Disclaimer: Everybody's finally in the real world! We're now heading into a new story arc, and I'm sure you're all just as excited as I am to see what DaMastah101 has in store!
...and yes both me and my author know that it's been a while, sorry. *sigh*
But first, as stated multiple times, we're getting two cooldown chapters first. Some lighthearted stuff to help ease everybody into the next arc! Enjoy, and my author doesn't own DDLC. See you all again next time~
...it's me by the way, Monika~
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Just Monika - Regular text
"Forever Sayori" - Spoken words/Dialogue
'Knife Wife Yuri' - Thoughts
{Buff Natsuki} - Text or audio displayed on-screen or by speaker, be it from a computer/smartphone/TV
"I come to after an undisclosed period of time, immediately noting that that would be the first time in... well, ever, that I've actually blacked out. However, that thought is placed on the back burner near instantly upon opening my eyes, and finding a pair of haunting, yet still beautiful emerald eyes, set upon an equally beautiful face, sporting a cute nose, thin eyebrows, and literally the longest hair that I have ever seen on a person, literally forming a cascade of chestnut locks that completely cut off my vision on anything that isn't said beautiful face, outside of a view of the rest of her body, which looks far more bombshell-esque than the game would have you believe, with her bust actually obviously straining her school outfit's top."
-Chris
Chapter 2 of "Beyond The Monitor's Grave", a DDLC fanfic by Sonix95.
Kept you waiting, huh.
Well then, without further delay, let's get back on track with this little story of ours. As always, whenever characters such as Monika aren't hogging the damn chapters with their first-person POV narratives, this is the narrator speaking.
I'm here to tell you all about what happened after Blank's squad had finally gotten out of the game to be with Izuna and the rest. These are snippets of the happenings surrounding their new freedom.
A brand new day in the lives of the people in Izuna Takaya's world.
New beginnings for everybody. But more importantly, the restoration and renewal of one thing in all of them:
Hope.
The cessation of despair, if only for a moment...
...before pandemonium greets them in the face once again within the upcoming story arc, of course. I mean, the next part of this story is referred to as the "School Pandemonium" story arc for a reason. For now though, that's enough fourth-wall breaking from me. Let's all just enjoy these two chapters of filler, yet still canon, content... in preparation for the author's next plans regarding The World Beyond The Screen. With this chapter being the first of the two. The next one should be up soon enough, if a certain author doesn't start slacking again...
Like for goodness sake, this took so many months for him to publish. Hopefully, it doesn't take such a long time again for him to update. The sooner we get to the next arc, the better!
Now where was I? Hmmm...
It's on the tip of my tongue, I swear!
Hmmm... uh...
Oh... that's right!
I finally remembered! We were talking about what happened after Blank, Yuri, Natsuki, Erika and Elyssa had gotten out of Doki Doki Literature Club! Silly me. Well actually, it went a little something like this...
[Chapter 13 - Filler 01: Natsuki and Yuri's Day Out]
Time continues to move forward without a care in the world, gratitiously ushering in the tendrils of an unknown yet promising future. The winds of change continued to blow past this blank canvas known as life.
These were the coveted days of peace that Izuna and company had been striving for, and were now enjoying to the fullest extent possible.
The bright future that played before him, and the recently liberated inhabitants of a certain digital world.
It was currently two weeks after Blank and company had successfully defied fate itself by escaping into Izuna's reality. The experience was still pretty much surreal for everyone who had been involved in the ordeal.
But after the storm, a certain calm had washed over.
A fresh start for everyone. They were all starting to get comfortably settled in with the way Izuna's reality worked.
Everything was peaceful so far in the Takaya household. The DDLC characters had begun adjusting properly to their new lives outside of the game.
Sayori was still slated to live with Yumi in her apartment, however due to the fact that the college student had taken a leave of absence, it meant that the two of them were still crashing at Izuna's place in the meantime.
What was once only a leave of absence that was planned to last merely a week for Yumi, became a whooping three months. The older Takaya had decided to extend her leave of absence after seeing the amount of stuff Izuna had to do in order to accomodate so many people in a short period of time all so suddenly. Of course this wasn't so easily done, but Yumi had her ways.
Izuna, Yumi, and the DDLC characters basically had to clue in the university dean on what really happened, complete with the video recording of Blank's group entering reality, courtesy of Yumi's phone. Said dean being a strict, yet good-intentioned woman who appeared to be middle-aged.
They even had Val, who happened to be going to the same university as Yumi, deliver his own personal testimony as well to confirm this. Though it was a pleasant surprise to everyone, since neither Yumi nor Izuna and Val had prior knowledge about the two 24-year olds going to the same institution. They were taking different courses after all.
Thus, although the woman of authority in question happened to be very shocked that video game characters were entering reality, the dean agreed to keep it all a secret for now with only a select few knowing about it, and Yumi was granted her three-month leave of absence. This meant that she had to work a lot harder when she came back, but that was trivial compared to what she had to do with her brother in order to make sure that the DDLC squad gets truly settled in.
Val however was surprised when he was granted a three-month leave of absence as well. When he asked the dean about it though, he was merely told that he had to help Yumi and Izuna out.
"Yumi will need some help with this particular... situation. As such, I fully expect you and her to work harder than ever when both of you come back to continue your studies, are we clear?" the dean stares intensely at the pair of 24-year olds who both nodded furiously.
"Good. Now go help these youngsters get settled here in the real world. Get going, I have some paperwork to deal with."
Once Izuna and company had left the university, the dean couldn't help but stare out of her office's window. These recent developments were really a shocker to her.
"Wow, I still can't believe that video game characters are coming into real life. In all my years of living, this is the first time that something like this has happened that I'm aware of. My husband probably won't believe anything about such concepts, once I bring this up over dinner in a few hours..."
And thus, for the meantime Yumi and Sayori were staying at Izuna's place instead of Yumi's apartment. That was fine with Sayori, since it meant she would get to have some time with Blank.
The two of them really missed each other quite dearly.
Natsuki and Yuri also stayed at the house as well. They had taken to commandeering half of Izuna's guest room and soon enough, they had already adapted to their new environment. The other half was occupied by Yumi and Sayori. The guest room formerly belonged to the older Takaya after all.
As for Erika, Blank and Elyssa, things were a bit more complicated in terms of sleeping arrangements.
Elyssa dropped by every now and then to mingle with the others, but would leave the house to run various errands that only Yuri and Blank seemed to know about. Sometimes when she would come back, it would already be the morning of the following day.
She would rarely be seen lounging about at all, if ever. The Libitina had also noticeably grown closer with Yuri, a tight-knit bond gradually being formed between the two. That wasn't to say that Elyssa wasn't in good terms with everybody else. She was, actually. But among all of them, she had taken a liking the most with Yuri.
It was almost as if Yuri was the daughter she never had.
Blank on the other hand was pretty much just content on sleeping at the living room couch, despite Izuna's insistence for the former avatar to join him in his room via a sleeping bag of choice.
"Dude, I have these much more comfortable sleeping bags in reserve that are waiting to be used, compared to that stuffy old couch! But you'd rather stay out there in the cold? Just come bunk with me already dammit."
"Thanks for the offer Izuna, but I wouldn't want to intrude when you and Monika get busy, ahaha." he teases with a knowing smirk while the Takaya merely shakes his head with a blush as he concedes to the former avatar.
Erika, not too keen on the idea of letting Blank sleep by his own out in the cold had procured a sleeping bag of her own courtesy of Blank, and slept on the living room floor as well. Thus, Izuna and Monika had Izuna's room all by themselves.
None of them had entered the Takaya's parents' room at all, and Izuna kept it locked for privacy. Even he didn't really go in there at all unless needed. His sister was the same.
These were the living arrangements thus far.
Now they all had their own things going on, whether it be menial tasks, or in Izuna's case orienting the former game characters on how some aspects of reality worked, they all had itenararies for the day.
And for a certain pink-haired tsundere as well as a certain purple-haired bookworm, this meant touring around the streets of Izuna's cityscape.
Natsuki wanted to entrench herself in the literary works of Izuna's reality.
"Literary works" being used very loosely here, considering that for Natsuki it merely meant the various hordes of potential manga that she was about to read.
As for Yuri, she was merely happy with getting the chance to bond with her shorter companion. It wasn't too often that they had some bonding time. Especially since the game they came from always had the two of them bickering with each other. Getting to read the novels and literary masterpieces in Izuna's reality was merely a sweet bonus.
And thus came the day of their planned outing. The time was currently 6AM, on a Saturday too. A time and day where the majority of people were still out cold in their beds or wherever they were currently sleeping.
But the pair of girls were already awake.
"Are you absolutely sure they're all still asleep? There'd better not be anybody seeing us together being all buddy-buddy and fuzzy like this!" Natsuki grunted irritably in a low whisper-like voice, already fully dressed in casual attire.
Yuri nods with a smile, being fully clothed in her own choice of outdoor garb as well. On the other end of the room, Yumi and Sayori were both sleeping like logs.
They cautiously tip-toed very slowly out of the guest room and quietly sneaked past the living room as well. Both girls were trying to minimize the amount of noise that they were making. Izuna's bedroom was currently closed tight, so the pair assumed that both Izuna and Monika were sound asleep as well.
Blank's eyes were closed as he laid on the couch and Erika was tossed over to the side, the soft lull of her sleeping breath showed that she too was still out of commission.
Releasing a breath that she had been unconsciously holding, Natsuki buttons up her coat and made sure that she had with her the copy of the house's key that Izuna gave her. The Takaya had made sure to give each Doki as well as Elyssa and Erika their own copies of his main key in case of any emergency.
Natsuki sends a tentative glance at Yuri who merely sighs before smiling again.
"Yes Natsuki, I have my key as well. And remember, we have our own smartphones now. So we can just call the others if we ever get locked out."
Natsuki still looked worried.
"But what if we get recognized by the people outside Yuri?!"
"We've talked this over Natsuki... like Blank said yesterday, we could just pretend that we're DDLC cosplayers. It's not really that difficult."
This does nothing to placate Natsuki and she still fidgets in her spot.
The taller girl sighs again before addressing her friend directly.
"You've been pretty tense during this entire ordeal, aren't you the one who told me to 'loosen up' every once in a while?"
Blushing a bit, Natsuki stammers out an embarrased apology. Her face being painted with the same shade of red as the ribbons in her hair. "Sorry... I'm just not good at this whole 'hanging out with my best friend' thing, you know... One day I'll be brave enough to openly be chummy, but not right now..."
Yuri says nothing, but walks up to her shorter friend and gives her a comforting hug. "It's alright Natsuki, I understand. I'm no professional in social interaction as well, and I envy your confidence and directness when talking to other people, if we're being honest. Let's take things at our pace, and in the future we'll be able to act normally in front of the others. We should just focus on having fun today, haha."
"Yuri... t-thank you."
"Anytime Natsuki, anytime."
Indeed, though their interactions within DDLC's script didn't show too much of it, Natsuki and Yuri really valued each other to the point of considering their friendship to be that of best friends.
Everything they had endured with Blank during the escape from the game only strengthened that bond.
When Erika sealed them off inside that classroom before the final battle between Blank and Monika's mother happened, they had the chance to talk things over as well. All of these factors lead to the two girls becoming very close-knit with each other.
Sure, they still argued every so often, especially due to their differing views on whether manga counted as literature or not, but now they had smiles while doing so.
A friendship strengthened by adversity, Natsuki and Yuri were now doing better than ever before.
The pair then step out of the house together, and prepared to head off towards their first destination by foot, the nearby train station. The door then closes with a soft thud, and Natsuki locks Izuna's front door with her key.
At the same time as the door being closed shut, Blank's eyes fluttered open, and he had a mischievous grin on his face. He rises from his spot on the couch and heads out towards Izuna's bedroom door, preparing to knock.
"It's time, haha. I better wake up the others."
*****The World Beyond The Screen*****
Various establishments were lined up on each side of the road, and the girls couldn't help but marvel at the huge array of sights before them.
Each building they saw had been a lot more detailed and complex than the simulated ones within DDLC's digital realm. The pair of girls couldn't help but marvel at everything around them.
For the past few hours, they had already gone from street to street and window-shopped to their heart's content. They would be going to the bookstore at a much later time, so for now they were content with browsing the various places in the city.
As expected, there were several instances of people recognizing them as Natsuki and Yuri from Doki Doki Literature Club, with people even going so far as to point out the pinpoint accuracy of their appearance, but the two of them managed to pass it off as cosplay.
The cosplay alibi had become their go-to excuse for the entire day. Thus, everything had been going somewhat well between the two.
At one point, Yuri surprised Natsuki with her forwardness by asking for a simple request.
"Natsuki... would you mind taking a picture with me?" she timidly asks with her phone already in hand, causing Natsuki to look at her with mild surprise and a blush. She never expected Yuri of all people to suggest such a thing.
"...n-not at all."
It was pretty cute, how both Yuri and Natsuki were acting shy around each other, but they ended up taking the selfie anyway. With their hands snaked around each other's shoulders and both of them flashing peace signs, they both smiled at the camera and took several photos to commemorate their first outing in the real world. Natsuki also took some photos with her phone as well.
"I-it's just so that your phone doesn't run out of storage space, Yuri! Don't get a-any wrong ideas you dummy!" the pink-haired girl stammers out an excuse, but both of them knew that Natsuki was enjoying this just as much as Yuri was.
They continued their little stroll around the city, still fully taking in how blessed they were for being able to experience all of this, thanks to their escape from the game.
And this was only the beginning, they had a long life ahead of them in this new world. They fully understood now why Monika had been craving for the chance to enter the player's reality. It was truly amazing.
"Look Yuri, I spy a bakeshop over there just around the corner!" in an excited daze before Yuri could even react, Natsuki had begun spriting towards the confectionary store while pulling along the purple-haired girl's hand.
"N-Natsuki, slow down a b-bit!"
Sticking her tongue out in a teasing manner, Natsuki chides Yuri while continuing to drag her along. "Nobody likes a slowpoke~! And besides, I want to try the pastries already!" and together, the two of them darted off while unknowingly being watched from a distance by a certain group of teenagers.
There was four of them to be specific. Four individuals we all know too well. And they were constantly hiding themselves as they tailed Natsuki and Yuri around. Currently, they were in one of the large bushes that decorated the city sidewalk.
"Awwwww look at them, it's so sweet how chummy they are with each other~" Monika says with a dreamy smile and Blank was in a similar state, gushing over Natsuki and Yuri being so friendly with each other.
"I know right?! It's so adorable aaaaaaahhhhh~!" the former avatar squeals in a fashion similar to that of a pleased fangirl.
The other two that were with them weren't as enthusiastic though.
"Blank, Monika, we shouldn't be doing this! We should give those two some privacy..." Sayori remarks in a disapproving yet hushed tone, in order for them not to be caught. The strawberry-blonde gets ignored however by the ex-president and the former avatar.
Izuna merely sighs in exasperation over their silly antics, while gingerly placing a hand on the strawberry-blonde's left shoulder. The gesture was laced with the feeling of eyes being rolled at their hardest.
"I don't agree with this either Sayori, but we both know how Monika and Blank get whenever they're set on doing something. It's like talking to a wall. Let's just let them be and see how this goes."
Sayori snaps her head at the Takaya with questioning eyes. How Izuna could be so nonchanlant about this blatant invasion of her friends' privacy, was a foreign concept to the cinnamon roll.
She just couldn't understand. Even SE Sayori's maturity that Sayori inherited wasn't helping her at all with such a concept.
"So we're just going to let them spy on Natsuki and Yuri like this? It's not right at all! Blank wouldn't let me talk him out of this, but maybe you could convince Monika?"
Izuna sighs again before shrugging, and proceeds to continue tagging along with what he deemed as a ridiculous activity. Sure, he was happy that Natsuki and Yuri seemed to be getting along very nicely, but not to the point that he'd think it'd be necessary to spy on their outing.
"Trust me Sayori, they ain't stopping anytime soon. Monika and Blank are both as stubborn as a pair of preschool kids begging for toys. I've already told Erika about this but she shrugged and just told me to let them have their fun."
Sayori sighs in defeat and tags along as well.
*****The World Beyond The Screen*****
"At last, we're here! Yuri, look how pretty this freaking door is!"
Natsuki and Yuri stood face to face with the tall set of glass doors currently in front of them. Said door being flanked on both sides with wider glass panes that proudly displayed the current books that were on sale.
They were finally at the main destination of their outing. After hours of browsing the city, their journey had finally reached this point.
A bookstore.
But not just any bookstore, apparently it was the largest and most popular one within the vicinity.
That is, if Google Assistant on Natsuki's phone was to be believed. Yuri didn't have any input either even though she also had her own smartphone and access to Google's resources, since Natsuki was the more technologically-gifted between the two of them anyway. And so the purple-haired girl trusted her friend's judgement.
A bright and colorful sign etched with the words "The Paper Garden" written in an elegant cursive font proudly hung over the main entrance, and the whole building in general sported a nice and classy look.
To Natsuki, it meant that this bookstore has indeed, earned its 4.5 star rating on Google, if the storefront's overall beauty was anything to go by. But the real test would begin once they stepped through those doors and browsed its insides.
Unable to supress the growing excitement within her, the normally shy Yuri was the first to speak.
"I can't believe we're about to enter a real bookstore for the first time, Natsuki! This is an experience to be treasured forever."
Natsuki had no disagreements, and merely grinned as well. "You said it girl, I can't wait to read all the manga that Izuna's world has to offer!"
"I'm utterly ecstatic about the boundless possibilities that the brightest literary minds in this reality have realized in the various novels we're about to encounter as well. Let's go in, shall we?" Yuri dreamily added, her inner bibliophile on full display.
"Right on Yuri, right on."
The pair finally enters the place and immediately starts browsing the store's aisles for their desired literature.
Natsuki, as expected, had gravitated towards the shelves that contained manga, light novels, and other anime-related works. Her eyes currently trailing around the cover of a volume from the "Boku no Hero Academia" series, one of the popular shounen titles nowadays for Izuna's generation. It had the right mix of action, emotionally-driving plot, and comedy that was just perfect for Natsuki's honed taste. Although she was primarily a shoujo manga reader as evidenced by her favorite in DDLC being "Parfait Girls", Natsuki had no qualms reading works from other genres such as shounen if they appealed to her.
Yuri on the other hand had already taken to the section that had classics such as works by CS Lewis, an acclaimed novelist of British fame. In particular, she was currently holding a hardcover print of a book titled "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" from Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" series. Narnia, although intended primarily for children, had deep themes in its setting, and this had caught Yuri's interest.
Both girls paid no heed to some of the watching eyes that were casted in their way. Such staring most likely an effect of people realizing that they looked eerily similar to certain characters from Doki Doki Literature Club. Their gazes were merely limited to that however, as no one happened to be bold enough to actually approach Natsuki and Yuri about it. Thus, the possibility that they were merely diehard cosplayers seemed to be a plausible explanation to the majority.
After about an hour of drinking in all the literary flavor they could amass, the girls rendezvous'd at one point in the store and began discussing their finds.
In a surprising turn of events, Yuri also showed an interest in some of the manga Natsuki found, and the pink-haired girl was also checking out some of the novels her friend has selected. Both were blushing while doing so, quite cutely too.
The delighted squeals of a certain group that were still tailing them could be heard from afar. And this slightly had Natsuki and Yuri on the defensive.
"Natsuki... did you hear that? Or am I imagining things?"
"No, I heard it too. But I think it isn't anything too important. Let's just ignore it for now, but if something happens then I'll just beat them up! Hmph!" Natsuki confidently states, eliciting a giggle from the taller girl.
Quickly moving on from their sudden worry, they continued to browse the store to their heart's content.
Afterwards, they went up to the cashier, paid for their new books and headed out of the place with big smiles on both of their faces.
"We should definitely swing by here again sometime Yuri! Man, I can't believe the others are missing out on this." Natsuki beams at Yuri who had suddenly grown very quiet. What greeted her was the sight of the purple-haired girl awkwardly smiling with her face gradually becoming red.
"...Yuri?" at the sound of her name, she covers her face with both of her palms while trying to hide her growing blush from Natsuki. This prompts the other girl however to finally notice how chummy she'd been the entire time with Yuri, and a blush emerges on her face in turn.
"D-dammit Yuri! Now you're making me feel all weird too, ugh! Fine! I admit it, I really liked hanging out with you!" Natsuki exclaims with her eyes tightly shut and her cheeks dyed scarlet, afraid of what Yuri's reaction might be. Although they were close friends at this point, the concept of being open about said friendship was still very foreign to both of them.
Once she had calmed herself down at last, Yuri immediately apologizes timidly to Natsuki.
"S-Sorry Natsuki... I was just s-startled that you actually liked hanging out with me... after we argued so much inside the game too... and now you're even planning to spend time with me in the future and while it made me very happy-" as Yuri was saying this, Natsuki began to stammer and blush further.
"-it also made me incredibly shy all of a sudden. But I'm o-okay now." the purple-haired girl was trying her best to remain confident sounding but both of them were pretty embarrassed at how bashful they were at the moment.
However, amidst all this, they managed to smile at each other again and the shyness from both ends gradually dissipated.
"Just like you said before we left the house, let's just focus on the fun!" Natsuki reassures both herself and her friend, who nodded in agreement before hugging her as well.
"Y-Yuri..."
"Natsuki, you're so warm..."
They let the hug last a bit longer, until they heard the unmistakable sound of a smartphone's shutter. It was the sound of a picture being taken without their permission.
"I knew someone was following us!" Natsuki begins to drag Yuri along the direction of the sound, and out of a nearby bush, four people came out to their surprise and had begun running away from them.
Soon enough, Natsuki and Yuri were able to catch up with them because despite Monika and Blank being athletic, Izuna and Sayori weren't the same case.
The group of six found themselves in front of a nearby cafe and Natsuki grumpily forced the people she had just caught red-handed to confess, with Yuri sporting a pout as well. They were all currently seated at a big round table, each with their own caffeinated beverage, thanks to Izuna treating them all to one.
"Well? You fools have anything to say for yourselves in defense? I expected this kind of crap from the mophead and Monika, maybe even Sayori-"
"Hey! Why me too?!" the strawberry-blonde protests before being shut down by Yuri.
"You took an unsolicited bite out of Natsuki's cookie in Act 1 of DDLC, Sayori. You aren't exactly the epitome of being a saint yourself."
Giggling a bit at the memory, Sayori conceded. "Ehehe... I almost forgot about that..."
With a cough in her hand, Natsuki continued. Her scowl currently akin to the bared fangs of a tiger. "As I was saying... I was expecting this sort of thing from the other three, but how could you join along in spying on us, Izuna?"
Taking a sip from his Java Chip Frappucino, the Takaya shrugged.
"Eh, I couldn't really be bothered to stop them from doing all of this. You should know how stubborn Monika could be. And for a guy who was supposed to be denser than a block of cement, Blank was surprisingly just as stubborn. Wasn't the DDLC protagonist supposed to be some clueless shmuck and wasn't Monika supposed to be mature as hell? Sigh..."
Yes, Izuna had just roasted the living daylight out of his girlfriend and the guy who had access to the Sixth Movement of the Cosmos. Both of them currently sending annoyed glances at the Takaya who continued to wave them off and started to sharply scold them in an increasingly loud voice. It wasn't loud enough to get them kicked out from the cafe, but it was still quite audible and clear.
"Oh don't even look at me like that you two, we all know full well that it was you two who were deadset on this. Sayori and I merely tagged along."
Natsuki and Yuri, who were initially the voice of reprimanding remained silent as they watched Izuna chew out Blank and Monika. They didn't dare interrupt and Sayori joined them as well in watching.
The Takaya could surprisingly be quite scary when mad.
"But Izuna, darling-"
"No buts! I repeatedly said 'Let's all just watch a movie or something.' this morning! But nooooooo..."
"Izuna my dude, you could've stopped us if you really wanted-"
"EXCUSE ME?! You woke us all up at the unholy hour of 6:30AM! On a freaking SATURDAY FOR GOODNESS' SAKE! I wasn't stopping jack s*** with how stubborn you and Monika were with this tomfoolery!"
And so, the day ended with Natsuki and Yuri quite happily recounting their whole day with Sayori as they walked back home to Izuna's house... while Izuna continued ranting at the poor former avatar and ex-president.
Yep, the Takaya wasn't quite done with chewing out Monika and Blank.
-Chapter 13 END-
A/N: Thanks for reading! See you all in the next chapter! And yeah I know, I've been gone for so long, but you'll all get the explanation in next chapter's A/N, ahaha~!
EDIT ON 08/16/18: Huge thanks to elementalshadowhero! My tired self mistakenly thought amber was a shade of violet lmao. All instances have been changed to "purple".