Disclaimer: Sup, it's Monika. Here's a new chapter for y'all by my author who doesn't own DDLC. The works.
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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
"Everyday I hear and I see eternity. I am frozen in awe of my knowledge of forever, but I belong only to one girl. Nowhere can I see more clearly than into her heart. When Beth feels heartbreak, I'm stranded in the Stygian Void. Helpless to comfort her, for I am just a horse."
-Paralyzed Horse
From the animated web series, Bravest Warriors.
[Chapter 17 - Paradigm Shift]
Principal Thompson continued to stare the three girls down with cold eyes. His entire disposition was oozing with authority and respect.
Natsuki and Yuri weren't daring to even speak up at all, inadvertently leaving all of the talking to be done by their current caretaker, Yumi Takaya. The three of them had reached a standstill with the principal of Izuna's high school.
'If only Monika or Blank were here... or even little bro. Ugh, explaining all of this is so hard!' Yumi thought while she continued to try and explain to Izuna's principal the reality of the situation.
For the first time, Thompson finally spoke up.
"Quite frankly, Ms. Takaya. I don't believe this tall tale of yours. Those two are obviously not video game characters, they're plain old humans. There's just no way that's true."
"But they are! If you'd just listen sir, and watch this vid-"
"Please watch your tone, young lady. We are in my office. Hushed tones, if you will."
"S-sorry."
Clearing his throat, Principal Thomspon pulled open his desk's drawer and procured a folder that appeared to contain some student files in it. He gave the contents a glance over, and slid the folder across the desk.
"Ms. Takaya, tell whose information do you see contained in that file."
Obliging, Yumi opened the folder and saw that it was her brother's student records.
"It's... Izuna's Student File, right sir?"
"Correct." he confirmed while taking back the folder and returning it to his drawer.
Then, Principal Thompson stood up from his chair, and paced around the room to Yumi's surprise, while staring at Yuri and Natsuki the entire time. Neither Doki having the guts to speak up, mostly due to how intense the man seemed to be.
He came to a stop, directly in front of the two girls. Crossing his arms, he addressed them personally.
"Tell me, is what Ms. Takaya saying really true? That the both of you had come from this 'Doki Doki Literature Club' video game being played by Izuna Takaya?"
Yuri, ever shy and timid except in certain situations was about to speak up, when Natsuki held her hand and spoke up in her stead.
"Y-yes."
Expression still unchanging, the principal pressed on.
"And do you have anything on you to prove it?"
'This is our chance!' Yumi excitedly thought and sure enough, Natsuki mentions the video on the Takaya's phone that managed to record the most recent Doki escape into reality.
Thompson relents and watches the recording. His expression was still stern, but all three girls noticed that his eyes widened a bit after seeing the footage.
Upon finishing and fully comprehending what he had just watched with his own two eyes, Principal Thompson gave the phone back to Yumi and sat on his office chair once more. He appeared to be deeply troubled.
A moment of silence washed over, only to be broken by the principal.
"So it's true."
He then went back to talking one-on-one with Yumi. "And there's three more with them, yes? Five teenagers that you want to enroll here in Ironfist high. Not only that, but there's two adults with them as well. Hold on one second."
The previously stiff man was now animatedly getting invested, and the girls all breathed out sighs of relief.
After searching for the names Natsuki and Yuri on his laptop's browser, he had finally seen it.
"You two came from this game, correct?" he asked while pointing at the Google search results that had pictures of Doki Doki Literature Club on it.
Without the tense atmosphere permeating the office being present, Natsuki and Yuri both found it a lot easier to speak up and talk with the man.
"Indeed, that game serves as the origin for me and my friend, as well as the others that had come from within the world constrained by Izuna's computer, Principal Thompson." Yuri replied confidently.
The principal smiled at the purple-haired girl. "I see. I like how articulate she sounds, Ms. Takaya."
"I know, Yuri's pretty smart, isn't she?" Yumi added with a grin. Both praises caused Yuri's confidence to evaporate, and her cheeks to be colored red with embarassment. It made Natsuki giggle.
"No shame in the fact that you're smart, you dummy. Be proud of yourself!"
"N-Natsuki..."
Thompson then continued to talk with Natsuki, seeing as Yuri was too shy to speak up again.
"Yup. Izuna's computer basically spit us out of it, after the mophead found a way to escape."
"...mophead?"
"Oh, sorry. I meant the main character of DDLC, heh. It's a guy, while me and the others are girls." Natsuki chuckled. She forgot that the principal didn't know about her nickname for Blank.
"Noted, Natsuki. So, where are Sayori and Monika then?"
"Izuna's off on an errand or something with his grandpa, Sayori and the main character are at home, and Monika's out with her mother." Yumi was the one to answer Thompson's inquiry.
"Hmmm... did you just say Monika's mother?"
"Yep, Yumi's right about that. Monika's mom, her name's Erika by the way, also came out of the game with us thanks to the mophead. She was a pain in the butt too, the mophead had to beat some sense into her before she was convinced that we needed to leave because the inside world was going to go boom!"
Not really knowing what to say, the principal nodded.
After sharing some more details with Thompson, Yumi would say that their meeting had been a success. And while the principal would allow the five Dokis to enroll in the school, he also had one condition.
"Although I do firmly believe now what had happened, The Republic of Lightpoint still has its own set of laws to follow. I am giving you all two months to produce legal documents for the liberated DDLC inhabitants. During that time, they may go to school as normal, and I'll even allow them to settle the matter of tuition at a much later date. For now, your priority Ms. Takaya is going to be their legal documentation."
Yumi graciously nodded her thanks. "Thank you, Principal Thompson. Izuna and I will make sure they get the stuff they need!"
"Glad to hear it. Because although I'm happy to accomodate them, the government itself would give me problems if I don't have anything to show them once they start snooping around."
Yuri, finally calm again, agreed. "That is... acceptable. T-thank you for your help today, Sir Thompson."
"Don't mention it, as an educator, it pleases me that you and your friends even want to pursue education here in a reality that is foreign for you."
He then noticed Natsuki holding up her right fist in front of him.
Not knowing what to do, he awkwardly grabbed it and proceeded as if he were shaking hands with Natsuki. It made the pink-haired girl facepalm.
"Geez, you geezer! That's not how you do it!"
Yumi, fearing that the principal might be mad, tried to silence the girl but found her fears to be unneeded, since Thompson actually laughed for the first time in their entire meeting.
"Hahahaha, sorry. Show me how to do it, Natsuki."
Minutes later, Natsuki and Thompson bumped fists with each other, and the trio of girls left Thompson's office with smiles. Before they left though, he called out to Natsuki one last time.
"That's a really pretty ruby you're wearing by the way, Natsuki. Really matches your pink hair and eyes too."
The Doki in question blushed and muttered a quick "T-thanks." She currently wore a necklace that had a bright, shimmering ruby attached to it. The jewel had a pinkish red hue.
It was the item that Natsayurika had given her to keep, from within the DDLC world. No one except Natsuki herself knew what it did though, and Blank had been trying for a while to find out without any luck.
With his visitors now gone, the man sat down on his office chair once more, before fetching for his smartphone. He dialed in the number of a certain person, one of the school staff to be specific.
It was friday evening now after all, and only him remained within the school as well as the school guards and the janitor. Such was the case with afterhours, and tomorrow was a Saturday too, meaning no classes for the student body.
"Yes, it's me, Principal Thompson. Listen, sorry to disturb you during your free time Ms. Santos, but I'm calling to inform you that there's going to be five new students in your class, courtesy of one Izuna Takaya..."
*****The World Beyond The Screen*****
"Are you sure you're okay though, Monika?" Izuna worriedly asked his beloved over the phone. He had just heard about the attempt on Monika's life from Erika, after the mother had given him a call. Naturally, Izuna became very worried over the situation.
{"I'm fine, my love. Mom's here with me, and we'll be more careful from now on. You just go do what you need to do, I'll be waiting for you when you come back~"}
"Okay... just, let me know if you want me to come back! I'll be there faster than you know it!"
{"I will, don't worry. I love you, Izuna."}
"I love you too, Monika. Take care. Give Erika my regards too, as well as the others. Bye."
With a labored sigh, Izuna ended the phone call. Currently, he was seated on a train headed towards the place known as "Everdawn City", which was situated a few hours away from Horizon City and was the location of his grandfather's dojo as well as his destination for his trip.
Izuna lazily stared out at the window, and looked at each building that he would pass by, idly trying to distract his mind and thoughts from worrying too much over Monika and a couple other things.
This was yet another reason why he needed to do this. Why he needed to undergo such strict training to better himself.
"I need to get stronger, and quickly too. I need to be able to protect her."
He wanted to be able to protect his loved ones, especially Monika. And his grandfather's training regimen was just the way to achieve that, or so he hoped. Maybe, just maybe, he'd finally be able to do something worthwhile combat-wise.
Izuna planned on staying the entire weekend at his grandfather's place, in order to get a feel of the training. Only then would he fully decide if he wanted to really continue with it. He still needed to iron out a schedule after all, due to school and the fact that he still had to help with making sure the DDLC characters would be able to live normal lives in their new reality.
"You seem to have a lot on your plate, huh? Your face looks worried. I hope you're doing okay?"
Hearing a sudden voice to his left, Izuna was snapped from his reverie and realized that someone had been seated beside him for a while now. It was a girl it seemed, though her face was pretty much obscured by the book she was currently reading. The voice was a dead giveaway though.
Izuna wasn't sure whether he should entertain the stranger or not, but decided to anyway. Something about her voice seemed oddly familiar to him. Almost nostalgic, even.
"Yeah, just a lot of things going on, really. Though, it's mostly for a special someone of mine."
"Hmm, I see. Well, hang in there. Your special someone must be really lucky to have someone like you, ahaha. Then again, you're a really kind person. Anyone could see that."
Blushing a bit, Izuna thanked the kind stranger for their praise, before things became quiet again.
And soon enough, the girl seated beside him had to go, seeing as the train had arrived at her stop. Their little chance emcounter was to be cut short.
"It was really nice seeing you again, Izuna. See you around."
"See you around too, miss..." Izuna started to reply but wasn't able to finish after he realized that he never got the girl's name. Well there was also the fact that he never saw her face, due to it being hidden by her book the entire time.
The Takaya then realized something, but only doing so after the stranger was completely gone and had gotten off the train already.
"How did she know my name? And what did she mean by 'seeing me again'?"
Looking out of his window his eyes widened. It couldn't be. Wasn't she supposed to be gone from his reality? But if that was the case, then how was she here, fully alive and kicking?
"Is that really... you? After all this time?" he mouthed at the figure in a hushed voice.
From beyond the bullet train's window pane, Izuna saw what appeared the alternate Monika that came from his first DDLC playthrough. He was pretty sure it was that Monika. How he was unable to notice that it was really her who sat beside him just now, was quite the maddening thought to him. Had he really been that oblivious to his surroundings?
She was visibly shedding tears, while wearing a very happy smile and waving him off from the train station that his ride had just passed. It would seem that fate had intertwined their destinies once more...
"Have a safe trip, my beloved Izuna."
*****The World Beyond The Screen*****
It would seem that they were totally outclassed by this unexpected assassin.
On the way home from Izuna's high school, after successfully getting Principal Thompson to accept them as new students, Natsuki and Yuri along with Yumi were on the way to the Takaya's car, which had been parked nearby.
However, as they were nearing the vehicle, a mysterious figure emerged from the shadows and suddenly covered Yumi Takaya's mouth with a suspiciously damp handkerchief.
"MMMbbpfff-!"
Apparently, the handkerchief had a concentrated amount of chloroform soaked onto it, causing the Takaya to slump helplessly downwards to the ground, unconscious and knocked out cold from commission.
That left Natsuki and Yuri to fend off the mysterious assailant.
Unfortunately, neither of them had possessed any combat ability whatsoever.
Yuri was cursing her powerlessness and her inability to use any among the Movements of the Cosmos. If only Elyssa were here, she'd know what to do. If only Blank were here, he'd come up with a plan by now. If only Sayori or Monika were here, they'd make sure everything turned out okay. Both presidents were a lot braver than herself.
Her best friend was about to die and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Natsuki... you should run away from here..." her voice had lost all hope, and she silently awaited on what the attacker planned on doing to them. She wanted at least Natsuki to make it out alive from this.
Or that would've been the case, until she saw Natsuki suddenly ripping off the necklace she was wearing just now. The shorter girl threw it onto the ground with as much force as she could muster.
"Screw it, I'm doing it now! I was saving this for when we get into even bigger trouble, Yuri. But Yumi's out cold, and we need to get help as soon as possible! There's no time to call on our phones, so I'm bringing out the secret weapon.
During the time that Natsuki had smashed the ruby quite hard onto the concrete, the assassin tried to dash towards the girls with a knife in hand, intending on stabbing them through their bodies.
Putting a damper on his attack though, the assassin's running was stopped by Natsuki's ruby cracking and shattering into an innumerable amount of pieces, accompanied by a bright pink light emerging from its remains. The sound of static could be heard as the place continued to be filled with smoke and the mixture of pink light and pink-colored smoke, effectively blinding the area's visibility.
The would-be assassin had to cover his mouth as well, and as the smoke finally cleared, he saw that someone was standing in-between him and his target. Their presence was oozing with otherworldly power. His tattered trench coat fluttered about with the wind, and his hair stood out in a similar way to Natsuki's.
The newcomer arrogantly smirked before kicking away the enemy assassin using his glitch-powered right leg. The assailant had to tank a concentrated point of impact and ended up being blown back, not able to withstand such brute force from the pink-haired man.
"Allow me to deal with this small fry, Natsuki. Go ahead and call that pesky avatar along with your other friends."
The assassin tried to escape but the newcomer dashed forward with a mad grin.
"Oh, leaving so soon? Entertain me more!" his right had now had distinct black and white-colored glitches coating its entirety, and he launched a huge glitch beam at the enemy with an open palm.
"SEIYAH!"
The beam was narrowly dodged by the enemy, who then tried escaping once more, only to be relentlessly chased after by the newcomer.
"You aren't escaping this, fool!" he struck the assassin with a well-placed roundhouse kick in the gut, finally putting a stop to their escape.
The assailant clutched at his stomach, due to the immense pain he felt caused by the newcomer's glitch-powered strike. Eventually, they fell unconscious and reamined unmoving on the ground in a heap.
With the problem seemingly dealt with, the newcomer headed back to where Natsuki, Yuri, and the still knocked out Yumi were. The assassin was now bound securely with some rope.
He stared at Natsuki for a moment, before letting out a snide remark.
"Took you long enough to get me out of that jewel, runt. I told you, I don't like being made to wait."
-Chapter 17 END-
A/N: See you all in the next update. Longer Author's Notes in the next one.