"Elizabeth"

Yuri turns around, shocked.

"Who… What are you?"

"Relax. I know what's going on." I reassure.

"You don't. You have no idea."

"I do..."

"... Because I'm Xavier."

Her eyes widen.

"Wh… What?" She's totally flustered.

"I know. It's not possible." I say sarcastically. "I've been here since yesterday morning."

"Really? You're not kidding?" She stares in total disbelief.

"No joke." I reply.

"You're... really Xavier?" She asks tentatively.

"Yes, Elizabeth. It's really me." I spit out.

I'll prove it to you.

"Your birthday is on December 18." She looks surprised, but not enough to prove this to her.

Something only I would know...

"You flunked out of AP Psych three times in a row in high school, and yet still got accepted to a UC school somehow."

"Shut up!" She starts to slap me, then turns it into a hugging motion halfway through.

I catch a glance at Monika.

I read her lips making a "Just this once." motion.

I smile.

"I was so scared all day!" She whines. "I had no idea what was going on! People I didn't know were pretending they knew me and calling me Yuri and my body is-"

"I get it. It's all right now." I say reassuringly.

God, how am I going to tell her?

"Do you have any idea what's happening to us?" She still looks sad, but not as much as before.

"In a nutshell, some people shot us with bullets that pilot our bodies while our actual consciousness was transferred into…" I take a look around.

"Doki Doki Literature Club" She mutters.

"Yes. You've heard of it?"

"Omigawd, it's all Tyler will ever talk about nowadays." We're back to our normal conversations.

It's a bit weird when she's in Yuri's body, though…

"By the way, about Tyler…" It's that voice. The woman!

"Do you hear that?" Elizabeth says, panicky.

"Yeah. It's the people who sent us here." I reply quickly.

"You know how we shot Tyler?"

"Yeah…?" I say.

"Well, long story short, there's a 10 percent rate of failure with our procedure..."

"No…" Our eyes go wide.

"While we did try to digitize Tyler, the process did not go as planned."

Tears well up in my eyes once more.

"I'm truly sorry, Xavier. We didn't want to kill him, but this is still a risky experiment. Many people will die. Unfortunately, Tyler was one of them.."

I feel the tears now running down my cheek.

"Tyler…" I spit.

My friend. Someone I've known for essentially my whole life. Someone I've spent and enjoyed time with.

Is dead?

"No…" I mutter. "It's not possible." I'm in utter disbelief.

In the corner of my eye I see Elizabeth.

She knew him, too.

She's not in tears, but she's close.

"I'm very sorry. Xavier. We-"

"You shut up." I mutter.

"I'm-" The woman is sad, too. But I don't care right now.

"SHUT UP!" I'm screaming now.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I'm a mess.

Then I realize there are other people in the room.

I look to Natsuki and Sayori. They're across the room from us, but they're frozen static.

"Don't worry. I've frozen time for everyone but us."

"What gives you the right to play with people's lives like this?" Elizabeth asks. This is the first time she's said anything. I almost forgot she was here.

"First you send my boyfriend into this goddamn simulation against his will!" She complains. At the word 'boyfriend', I catch a glance at Monika. Her face remains emotionless.

Elizabeth continues. "Then, you throw me in here! Not only that, but in a different body! I can't stand it! And it's your fault I'm here!" Tears are descending her cheeks as she speaks.

"And now we can never go back home. Ever."

Time starts again. The woman's voice is no longer ringing in our craniums.

"Okay, everyone!" Monika chirps once more, trying to pretend nothing happened. "This meeting is over! I'll see you all tomorrow!"

Wordlessly, I leave the clubroom.

After about half an hour, I make it to my house. I open the front door and immediately slam down on the living room sofa.

"What a day…" I gasp out loud.

I cry again.

If this is paradise, I can't imagine what hell is like.