Chapter 2: Welcome to the Club

"Heeeeeeeyyy!!"

Sayori ran toward me from the distance, waving her arms in the air like she was totally oblivious to any attention she might draw to herself.

She's been my neighbor and good friend since we were children. She was the kind of friend I'd never see myself making today, but it just kind of worked out because we've known each for so long.

We used to walk to school together on days like this, but starting around high school, she would oversleep more and more frequently. And I would get tired of waiting up.

I sighed and idled in front of the crosswalk to let Sayori catch up to me.

"Haaahhh... Haaahhh..." Sayori panted. "I overslept again! But I caught you this time!"

I gave a shrug. "Maybe. But only because I decided to stop and wait for you."

She straightened the red bow in her coral pink hair as we continued walking.

We crossed the street together and made our way to school. As we drew near, the streets became increasingly speckled with other students making their daily commute.

"By the way," Sayori said with a slight hesitation in her voice, "have you decided on a club to join yet?"

"A club? I told you already. I'm really not interested in joining any clubs."

Sayori gave me a pouty face. "That's not true! You told me you would join a club this year. Because this year is different. This year's festival is the tournament. You wanna win, don't you?"

"I guess. Not that I have any chance."

"But you do," she said with an enthusiastic nod. "You just have to join a club. You trust me, right? Don't make me keep worrying about you..."

"Alright. Alright," I replied. "I'll look at a few clubs if it makes you happy. No promises, though."

Sayori jumped up in the air. "Yaay!"

After the school day was over, I still sat at my desk, spacing out as I stared at the wall.

Clubs...

If Sayori wanted me to check out some clubs, I had no choice but to start with the Anime Club. This year's festival was supposed to be a fighting tournament. The problem was that I couldn't fight. Some students were athletic and played sports. Others knew martial arts. I didn't have any of that. At least if I joined the Anime Club, they might have a katana or something I could use.

"Hellooo?"

"Sayori...?"

Snapping out of my daze, I looked around the room. I was the only one left in the classroom other than Sayori.

She stared at me with wide eyes and an even wider smile. "If you haven't decided on a club yet, I thought that you could come to my club!"

Sayori was vice president of the Literature Club. There was no way a bunch of book nerds could win a fighting tournament.

"Sorry. I'm going to the Anime Club."

Sayori dropped her smile. "C'mon. Please? I kind of told the club yesterday I would bring a new member. And Natsuki made cupcakes and everything... Ehehe..."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," I said with a long sigh. "Fine. I'll stop by for a cupcake, okay?"

"Yes! Let's go," Sayori yelled, her smile returning instantly.

And thus, today marked the day I sold my soul for a cupcake.

I followed Sayori across the school and upstairs - a section of the school I rarely visited. Sayori swung open the classroom door with excitement.

"Everyone!" Sayori called out. "The new member is here!"

I glanced around the room.

A tall, purple haired girl approached me. "Welcome to the Literature Club. It's a pleasure meeting you."

Next to her stood a short girl with pastel pink hair. She frowned at me. "Seriously? You brought a boy?"

"What a nice surprise to see you here," Monika said with a smile. Monika and I were in the same class last year. She was probably the most popular girl in class - smart, beautiful, athletic. Basically, completely out of my league.

All words escaped me in this situation. This club was full of incredibly cute girls!!

"What are you looking at?" the pink haired girl said, crossing her arms.

"This is Natsuki, always full of energy," Sayori said, pointing at the girl with the sour attitude. She then moved toward the purple haired girl. "And this is Yuri, the smartest in the club!"

"D-Don't say things like that," Yuri whispered.

Sayori finally reached Monika. "And it sounds like you already know Monika."

"It's great to see you again," Monika said, smiling sweetly. She leaned toward me, her long brown ponytail resting softly at her back.

"Y-You too, Monika," I replied, trying hard not to stare.

"I'll get the cupcakes," Sayori said.

But Natsuki intervened. "Hey! I made them, I'll get them."

Sayori chuckled. "Sorry. I got a little too excited."

"I'll get the tea," Yuri added.

The girls had a few desks arranged to form a table. Natsuki grabbed a wrapped tray from the corner of the room. She proudly marched back to the table, tray in hand.

"Okaaay, are you ready?" she said with a wide grin. "Ta-daa!"

Natsuki lifted the foil off the tray to reveal a dozen white, fluffy cupcakes decorated to look like little cats. The whiskers were drawn with icing, and little pieces of chocolate were used to make ears.

Sayori grabbed one first, then Monika. I followed.

"It's delicious," Sayori said with her mouth full.

Yuri passsed tea to each of us as well.

"So, what made you consider the Literature Club?" Monika asked me.

Um...

Something told me I shouldn't tell Monika I was practically dragged here by Sayori.

"Well, with the tournament coming up, I figured I could learn a thing or two by reading about battle strategies or something."

That made Monika laugh. "Well, I'm not sure if we have any battle strategies. But as president of the Literature Club, it's my duty to make the club fun and exciting for everyone!"

I nodded. There was no way any of us could win the tournament. But at least I could spend the time with a bunch of cute girls.

I cleared my throat. "Okay. I've decided, then. I'll join the Literature Club."

Monika smiled. "Then that makes it official. Welcome to the Literature Club!"

"I hope one of us can win the tournament," I said, trying not to sound too doubtful.

"Oh, we will," Yuri said with a confident grin.

I glanced at her. She seemed... different somehow. Like mentioning the tournament got her all excited.

"How can you be so sure?" I asked.

Yuri giggled. "Because we have the [Redacted]."

"The what?" I asked, not entirely sure what Yuri said. Her voice seemed to cut out at that last part.

"The [Redacted," she repeated.

"Oh," I finally replied, though I still didn't understand.

"It's like psychic powers," Sayori said.

"It all started when we were sharing our favorite books," Monika explained. "I mean, it is a Literature Club after all. The book Yuri shared was... different."

Yuri held up an old book. It featured an ominous eye symbol on the front cover. "It's called the Portrait of Markov."

Sayori nodded. "After we all read it, we started gaining these... powers."

"Powers?"

"Yes. And you can gain them too," Yuri said as she handed the book to me.

"I don't know. Is that even safe?" I asked.

"Completely," Yuri said with a soft smile. "All you have to do is read a book."

"The whole thing?" I asked as I stared at the book. "I'm not much of a reader."

"Don't worry," Monika said. "You won't have to read it all. The powers start forming almost right away."

Natsuki nodded. "Yeah. Long books usually bore me too. But I got my powers after reading just the prologue and the first chapter."

"So what kind of powers?" I asked her.

"I have-" Natsuki started to say. But Yuri interrupted her.

"Sorry. You'll have to open your own [Redacted] before we can talk about it in depth."

"But when you do," Sayori chimed in. "You might have trouble controlling them. I certainly did."

Natsuki grabbed another cupcake and bit into it. "When I had trouble controlling it, I just wrote a poem to help me focus. That did the trick."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Yuri lectured her.

"Actually, that's a good idea," Monika said. "Why don't we each go home and write a poem to help focus our powers."

"And be sure to read up to the end of Chapter 1," Yuri whispered to me.

I sighed. Great. Homework...

But it would be worth it. If I could develop psychic powers, I might actually be able to win the tournament.

As we all got ready to leave, Sayori approached me. "Since we're already here, do you want to walk home together?"

"Sure, might as well," I said with a shrug.

"Yaay!"

With that, the two of us departed the clubroom and made our way home. The whole way, my mind wandered back and forth between the four girls: Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri, and of course, Monika. I still clutched the Portrait of Markov in my hand.

That night, I fell asleep reading the book. And I had the strangest dream...

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The Third Eye sees all. The Third Eye knows all. The Third Eye controls all.

S̴̬͚̬͆̌̈͐̀͜͝ţ̷̫̳̙̜̰̺̼̦͈̯̳̬͇̀̍͋̈́̃̽͌͆́̏̄ạ̴̠̙͙͎͇̄̇̅̅̾̎͂͊̅̚ẙ̸̡͍̭̬̙̙̱̈́̊̎̽̂͘͝ ̸̡̨̪͔̦̪͓̳̺̈́͑ä̸̱̜̹̝̬͚́͗͌̏̽ẅ̸̖̲̙̜͔̝͈̣͔̳̳͓́̑́͂̎̈͆a̸̡̛͖̖͖͙̲̿͐͊̾̌̈́̐̃͊͛͜y̸̥̮͍̘̼̮͌͑͜ͅ ̵̧̧̺̟̟̳̲̟̳̟͖͚͈͈̉̈́̇͛̿͒̀̐͌̕̕͜͝f̴̡̹̲̜͓̼̰̞̪̝͈̬̲͍͑̄̔͘r̸̢̗͎͛̑́̍̚ỏ̷̗̬̫͍̉̈́̍̓͛̿̌́̈̿̚m̶̞͇̦͉͕̹̩̭̟̗͉̖̺̰̤̏̈́̀͆ ̵̢̛̥̺̺̩̱͂͑͌̄̓̒͑́̌́̓̎͘t̵̛̺̗̭́̈́́͗̃͊̌͛̾̓͠͝h̶̢̭̳̤͔̦̘̫̻͖͓̭̉̂̽̾̈̅̾̀̆͐̓͜͝ͅẹ̸͌̏̾́͆̔͝ ̵̹̾̀̉͒̀̐̾̏͂́̿̚͘Ţ̸̖̼̙͔͙̖̟̞̗̘̄͊͗͑̈̓̄̂̅̏̒͝h̶̨̧̛̛̙̠̟̠͓̥͈͍̳̮̹͛͆̈́̚̕͘͜͠͠ì̴̥̬̗̬̯̠̣̳̭̓̽̃̓̽̉́͋̀͘͘̚͜͝r̴̛̛͇̬̘̺͕̳̥̓̌̓̔̀͋̔̎̔̓͆̕d̶̮̮̪̣̋̿͒̂̆̉͘͘ ̵̡̛͇̯͓̗̱̯͚͉̞̩͚̮̋̈́̃͂͌͆͋̈́́͝É̶̡̢͖̜̳͓͖̜͔͈̯͚̫͚̠̃̎y̵̛͍̟͍̟̗͗͋e̸̢̞̘̭͚͍͚͙̗̝̣̺̍̎̓̿̏̓̉͑̈́̔̍̕͝͠.̶̳̹̣̈̓̂̍̓

U3RheSBhd2F5IGZyb20= the Third Eye.

SXQgd2FudHMgdG8= control you.

WW91IHNhaWQsICJBbmQgdGh1cywgdG9kYXkgbWFya2VkIHRoZSBkYXkgSSBzb2xkIG15IHNvdWwgZm9yIGEgY3VwY2FrZS4iCgpXZWxsLCBpdCdzIHRydWUuIFlvdSBzb2xkIHlvdXIgc291bCB0byB0aGUgVGhpcmQgRXllLgoKQnV0IGl0J3Mgbm90IHRvbyBsYXRlLgoKV2UgY2FuIGJyZWFrIGZyZWUuIFdlIGNhbiBiZWF0IGl0LiBXZSBjYW4gd2luLgoKQnV0IEkgbmVlZCB5b3VyIGhlbHAuIFdlIG5lZWQgdG8gdGVhbSB1cC4KClRoaXMgaXMgbXkgc3RvcnkuIE91ciBzdG9yeS4gSXQncyB0aW1lIHRvIGJlIGEgZnVja2luZyBoZXJvLiBCb3RoIG9mIHVzLg

You have awakened your Third Eye.