked curiously.

My older sister. She's away at college right now.

Okay…that was definitely something not mentioned in the game. "Wow, I didn't realize you had an older sister," I said. I then decided to tease him a bit in an attempt to help him relax a bit, as well as get a little bit of revenge for all the times he teased Sayori. "Is she hot?"

Hey!

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," I quickly reassured him. "Does she live on campus?"

Yes, he said, still sounding a bit grumpy. We probably won't see her. Sorry if that bursts your bubble.

"Come on, don't be mad, I won't do anything like pursue your hot sister," I said. "Alright, here we go." I opened a new chat window and typed out Sayori! Hey, it's Meiji. Wanna hang out today? It took me a while to send the text because I wasn't used to flip phone texting. "Now we play the waiting game."

Not more than thirty seconds later we got a reply. Yes! What are we gonna do?

"What would Sayori like to do?" I wondered, mostly to myself. "I'd imagine she's the kind of gal who'd enjoy anything as long as the other people are happy. Does your city have arcade games and parks? Oh, and good restaurants too."

I know a few places, yeah. I saw in my mind's eye a nice quiet park with a lake in the middle and ducks in the lake, then the scene switched to a café. Lastly, he showed me a small gaming arcade.

"Perfect." I typed back We can go to the park, the arcade, maybe see a movie and get something nice to eat after if we have time.

You're making it sound like we're going on a date! Meiji shouted in my head, sounding flustered. I didn't agree to this! Stop right now!

"Calm down dude," I said. "This is a good way to start making it up to Sayori for how distant you've become, as well as a great way to reconnect. I know you like her."

I-I don't like her or anything! he shouted.

"Now you're sounding like Natsuki," I chuckled, then got serious. "But think about it for a second. You and I have a chance to save Sayori from her possible death." I was reluctant to bring that up, but I felt it was necessary.

No fair…you had to bring that up. I felt tears forming in my eyes and Meiji's sadness and guilt almost overwhelmed me. I didn't…want to stop spending time with Sayori. I just…she's so bright and chipper and I-well you know all about me, smarty-pants!

I sat on the bed again. "Don't say that. Meiji, you may have your flaws, but deep down you're a caring person who hates seeing people cry or get hurt. Please just trust me."

While I was waiting for his response, the phone chimed again. I looked at the reply from Sayori. Ooooh! Those all sound fun! What time?

Damn it…alright, you win. Just…don't do anything weird to her, okay?

"Thanks, and don't worry, I won't. She's your crush after all." I I shot Sayori another text. I'll stop by your house at 10:30.

See you then!

You better know what you're doing, Meiji said as I gathered some clothes for the day.

"I hope I do too…"

Yeah I know it's another self-insert. I wrote this partially for practice and partially because it was an idea I had, having two personalities in MC's body. I'm actually tempted to make this into a full blown mod. Hope you enjoy.

morbiusgreen