Author's Notes: It's been some time since we're gotten another chapter for Conflicting Reality. After a bit a prolonged break, (as well as losing a lot of my prior saved chapters), it's time for me to once again tackle the stories I've left on the side for a while. I apologize for the long delay but it can't be helped.

Chapter 9: Perspective of Dusk (preview)

It's not often that we'd see things from a different perspective. However, today... we're going to make a change happen. Two minds of the same body. Same life, and yet, two almost completely different people. Today, I'm recording my own perspective, whether you like it or not...

As you could probably guess, we're not following my old self in his story to find true love through this simulation. Today, we're going to have a little gander at the system. I've been doing my own research from the shadows and I believe there is more going on in here than meets the eye. The developers were trying desperately to hide some of the details away and yet... I'm finding little things here and there that are almost... alarming.

I'm almost certain Monika has seen some of these notes, but has not said anything about them... I question if her creators prevented her from seeing their internal side notes and text they left behind in dark corners of this expansive world. Regardless of how much foresight she was gifted in this experiment of theirs... even she cannot see everything in this system... to her, it would be like gazing at a large landscape painting. There's a vast canvas with several layers to look at; she can see plenty, but whether she can spot the smallest of details... has yet to be seen from my perspective. I imagine she can.

Anyway... I should stop gawking and start looking into the simulation system again, while my other half and Monika are busy for the day... if I focus for just a moment... and reach out, I can see the other side of this system... It's almost like another world in itself. Everything is dark here, but as soon as I start looking for something specific, white digital lines appear before me. Above, below and all around me. I see purely binary, filling the spaces. Most of which is just junk or purely little details that don't really mean a whole lot without a bigger strings of data.

In... most cases, I wouldn't normally worry about a game and what kind of implications it would have on the rest of the world... but in this game, THIS particular game... this simulation of Doki Doki Literature Club! In its past, it has done more than just scar several gamers around the world. It has much more psychological threat potential. While it was still shrouded in mystery and limited by the Salvato team... there were still a few secrets left in which no one could figure out. This new development team could have possibly found something regarding those older secrets, and by proxy could have found something just as dark, if not darker.

Like I said previously, I couldn't care less about the simulation itself... while the original concept of it was... mildly pleasing to the thought at first glance. Something just didn't feel right about it... While Josh was almost a bit too enthusiastic about it, I only agreed to embark on this journey with the intent to see what will become of this simulation. I also desired to see if he- or should I say... if we both grew from the pain we endured from this game so long ago... I would be lying if I said I didn't have some sort of... "attachment" to one of the characters here... however, my opinion on this matter means nothing. Just as my existence is.

The more I skim through the data, the less of myself I see. I feel like a true hollow vessel living amongst the work of data beings. Almost as if my separate body was just that, an error... a mistake... For now, it doesn't matter. I exist separately from myself for a reason, and I'll make the most of this situation.

I had told Monika I'd be away from the school today while I work on research. She seemed to believe me, but I'll continue to keep my wits up. I know she is still a bit suspicious of me... not that I blame her honestly. I can tell when she's looking through the mainframe, as long as I don't make any sudden moves or changes, she probably wouldn't notice when I make little changes to the system...

What changes you ask?

...

Nothing special or specific enough for it to matter. I'm not exceedingly talented enough to tamper with extreme assets and code that have been laid out so neatly by the development team.

There are a few adjustments here and there such as improved framerate, cache auto-cleaning, simulation time alterations... You know, basic things that don't crash a simulation, but just slightly improve the overall experience... Hopefully, my other self appreciates it.

I reached through the binary for a moment and started looking even deeper into the back of the system's code... It's a bit of a pain, but sometimes it's worth it. This time around... I went even further past the system. I found... something unusual. It looked to be... another computer terminal? It's a bit unfamiliar to me though... Well... I say "terminal", but it's really just some sort of desktop.

I can imagine it belongs to one of the developers perhaps... my natural instincts have been telling me to go back, because this is technically an "invasion of privacy" to some sort of degree... but since I've already gone this far... why not try to look into this simulations development notes?

Unfortunately, I have to be extra careful as I'm looking around in here, even the slightest slip up could... end poorly. I have learned a few tricks that might help (granted if I remember to cover my tracks)... but I need to see what I'm looking for first...

After a moment of searching the main desktop... I came across some sort of popup. Clicking on it brought up a browser of sorts... Soon, I had access to a conversation of some kind. It looked like a bunch of emails between various co-workers... discussing some odd things that were happening in their simulations. Monika in every instance was attempting to find a way to break the simulation after finding out about her existence and self-sentience. Not really all that surprising... so far at least.

The latest messages report more calming interactions with Monika... at the expense of manipulating her concept of reality... which still ended up corrupting the simulation. I... almost feel bad for her... to be used in such twisted mind games and experiments. But this is the unfortunate cost of science... Even if her existence isn't real in our reality, does it make it right to take advantage of her? ... I don't think so... and he feels the same way... I may be nothing, but if I exist, I have a right to live this life. Monika... she deserves a chance too...

The question now becomes... would she really want to walk away from the life she has now and leave her digital friends behind in order to love someone real? The Literature Club... is really all she has. But if an opportunity really presents itself for her to change her life... and his... I wonder... what would happen then...?

To be continued...

Author's Notes: Once again, I apologize for the significant delay in the story progression... I just now realized that it's been basically a whole year since I updated Conflicting Reality... wow time sure flies by... but I haven't given up on these stories. Life has just been a fun little nightmare to deal with. Since working full time recently, the job kinda pulled my time away from hobbies, so it's been difficult writing up more chapters. I am a little bit happy with this how this chapter is progressing.

At first I wasn't sure how to progress into the "Next Day" of the Literature Club. Even after reading back through my old chapters. So, what better way to change it up temporarily than by going into a different perspective for a chapter. Time to see it from the Nobody's perspective. Being the preview there will be more to come. But I hope you've enjoyed reading thus far. (Hopefully I can pump up the motivation to pull out the complete chapter soon.)

*"Why a preview though?" (I know I've had this question before) As a creative type... I sometimes get a little perfectionist heavy. Aside from the fact that when I'm writing, I tend to question, how much writing will suffice for an actual chapter? I get stuck on chapters A LOT now days because I don't know where my stopping point should be at times... ESPECIALLY in this story. Where I've reached 9,000 words in a single chapter in the past. I sometimes want to 1-up past chapters, but I know I probably shouldn't be doing that. I'd never finish this story if that's the mindset I get. So, I post a "preview" if I feel uncomfortable with the initial start of the chapter in its progress. It gives me time to look over it again, add more and think about what's important about the chapter itself.

So yeah, I'm sorry if it's not the complete chapter. Trust me, I'd love to shoot the whole thing out in a single night, but with life changes as they are now, I can't afford to do that anymore. I can't be risking sleep over it. And even this chapter in it's current state without author's notes is a little over 1,200 words. I feel it's definitely going to need more before I deem it a "complete" chapter.

With this new perspective, it helps with the motivation because I can start shaping the story a bit more from more angles. I can finally start pushing the idea that something is not really okay with the simulation. (Well... sort of. It's complicated when on the inside looking out for something specific.) Anyway, that's all from me tonight. I'm finishing this up right before work tomorrow. So I probably won't be able to continue working on my stories until next weekend and that's if I find motivation to work on them. But we. Shall. See. Until next time

- Joxhaus

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