Chapter 4: Take Three
Pain. It was all I could feel. Right behind my eyes, as if my brain were attempting to escape my skull, was intense, unending pain. I sat doubled over in my bed, clutching my fingers to my temples in an attempt to dull the pain, but it didn't cease. I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut as much as possible, when I could just barely make out a vision of two human figures.
The first one was overweight, wearing the school uniform with the blazer unbuttoned. They were definitely male, with short, black hair and almost-opaque glasses. His face was chubby, but he held an expression that read pure confidence.
The second figure was taller, leaner, and most definitely female. She had dark skin, blue eyes, and long, green hair bunched into a ponytail by a purple scrunchie. Her expression was mellow with a warm smile on her face, like she was new somewhere and wanted to make a good first impression.
Suddenly, the pain stopped, the vision disappeared, and I was left alone in my room once again. I looked over to the alarm clock to check the time, only for it to go off as soon as my gaze swept across it. For once, I just pressed the OFF-button normally instead of attempting to break it. That vision left me drained, so I just didn't have the energy.
It wasn't long before my phone began to ring. I put on my glasses, picked up my phone, and looked at the screen. Monika was calling. I pressed the ANSWER button and put the phone to my ear.
"Hey, Monika." I greeted her. Her response was less graceful, and more spastic.
"Alex! D-did you see it?!" I pulled the phone away from my ear momentarily, stunned by her sudden outburst. Confused, I brought it back to reply.
"You mean the vision? Wait, you have cross-sight, too?" I heard an aggravated sigh from the other end of the line, followed by Monika speaking exasperatedly.
"Of course I have cross-sight! Why the hell wouldn't I?!" There was a sudden pause, then her voice came back calmer. "Sorry, Alex. I'm just really anxious. An extra two people could cause major setbacks to our plans."
I was hit with a sudden realization about the identity of the two people I saw in that vision. I froze in thought as I struggled to remember everything about them. After digging through my memories for a bit, I went back to Monika on the phone.
"As long as we don't get them too involved, we should be fine." I responded, trying to reassure her. "I mean, that shouldn't be so difficult, considering we both already know everything about them." Monika's end went silent for a few seconds before coming back.
"Actually, Alex, I don't know who they are. I've never encountered these people before in any glitches. Could you maybe tell me about them?" She requested, sounding a bit embarrassed. I obliged by her request and began describing the two new students.
"Both of them are from the mod 'Take Two'. The first one is Shiro." I told her. "He's a fan of video games, anime, Dungeons and Dragons, and everything in between. Some people would refer to him as an otaku. He's confident, and joins the literature club because he likes Yuri." It felt strange to be describing these people like this. It made me feel like I was giving a debriefing for some sort of government operation.
"Okay." Monika paused for a few seconds, taking the time to burn the information into her mind. "Got it. Now tell me about the other one."
"Her name is Tiffany." I explained. "She was born in America, but her family moved to Japan recently. She's pretty friendly and a fan of rap. She joins the literature club after our event for the festival, assuming that she only saw the worst of us." Monika sighed.
"The event was pretty bad, the last time I saw it. Everyone got in an argument, and Mc had to break it up, but not before all the visitors had already left." I chuckled, knowing exactly what she was talking about. It was from a mod called DDLC: The Normal VN, which was the first DDLC mod I'd ever played, two years prior.
"So, what should we do about them?" I inquired. Monika paused for a few moments, thinking.
"We treat them as any other members of the literature club, even if they aren't yet." She stated confidently. "On a side note, they'll probably be the subject of some of Okane's and Chad's bullying, so we'll have to watch out for that, too." I made a grunt of agreement.
"Got it. See you at school." I hung up and sat there, thinking about what this could mean. The addition of Shiro and Tiffany to the equation would either be bad, or wouldn't change anything at all. At the very minimum, they would attract some attention from Okane and Chad. I could just tell they would target them. They were already proved to be racist towards Canadians, why wouldn't they also be racist to black people and look down on people who were overweight?
I stored that information in the back of my head for later as I got ready for the day. As I was getting my uniform on, however, I remembered how sour of a note yesterday ended on. Mc knew who my sister was, and he knew that she was dead. He probably thought that I was in a bad mental state due to it, and he would be right. However, I couldn't let him worry about me. The reason why I was here was to save the club members. I wasn't the focus. They were.
With this in mind, I made my out of my bedroom. I was anxious about talking to Mc after what had happened last night, but I couldn't just stay in my room all day and let the club members die. I just had to hope that Mc didn't bring it up, which he definitely would. I walked into the kitchen for the third time that week, and was surprised by the scene that I was met with. Everything was the same as normal, except that instead of bowls of cereal on the table, there were plates of pancakes with maple syrup.
Mc was sitting at the table with a smile on his face, but I could clearly see some discomfort in his face. I watched his expression as I sat down across from him, but it never changed. After he finished eating a strangely large bite of his pancake, he began to talk.
"Hey, Alex. Sleep well?" His friendly tone threw me off. Was he trying to comfort me after what happened last night? I sighed. I wasn't having any of it, so I just cut to the chase.
"Mc." I said forcefully. "About last night-" He held up a hand and cut me off.
"Alex, no." He frowned. "You don't need to explain yourself. If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I know it must be a sensitive topic, and it was rude of me to pry you about it. And, if it means anything to you, I'm sorry for your loss." He looked down in shame and went back to eating his pancakes without another word.
'Stop blaming yourself, Mc. It isn't your fault that she's dead!' I frustratedly thought. I wasn't going to let him worry about me. Even if I couldn't get him to stop worrying, I would sure as hell try to lighten the load. I slammed my fist down on the table, startling Mc.
"It isn't your goddamned fault, Mc." I said, looking down. "Caitlyn is dead, and that's the end of it. There's no reason for you to be apologizing. Life moves on, but you'll be left behind if you focus on the past. I've moved on." Mc looked at me in shock. His expression slowly changed back to a frown, but I could tell that he didn't blame himself as much. I was about to start eating, but I quickly added on:
"And one more thing, Mc." I started. "I'd prefer it if the other club members didn't know about this. I'd rather they didn't worry about me too much." Mc smiled at me, nodded, then went back to his pancakes. I followed suit.
The rest of the morning went exactly like the past two days, up until Mc and I met Sayori and Natsuki at the door. We greeted each other, left the house, and began making our way to school. Before we could even make it ten steps, however, I heard and energetic, yet meek voice from behind me.
"Hey, you go to this school, right?" I turned around to see someone standing there, but the sheet of paper that they were showing me completely covered their face. They were clearly a tall female, but I couldn't really deduce anything else about them, so I chose to focus on the page they were holding up. On it was a picture of the school we were going to, with the school's title above it. I nodded to the girl.
"Good." She said. "Sorry for bothering you, but I'm new here, and I don't really know this area all that well." She pulled the page back and stuck it into her backpack, which was still on her back. She then looked at me, and I instantly recognized her as Tiffany. After a second-long internal panic, I extended a hand to greet her.
"I assume you're from another country?" I asked as she shook. She smiled warmly at me.
"Yeah. I'm from the U.S." She responded. I smiled back.
"Canada." I stated. "I'm Alex, by the way." Tiffany laughed.
"Well then, neighbor, I'm Tiffany Edwards." She introduced herself, then began rubbing the back of her neck. "I was wondering if you could direct me to the school? I'm a new student." I could tell that she was a bit nervous, being in a new country where what was socially acceptable was actually quite different than in North America.
"Why not just join us on our way there?" I offered. Tiffany looked as if she had just noticed that Mc, Sayori, and Natsuki were standing right behind me, and promptly nodded.
"Sure! But first, would you mind introducing me to your friends?" She gestured to the party of three standing behind me. Despite having heard that Tiffany had asked me to introduce them, Sayori promptly ran forward to Tiffany and began introducing herself in an overly-excited manner.
"Hi, I'm Sayori Yuutsu! Nice to meet you!" She greeted while shaking Tiffany's hand excessively. Tiffany began to respond, but her speech was different this time. It was more halted, as if she were speaking another language that she'd just learned.
"Hello, Sayori. Nice to meet you too." She returned Sayori's infectious smile, then Mc walked up to her for his introduction.
"Sup, I'm Mc Sabishi. Sorry about Sayori. She can get a bit too excited sometimes." He said. Tiffany laughed at his description of her.
"Don't worry about it. It's pretty rare to find someone so carefree these days." Tiffany responded. Finally, Natsuki walked up to her cautiously, then began her introduction.
"Hey, I'm Natsuki Kurushimi. Don't call me cute, or you'll DEFINITELY regret it." She said. Tiffany brushed it off with a giggle, then jokingly said:
"Noted." With the introductions out of the way, we all began making our way to school. On the way, I began to make conversation with Tiffany. However, I noticed something strange about her speech. Whenever she was talking to the others, she would go back to the slightly halted speech. However, whenever she was talking to me, her speech was perfectly fluent. I just ignored it for the time being, thinking she just wasn't used to talking to people with completely different beliefs.
"So, Alex, how long have you been here?" She inquired.
"This is only my third day here. I've been staying over at Mc's house for the time being. We've actually known each other for quite a long time." I answered. I was making sure to stick to the fake backstory that Monika gave me, just in case. Tiffany nodded.
"So, have you had any problems with racism or discrimination?" Well, that escalated quickly. It was so surprising, even Mc, Sayori, and Natsuki stopped walking. I stuttered for a second before finding my voice.
"Um, a little." I answered. "There are these two bullies at school: Okane Burondo and Chad Dickson. They've been calling me 'Eskimo', but it gets much worse than that. From what I've seen, they go out of their way to bully anyone, and are both racist and sexist." Tiffany looked sad from that fact.
"O-oh..." Was all she said. She was usually so carefree and upbeat, so it was weird to see her like this. I didn't want to give her the wrong idea about how life was here, so I quickly added:
"However, I DID beat the shit out of them two days ago, so you should be fine as long as they know that I know you." Tiffany began to fidget, covering her mouth. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she burst out laughing. After about a minute, the laughs died down, and she was able to speak.
"Ah, yes. My knight in shining armor!" Everyone in our group began laughing, all except for me, as I was a bit too occupied with being embarrassed. This went on for five minutes, until Mc cut it.
"Jokes aside, he actually is telling the truth. On top of that, it was a pretty impressive fight. He got both of them on the ground in less than a minute!" He said. Tiffany nodded in admiration.
"That's quite impressive." She commented. We all continued walking, but that didn't stop the conversation.
"Why do you ask, Tiffany?" I inquired. "It just seems like a bit of a sudden thing to ask, is all." Tiffany frowned uncomfortably, shuffling a little in her clothes as she walked.
"L-let's just say that I've had a bit worse of a time than you." She said. "I'd rather not talk about it right now." I quickly changed the subject to cheer her up, and she was soon back to her old, happy self. However, I noticed that Natsuki had given her a weird look when she mentioned having a worse time than me. I brushed it off as just her being cautious around new people as we continued walking.
Eventually, we reached the school. At the gates, we all bade our farewells as we made our ways to our individual classes. Mc offered Tiffany to bring her to the office to get her schedule, but she politely declined.
"I already know the way there. My family and I visited on Monday to check it out." She said. Mc shrugged, said goodbye, then began making his way to his class. Tiffany followed his example.
*Five minutes later*
As I stood in front of my locker, my thoughts began to wander to what Tiffany had said about having a bit of a tough time with racism.
'Does it have something to do with that look Natsuki gave her?' I thought. Natsuki's cautiousness with Tiffany confused me. I refused to believe that she was racist. It just wasn't possible. However, I didn't have much more time to think about it before I began to hear footsteps behind me. I spun around in surprise, only to find Monika standing there with a smile on her face.
"Oh! Hey Monika." I greeted her.
"Hello, Alex." Her expression suddenly turned serious. "I wanted to talk to you about something." Judging by the seriousness of her voice, and the fact that she decided to ambush me in this part of the school, I assumed that it had something to do with the plan, or maybe the whole "alternate universes" thing.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked. I'd gotten pretty used to this thing by now. I'm in an alternate dimension? Okay. I can make myself stronger and faster? Okay. It was just normal for me by now. Monika smiled playfully.
"I'll give you a hint: When you were walking to school with Tiffany earlier, did you notice anything weird about her speech?" That wasn't much of a hint. I ignored the fact that she knew that I was with Tiffany on my walk to school and answered honestly.
"Only when she was talking to the others. Her speech was a bit halted between words." I answered. "It was almost as if she was speaking another language." Monika giggled a little, then went back to serious.
"That's because she was." She as-a-matter-of-factly said. I'm pretty sure my brain short-circuited, because I didn't move, talk, or think. That statement stunned me THAT much. During all of this, Monika was laughing out loud, probably at my shocked facial expression.
"WHAT?!" I eventually yelled. My voice echoed down the halls, but Monika either didn't notice or didn't care. Either way, we were so out-of-the-way that it didn't really matter, even with the echoes. After Monika finally stopped laughing, she began to explain her mindfuck-inducing statement.
"Alex, everyone you've met so far has been speaking Japanese, all except for Tiffany." She explained.
"Then how am I hearing everyone speaking English? Are you speaking Japanese or English?" To be honest, I was frantically trying to understand what she was saying, because my brain just wouldn't accept it.
"You see, when I pulled you into this world, I took extra care to allow you to understand what we were saying. I made it so that your brain automatically translated whatever we were saying to English, no matter what language we were speaking." Her explanation answered my question, but this birthed another question.
"Then how is everyone understanding me?" I asked. "Aren't I speaking English right now?" Monika sighed, as if she were about to attempt to explain quantum physics to a child.
"To put it simply, you FEEL like you're speaking English, but it comes out as Japanese, or whatever language of the person that you're talking to." She explained. "It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the basic principal." It took a bit to wrap my head around it, but I was eventually able to think about it without getting an aneurysm.
"Okay, got it. Also, one last thing:" I waited until I had Monika's full attention before continuing. "Are you still able to manipulate people like you could do in the game? I know that we aren't dealing with game files any more, but..." I trailed off, knowing full well that Monika must've gotten the point from the information I gave her. She frowned, but slowly nodded her head.
"Yes. I still have the ability to change the others, but I vowed not to use it to change them mentally. I could make it worse, and that's too big a risk. However, I can still change them physically." She said. I nodded, signifying that I understood the basic idea of what she just told me.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later, Monika." I waved at her before turning back around to my locker. However, I didn't hear her walking away. I turned back around to see her looking down, shuffling her feet around in discomfort.
"Hey, Alex?" She said in a small voice.
"What?" I asked. Monika shuffled around a little more before answering.
"How do I put this..." She started. "W-was there ever a mod where I found happiness?" She continued looking down, but if I angled my gaze correctly, I could just barely see a small blush on her cheeks, accompanied by a few tears. The meaning behind her words was quite obvious, even more so for me. Even though she was trying to save the others now, she still felt alone.
"Monika, I know what you're talking about." I put my hand on her shoulder. "But what you do here has nothing to do with a mod. Even if the answer was no, I promise you that there's someone out there for you." Monika looked back up at me, her face full of tears.
"How do you know that?" She asked. I smiled at her.
"I don't. But you've got to have faith." I reassured her. "Faith's brought you this far, hasn't it? If you didn't have it, then neither of us would be standing here." I took my hand off her shoulder. She stared at me for a few seconds, before her frown slowly turned into a smile.
"Thank you, Alex." She said. "For everything you've been doing."
"No problem." I waved. "We should probably get going to our classes, now. We've been standing here for a while." Monika looked at the watch on her wrist and gasped.
"Oh my god!" She looked back up at me. "You're right! Bye, Alex!" She took off down the hall, before remembering that you can't run in the halls and respectively slowed her pace to a moderately fast walk. I quickly followed suit, emphasis on 'quickly'.
*Five minutes later*
I walked through the door to my math class, surprised by how fast I got there. The first bell hadn't even gone yet.
'Huh.' I thought. 'I guess I didn't need to rush that much, after all.'
I walked over to my seat and sat down. Curiously, all of my classes had either an empty seat next to me, or a club member sitting next to me. My math class was one of the former, up until someone plopped down in the chair next to me, startling me with their suddenness. The startle changed to shock, however, as I looked over to them and recognized them as Shiro.
'Holy shit, two people from a mod, and I meet both of them within the first half of the day?!' I thought, mentally freaking out. Shiro noticed me looking at him and promptly introduced himself.
"Hey, there! Shiro Shiroi, at your service!" He extended a hand, which I cautiously grabbed and shook. "You're from Canada, right?" I was stunned by his VERY quick deduction. Yes, I was Canadian, but there weren't really any signs on me that would signify that at first glance. The only thing that could lead someone to guess that someone was Canadian as opposed to American was their accent, and even then, I didn't have one. Shocking, I know, but I didn't have a Canadian accent. Once I was able to actually process what he'd just said, I blurted out a response:
"Yeah, I'm Canadian. How'd you know?" Subtle as a brick. Shiro gave me a sly smile.
"I didn't actually know." My jaw dropped. "So, what's your name, mate?" This guy was a lot more random than the mod he was from suggested. Despite this, I answered.
"I'm Alex." I answered. "Also, you ARE aware what your name means, right?" Those of you that don't know much Japanese wouldn't understand this, but both Shiro's first and last names roughly translated to 'white'. Shiro laughed, then nodded.
"Yup. My parents were cruel, weren't they?" He joked.
"I'll say." I smiled, slowly getting used to this guy. "So, are you new here? I didn't see you here yesterday, or the day before." Shiro nodded again, then explained:
"I used to live in Tokyo, but my dad got a job in this area, so we moved here. I just moved here yesterday." How cliché. "So, how long have you been here?"
"This is my third day here. I'm an old friend of a student who goes here, and he agreed to let me stay with him for the time being." I responded, again making sure to stay with the cover story Monika gave me. Shiro smiled unsettlingly at me.
"That 'old friend' wouldn't happen to be named 'Mc', would he?" My expression must've been priceless, because Shiro looked like he was barely able to contain his laughter. "So I was right! That must mean you know Sayori as well, huh?" I took a few moments to figure out what was happening, so I attempted to answer his question at least.
"Y-yeah, I know Sayori." I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. "But how the HELL do you know them?" Shiro laughed, then smiled at me knowingly.
"My locker just so happened to be next to his, and his is next to Sayori's. It was just pure luck that I got there at the same time as them." Shiro explained. "We started talking, then it turned out we had a lot in common. He mentioned someone from Canada staying with him, and I just began asking people if they were Canadian as a bit of a joke." He suddenly put his hands up in a defensive position. "Not that I was making fun of you! I have nothing against Canadians, or anyone for that matter!" It was my turn to laugh now.
"Don't worry about it. It takes a lot to offend me." I said. "In fact, there've only been two people to do that ever since I got here..." I thought back to Okane and Chad, but mostly only the memory of me beating the shit out of them. Shiro frowned.
"You wouldn't be talking about that blonde rich boy and his red-eyed friend, would you?" He asked.
"Yeah. Let me guess, you know them because the harassed you for being overweight?" I instantly regretted saying that, but it turned out to not matter, as Shiro just nodded with a smile.
"Yup. Bunch of assholes, wouldn't you say?" He said. "What are their names?"
"The answer to the first question is a definite yes." I responded. "As for the second question... The blonde one is Okane Burondo, and the other one is Chad Dickson." Shiro snorted at his name.
"Chad Dickson? Are you serious?" He asked, barely keeping in the laughs.
"I wish I could say I was joking, but I'm not." I said with a straight face. "His parents chose his path for him with that shitty name." I joked, causing Shiro to let out another laugh.
"So, I assume you've been the subject of their bullying once before?" Shiro said. I thought back over the past two days and what happened with Okane and Chad.
"You could say that. They're racist and sexist, as far as I know." I admitted. "They call me 'Eskimo' for obvious reasons. I got into a fight with them two days ago because they were making fun of Sayori, and let's just say it didn't end up good for them." Shiro looked at me with an impressed expression on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but wasn't able to get a single word out due to the bell going off, signifying the beginning of the class.
"Talk to you later, Alex." He said as he turned toward the front. I did the same.
*One class later*
The bell rang as I closed my binder, satisfied that I was able to get all the work done. In fact, I was even able to do the work that I'd missed yesterday with the time that I had left. Back at my locker, I had planned ahead and grabbed my afternoon binder before going to math, allowing me to catch up on my afternoon classes.
I stood up and started towards the door, but Shiro grabbed my shoulder and turned me around.
"Hey, just a random question... are there any clubs here?" He asked. It seemed like a strange question for him to ask me, as I hadn't thought of him as the one to want to join a club, but I pushed that reasoning aside and answered.
"Yeah." I answered. "I don't really know much, but I know for a fact that there's an anime club, book club, debate club, video game club, and a literature club. I'm a member of that last one." I'd done a little bit of research about the school's clubs earlier, so I knew what I was talking about. Shiro looked as if he were thinking, then spoke again.
"Thanks. All I wanted to know." He then walked past me and out the door. I stood there for a moment in confusion, but then remembered that I was on a schedule and quickly got on my way. I walked out the door and turned to find Natsuki leaning on the wall with her arms crossed.
"Took you long enough." Was all she said. I was confused by her statement, until I remembered that I said that I'd go with her to our science class. I didn't know that she actually would've appreciated that offer, or even take me up on it, but apparently she did.
"Sorry, I was talking with a friend." I said, making her raise an eyebrow. "Anyway, let's go." I waved for her to follow me and we began making our way to the science classroom. On the way, Natsuki began to talk to me.
"So, what do you think of that Tiffany girl?" She asked. I was surprised by her tone, which sounded like she was almost judging her, but didn't want it to sound like it.
"She seems nice. Why do you ask?" I responded. Natsuki looked either confused or embarrassed, maybe both.
"I... No reason." It was obvious that she was lying.
"Natsuki, you're not a very good liar." I pointed out. "Come on, you can tell me." Natsuki looked uncomfortable, but ultimately opened up.
"It's just that... I recognized her as the person who moved into the house next to mine yesterday." She admitted.
"Oh, so she's your neighbor?" I said, then noticed that she didn't even answer my question. "But that doesn't answer the question." Natsuki gritted her teeth in annoyance, but quickly calmed down.
"It's just that... I'm not sure I trust her that much. When her family moved in, her father tried to greet us, but my dad just brushed him off and dragged me back into the house." She paused, taking a breath. "Then when we were inside, my dad told me not to trust 'those types of people'." This shocked me, mostly because Natsuki was actually listening to whatever bullshit her father was telling her.
"Don't listen to him." I said abruptly. "He's just being a racist asshole." The words came out before I could stop them, but it looked like Natsuki was agreeing with me.
"You don't even know the half of it." She spouted out. "If HE wasn't in my life, I would even have HALF of the problems that I-" She stopped herself suddenly, eyes wide as if she just realized what she was saying.
"Natsu-" I started, but she interrupted me.
"FORGET I SAID ANYTHING!" She frantically blurted out. I put my hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away.
"Natsuki, is there something going on with your dad?" I asked, already knowing what her reaction would be, and the answer to the question.
"N-no. E-everything's f-fine." She stuttered, then quickly corrected her speech. "Just... forget what I said."
"Natsuki, I respect your boundaries, and I won't ask you about this until you're ready to tell me." I told her reassuringly. "But if there's something going on in your life that's making it difficult, I'll always be there if you need someone to talk to, okay?" Natsuki turned away, blushing in embarrassment. I could feel myself blushing as well, but I ignored it.
"Hey, Alex?" Natsuki said in a small voice. She was looking down at her feet.
"What is it, Natsuki?" I asked. Natsuki seemed to be internally twiddling her thumbs, like she was debating over whether or not she wanted to say something important.
"N-never mind." She turned to me. "Besides, we're going to be late if we keep standing here." I checked my watch, and lo and behold, there was only one-minute left until class started. Natsuki and I looked at each other, and in silent agreement began to rush to our science class.
*One class later*
We had been just barely able to get into the classroom before the bell rang. It had gone off at the exact moment that we burst through the open doorway of the classroom. Skipping ahead to when the bell signifying the end of the class, we were all getting up when I saw Okane walking past us. I expected him to stop and ridicule us some more, but he just ignored us as if we didn't even exist. He didn't turn his head, glance at us, or do anything of the sort.
"Hmm... that's strange." I thought aloud. Natsuki turned to me with a confused expression.
"What's strange?" She asked. I pointed at Okane, who was already halfway out the door. Natsuki looked at where I was pointing as he walked out.
"Okane just walked right by us without saying anything." I put my hand to my chin. "I would've expected him to give us a stare at the minimum, but he just acted like we didn't even exist." Natsuki looked unconvinced.
"He's just saving it for some other poor student. He probably just didn't think we were worth it." Natsuki guessed. I wasn't completely sure of that, though. It just didn't seem like Okane to pass up an opportunity like that. However, I had more important things to worry about, so I just nodded.
"Maybe you're right. Anyway, let's go to the cafeteria." I said. Natsuki nodded, then finished packing up her notes. We made our way out of the classroom and split up to grab our lunch from our respective lockers.
*Five minutes later*
I closed my locker with bento box in hand and began walking down the hall when I heard a loud BANG from around the corner. I was reminded of my first day at that school, when I had saved Yuri and Natsuki from Okane and Chad. The connection was further cemented when I heard Chad's voice yelling from around the corner.
"That's what you get for coming here, bitch!" It sounded like they were bullying another student, so just like my first day, I silently crept to the corner and peeked around, almost gasping from the shock of the scene before me.
Okane and Chad were standing in front of Tiffany, with Chad holding her up against the locker with his arm to her neck. Chad was laughing in horrible amusement, while Okane smiled at his partner's disgusting act. Tiffany was struggling against the arm holding her up against the locker, trying to pull Chad's arm off of her throat, but nothing was working.
"You know, Chad..." Okane started. "I wonder why this thing even decided to come here. It's pretty obvious that Japan doesn't want these lesser beings here, ruining the country." They both laughed in cruelty, just pissing me off even more. Taking advantage of their momentary distraction, Tiffany brought her leg up and kicked Chad in the balls. Chad dropped Tiffany and doubled over in pain, but before Tiffany could run away, Chad got back up and surged forward. He clasped a hand around Tiffany's throat then pushed her up against the lockers. He balled his other hand into a fist and pulled it back, preparing to strike Tiffany.
"You fucking n****r!" He screamed in anger. My rage also overflowed. He really thought he had the right to say that? He really thought he was more important? He really thought that he mattered at all? These questions torrented through my mind, and time seemed to slow down. I ran around the corner, and before I knew it, I was directly next to Chad. I didn't notice it at the time, but contrary to what I did the last time I fought Okane and Chad, instead of enhancing just my fighting ability, I had also enhanced my speed without even noticing it!
Anyway, back to what was happening, Okane and Chad gasped at my sudden presence, Tiffany's eyes widened, and Chad's hand unclasped from around her throat as both him and Okane backed up a step. Tiffany fell to the floor, barely getting her hand up to shield herself from the fall. Before anything else could happen, I rushed forward and punched Okane in the face. He stumbled back before falling over, and I turned to Chad. I clasped MY hand around HIS neck and threw him against the locker. And I don't mean I hit him against it really hard. I mean I LITERALLY THREW his body at the locker.
Chad fell to the ground, but quickly got back up. He threw a punch at me, but I grabbed his fist and locked him into a grapple. I kneed him in the stomach a few times before grabbing his shoulder, bringing my fist back, and walloping him across the face with as much force as I could muster. He fell over just as Okane was getting up. I stepped back and helped Tiffany up, who was watching the battle with awe, and still had the amazed expression on her face.
Chad was beginning to get up, so I stepped forward and put my hand around his neck a second time. I hoisted him up and looked him dead in the eyes, Okane standing behind him, looking on in fear.
"Now listen up here, you rich-boy fuck." I put my face up to his to the point where our noses were almost touching. "If I ever hear you saying ANYTHING like that again, then I swear, I'm going to shove your skull down your fuckin throat. Do you understand me?" Chad nodded weakly, so I tossed him onto his back where he fell at the feet of Okane. Okane looked at me with a scared expression, then quickly got Chad up and they ran away.
"And one more thing!" I called after them. "If you don't want this to happen again, then DON'T FUCK WITH MY FRIENDS!" They were already around the corner by the time I said that, but I was pretty sure they got the message just fine. Satisfied that they were gone, I turned around to face Tiffany, who still had the look of awe on her face.
"A-Alex... H-how did you..." She desperately tried to form a sentence, but her shock from the scene that just took place prevented her from doing so. I turned halfway to the side.
"I'd rather not talk about it. Not right now, anyway." I said, then turned back to Tiffany. "More importantly, are you okay?" Tiffany took a few seconds to process the question, then answered:
"Y-yeah, I'm okay." She responded.
"What happened?" I asked. Tiffany shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"I don't really know." She answered. "I was getting my lunch from my locker when my head was thrown forward into my locker door. Next thing I knew, I had my body being held up against it." Tiffany was shuffling around uncomfortably.
"Hey, why don't you come eat with my friends and I in the cafeteria?" I suggested. "It'll help you get your mind off of what just happened." Even if helping her wasn't a part of my mission, I still wasn't going to just let her be pushed around like that. Tiffany smiled graciously.
"Alright, Alex. I think I'll take you up on that offer." She said. "Hey, where'd your bento box go?" I looked at the hand that I was carrying it in earlier only to find it empty. I glanced around my surroundings until I spotted it down the corridor at the corner where I was before. I walked past Tiffany, towards the lunchbox, and picked it up off the ground. I held it up for Tiffany to see.
"You ready to go?" I asked. Tiffany picked up her bento box (which was sitting at her feet) and nodded. I began walking past her, and she followed behind as we made our way to the cafeteria.
*One minute later*
"After you, Tiffany." I said as I opened the glass double doors to the cafeteria and stepped aside. Tiffany giggled, then abided by my request. Little did she know, I had taken notes from what Natsuki did to me on my first day here.
'Natsuki let me go into the cafeteria first, which led to Sayori yelling out my name to get my attention.' I thought. 'So, if I'm not mistaken...'
"Tiffany! Over here!" I heard Sayori's voice call out from inside the cafeteria. I then followed Tiffany in, making sure to look at Sayori directly to prevent her from trying to get my attention. I motioned for Tiffany to follow me, then began the trek to the Literature Club table.
Mc, Sayori, and Natsuki all smiled as they noticed Tiffany and I were both there, while Yuri avoided eye contact. Monika was looking at Tiffany, but not smiling. Rather, she had an expression of study on her face, as if Tiffany were an unknown thing to her. Tiffany either didn't notice, or didn't care, because the first thing she did was plop down in the seat next to Yuri, making her jump. Yuri took a few seconds to compose herself, then attempted to introduce herself to Tiffany.
"H-hello there," she said meekly, "I-I'm Y-Yuri..." She extended a hand. Well, 'extended' would be generous. What she actually did was move her right hand slightly in the direction of Tiffany. Tiffany gave her a sad smile, then spoke in a softer voice.
"You don't need to be so nervous. I don't bite." She said teasingly at the end, then lightly shook Yuri's hand. "I'm Tiffany. Nice to meet you, Yuri." She put on a reassuring smile, which seemed to calm Yuri down a bit. Instead of responding, Yuri merely turned back to her lunch. Somewhere during that interaction, I had sat down across from Yuri. To my right sat Natsuki, followed by Monika. To my right across the table sat Mc followed by Sayori.
It wasn't long before Tiffany and Monika were well-acquainted and everyone was talking, eating, and laughing. Monika had asked Tiffany if they wanted to join the literature club (despite not wanting her involved yet), but they politely refused.
"I'd rather get to know my surroundings before I do something like joining a club" She explained. I could see where she was coming from. Joining a club was a thing that you would either really love, or really regret. It was a good idea to get to know more about where you were before you made a big decision like that.
Multiple times I noticed Natsuki looking at Tiffany regretfully. I nudged her shoulder to get her attention, then whispered to her:
"You feel bad about what you thought of her earlier, don't you?" I asked. Natsuki looked down, pouting, then brought her head back up and whispered back:
"I just don't want her to feel like I hate her, but at the same time, I don't want to accidentally offend her." I smiled.
"It's a lot harder to offend people than you might think. There's nothing wrong with mentioning someone's skin colour or ethnic background. It's all just a part of life." Natsuki took a moment to consider my words, then mouthed the words: "thank you", then smiled at me. She turned to Tiffany.
"So Tiffany," she started, "what are your interests?" Tiffany thought for a moment, then responded.
"I'm a big fan of rap music." She said, then put her hand up defensively. "But I'm not talking about the type with sex and drugs or anything. I'm not about that." I personally never saw the appeal of rap, but to each their own, I guess. Everyone continued to talk for the rest of the lunch period, making it the most normal lunch I'd had there so far. When there were about ten minutes left, however, Monika asked me:
"Hey, Alex, could I talk to you in private really quick?" Judging by her expression the matter was important to her. I could see Natsuki giving her a jealous look from the corner of her eye, but no one, not even Monika seemed to notice.
"Okay. Lead the way." I stood up, as did Monika. I followed her outside and to the same spot where we talked two days prior. Monika stopped in place, then slowly turned to me. She looked like she was trying to appear professional, but it was quite easy to tell that she was scared.
"I know you're helping Natsuki right now, but I need help with Sayori." She said, straight to the point. "Whenever I ask her what's wrong, she denies my claim and says that everything's fine. We both know how much pain she's in, so can you help me?" I didn't even hesitate with my answer.
"Yeah, I'll help. What do you need?" I asked. Monika smiled gratefully, then went back to serious mode.
"I need you to talk to her after school today and tell her that you know about her depression. She'll open up to you easier, since she remembers knowing you longer than knowing me." She explained. "I'd suggest doing it when it's only you two together. It'd be much too difficult for her to talk about it to more than one person." I took a second to process what she'd just said.
"Okay, got it." All this talk about saving the other club members suddenly made me remember something important. "Also, I kind of forgot to write a poem last night. Is it okay if-" I was interrupted by Monika shoving a poem into my hand. I looked down at it, and saw that it was in Natsuki's style. I looked up at Monika incredulously. Monika shrugged, then gave me a knowing smile.
"I figured you wouldn't have written one last night, considering the frantic texts you sent me." She explained. I was about to thank her, but the voice of a yelling Natsuki interrupted me.
"I! AM! NOT! CUTE!" Monika and I looked at each other, then laughed.
"I think that's our cue to go back and make sure she doesn't kill anyone." I joked.
"I agree." Monika said. I stuffed the poem into my pocket as we began the trek back to our table. As Monika opened the double doors, I glanced at the other members of the literature club. Yuri was finished her lunch and had begun reading 'The Portrait of Markov', Mc and Sayori were talking while Sayori shoveled noodles into her mouth between words, and Natsuki and Tiffany were having an animated conversation with Natsuki seemingly calmed down.
Half of the people sitting at that table were in danger, and Monika knew what they needed. It was our job to save them. I'd lost people before. Friends and family. But I wasn't losing these friends. This time... This time, I'm going to save them...
End of Chapter 4
(Author's Note: I apologize for the recent lack of updates to the story. I haven't been getting much time to write recently, but I think I've figured out a good schedule for my writing. Hopefully I'll be able to get more chapters out faster, but no guarantees. Even if it doesn't help, I'm still riding with this series to the end, I can guarantee that!)