"Once there was a group of teens-"
"Of course it's a group of teens!" Natsuki interrupts.
"Will you let me-" Monika's eyes shoot towards Natsuki.
"Fine, continue." Natsuki says with a smirk.
"Ahem... Once there was a group of teens who came across-"
"I REMEMBER!" Sayori shouts.
The other girls stare at her in confusion.
"...Nevermind, I forgot again..." She looks down in dissapointment.
"You guys are killing the mood." Monika says, with a mix of sadness and anger.
"Please continue, Monika." Yuri says politely.
"Thank you, Yuri. As I was saying... There once was a group of teens who came across a cave, it was their only-" Monika looks up and notices Yuri yawning. "I'm boring you already? The story just started!"
Yuri jumps. "Ah! Sorry! It's not you! I'm just really tired..." Yuri looks down embarrased.
"Tired of listening to your story..." Natsuki mumbles, chuckling to herself.
"Alright you know what, story time is over." Monika gets up.
"No wait!" Sayori says while jumping at Monika's legs.
"What the-"
"We're sorry, we'll listen this time! Right guys?" Sayori looks at the other two.
Yuri nods and Natsuki shrugs.
"Promise?" Monika's eyes light up.
"Promise!' Sayori says, while continuing to hug her leg.
Monika sits down and clears her throat. "Once th-" Suddenly the fire that was between the four girls, cuts out.
"Man the universe really doesn't want you to tell this story." Natsuki says.
The four girls depart from the burned out fire, and the failed ghost stories.
As Monika is getting prepared to sleep she see's Natsuki walking towards her in an awkward manner.
"Hey Monika... Don't make this weird or anything..." Natsuki says.
Monika raises an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Sorry if I seemed a bit... Grumpy today, okay? It's been a long day..." She looks away, clearly embarrased.
"Aww, it's okay! We all had a long day! I'm sure we'll all be better tomorrow." Monika says confidentially.
Natsuki weakly nods and heads towards the tent to grab her PJ's, Monika wonders if there was something else that was bothering her, she seemed different from her usual sour self. Then again, they're all hiding something from eachother, Monika thinks more on the subject. "Should I find a way to convince them to spill it out on each other?" She shakes her head. "No... That would be wrong..."
"Monika! You coming or what?" Sayori calls out, causing Monika to jump a little.
"Oh right! Sorry, I sorta spaced out a little..." Monika chuckles nervously, and takes a deep breathe to clear her mind.
The four girls get ready to sleep in their tents. They switch from their dirty clothes into sleepwear and get ready for a night's rest, except Sayori who's still in her dirty clothes and is sitting with a bunch of branches and sticks.
Monika slowly approaches her. "Whatcha' doing there Sayori?" She says with a friendly smile.
"I'm not tired..." She pokes the dirt with one of the sticks. "So I need to entertain myself.
"Something wrong?" Monika asks.
"I wanna do something!" Sayori says.
Monika gives a puzzled expression. "What?"
"I... I don't know, I don't feel like sleeping." Sayori pouts and continues fidgiting with the sticks.
Monika pats the sitting girl on the back. "Will you at least try? We'll be back to exploring and all that tomorrow, okay?"
Sayori sighs and stands up. "I'll grab my PJ's..."
"Right here!"
"Wha-" Clothes suddenly hit Sayori in the face. "H- Hey!" Sayori looks around and see's Monika happily skipping away to the tent.
Meanwhile, Yuri stares at her tent, Natsuki is already in it and her anxiety is holding her back from entering it with her.
"What's up Yuri?" Monika shouts from the other tent.
"Ah-" Yuri jumps. "How many times is that gonna happen?" Yuri sighs. "I'm... Okay... Just... Nevermind." She has no choice now. She slowly enters the tent, to see Natsuki sitting upright with a book over her head, she doesn't say hi, probably unaware of Yuri's presence. Either way, Yuri awkwardly lays next to the other girl, who still doesn't seem to notice. Yuri lays her head away from Natsuki and closes her eyes in hopes for the night to end, however her mind doesn't let her rest easy.
"Yuri?" Natsuki's pokes the tall girl nervously.
Yuri takes a deep breath and turns towards Natsuki. "Y- Yes?"
"Ya know... Not that I want it to be you out of all people. But... I kinda have never... Like ever... Cuddled anyone before..." Natsuki's face turns reds. "So..."
"Me- Me neither..." Yuri says.
There is a moment of silence before Natsuki speaks again. "Well... Goodnight Yuri..." She quickly turns her back to the other girl and lays there with her head under the blankets.
Yuri gets an uneasy feeling, she feels tired but can't find the effort to sleep. "Natsuki?" Yuri asks. Natsuki turns towards her faster than she was expecting which startles her.
"Yes?" She responds.
"I... Wouldn't mind if you wanted to... With me..." Yuri feels her stomache hurt. "Why did I say that?" Yuri scratches her arm awkwardly. "Erm... Sor-" Suddenly she feels the tiny girl's arms wrap around her. "Oh-"
"Don't tell anyone about this or else I'll kick your shins." Natsuki mumbles.
"I... Won't..." Yuri wraps her arms around Natsuki aswell, though anxiety hangs around her, cuddling actually feels kinda nice, causing her eyes to slowly start to close.
"You two are so cute!" Sayori yells from the other tent.
"Yeah we can hear everything." Monika yells aswell.
"End me..." Natsuki says in monotone.
"Not today!" Monika says back.
"Wait what-"
"Night!" Monika says, happily.
Sayori lay still awake, cuddling Monika should've made her feel tired, but she still felt dead awake. She didn't want to move because it might wake Monika. So instead she just laid still and let her mind run wild with thoughts, as it usually does when she's alone. The peaceful silence makes it easy to- "SPIDER!"
"What the?" Monika rubs her eyes.
"RUN!" Sayori leaps out of the tent, leaving Monika alone with the creature.
Natsuki opens her tent to see the strange site. "Sayori what the hell"
"Killed it!" Monika yells from the tent. "Nice survival insticts Sayori." Monika laughs.
"Why did it have to be spiders?" Sayori pouts.
Yuri's head peaks from behind Natsuki's. "What happened?
"Just a little spider." Monika says, while returning to her sleeping spot.
Natsuki rolls her eyes. "There goes my peaceful rest..." She grumbles.
"Uhm... Night Sayori..." Yuri waves before returning to her sleep.
Sayori slithers back into the tent with Monika, who weakly lifts her arms up for Sayori to place herself. Soon after she hears Monika fall asleep again, she let's her mind return to the peaceful state it was before, it's almost like the last few moments didn't happen, she took the moment in, she knew it wouldn't last forever but- "SPIDER!" She shouts again.
Natsuki groans. "God dammit..."
After a little while, the four girls finally all fall asleep, after a long day. Things start to look up for them, maybe the next few days won't be so bad afterall...