I told Monika that maybe it's still a tad bit too early to start thinking about it. I got a few strange looks from Natsuki and Sayori. Monika insisted that the earlier we could plan for the festival, the sooner we could relax. Everyone agreed with Monika's logic. Monika points out that the upcoming school festival is on Monday next week. She wanted to hear any ideas on what to do during the festival. Monika and I already know what we are going to do but we wanted to hear everyone's idea. Everyone thought about it for awhile, but as expected, no ideas. I acted as if I was nervously suggesting to perform and recite our poems. Monika was 'impressed' by my idea and she decided to go with it. We figured that we should assign tasks on a later day.
" Anyway, now that we got that out of the way, why don't we share our poems with each other!" Monika clasped her hands together and we begin to show each other our poems. I showed my poem to Yuri first, although Monika wanted to see it first.
" Hmm... I see you're a fan of the Haiku style of writing." I chuckled nervously while Yuri further examined the poem.
" And it's theme seems to be something about choices, huh? The effect choices can make on... the... world... Um, Y-Yoku? A-are you ok? P-please s-stop... staring." Yuri stared down at the floor to hide her blush. I stopped staring at Yuri, but I was still impressed.
" Wow... I didn't know you could easily understand the meaning of a poem Yuri! I'm impressed." Yuri was flattered, yet she was also so embarrassed.
" A-ah... T-thank you. H-here is mine." Yuri's hands were shaking as she handed me her poem. It was 'The Ghost Under the Light' one. I have read this so many times, yet I read it once more.
" It's a nice poem Yuri. But I'm sorry if I can't really grasp the meaning of it." I lied, yet I tried to hide it. I know it is about the feelings that she is slowly learning how to handle.
" That's ok. I'm sure you will understand in time." She excused herself to make tea. I looked at Monika, who was just smiling at me. I smiled back and went to Natsuki.
" W-what? Y-you want to read my poem? Whatever, it's crap anyway. Here." She handed me the Eagles Can Fly poem.
" It's cute you know? Especially the ending. Though it is a little sad in the end." Natsuki pouted and turned her head away from me.
" Your's is not bad either. Is that what you wanted to hear? Now go away! Hmph!" She grabbed her poem and I took mine back.
" Geez, Tsundere much?" As I turned around to go and share my haiku with Sayori, Natsuki stuck her tounge out at me.
" Yo! Mind if I read yours Sayori?" Sayori hesitates at first, but gives in. But as I read it, I see that it was still 'Dear Sunshine'.
" You... wrote it this morning didn't you?" Sayori nodded.
" How did you know?" I shake my head lightly.
" Just a hunch. Ahaha~" Sayori smiled and patted me on the head.
" You did a good job on your haiku, Yoku!" I gave her back the poem she made and finally, I showed mine to Monika.
" Geez, were you teasing me by not choosing me first? Ahaha~" I chuckled as I gave her my haiku.
" Well... You know what they say, Save the best for last." I chuckle as Monika's expression turned to that of embarrassment.
" Eep! D-don't say those things out loud! It would be really bad if Sayori found out." I chuckle to myself and wait as she read mine. She gave me her poem but by now, I have memorized it by heart.
" Hmm, I see our poems share the same theme. Except mine is about my epiphany, while yours is about the impact of your choices in this world." We laugh at each other. I always wanted Monika to read my poem, now that dream has come true.
" Anyway, I think it's time to go home everyone. Let's wrap it up and head home." With that, the second club meeting concludes.
I once again went home with Sayori. She was impressed that I was able to share my poems with everyone. I told her that it was nothing. Today, I asked her how she was doing. She said that she could feel herself slowly recover, yet it's still there. I told her not to rush, and that she should do it step by step. I was also surprised when she told me that playing the guitar helps get her mind shift focus from dark thoughts towards a song she is making. I told her I would want to hear her sing from time to time. She agrees and told me she'll play during the festival. But as we neared my home, we both sensed someone is following us. I turned around to see that damn god following me again. He was waving at me with his right hand and he brought a bag of chips with the other.
" W-who is that Yoku?" Sayori whispered to me discreetly.
" Just an old... acquaintance. Let's just walk faster." Sayori nods and begins to pick up the pace. I turned around one last time and saw that he was gone.
We managed to reach her house earlier than usual. As we said goodbye to each other, we gave each other a hug. I whistled as I walked towards my home. I opened the door gently. As I opened the door, I could hear Monika scolding someone. I rushed inside to see she was scolding 'God', who was sitting on my sofa, with empty wrappers and bags of chips lying around and watching Highschool DxD with a lewd smile on his face.
" Yuko! Thank goodness you're here! Tell him to stop watching something so lewd and disgusting!" Monika pointed at the being, who was too engrossed with the show. I sighed and grabbed a rolled up newspaper. I walked up to the being and hit him on the head.
" What in the name of me! Fine! Geez, no need to get violent!" In a flash, the trash around him disappeared and the TV switched to Kimi no Nawa.
" Anyway, I'm here to congratulate you! Nice progress with Sayori! I hope you can prevent the... incident. Remember, I'm rooting for you!" Before I could react, he disappeared in flash of light.
" Ugh... It's like I have a fucking fanboy following me." I groan as I head to the kitchen. I looked at the time, 5:00 pm. I remember I have to go grab some food.
" Hey Monika, you mind if we go to the grocery store for a bit?" I asked Monika, who was channel surfing.
" Sure! Wait... I could always summon the ingredients. Why do you want to buy ingredients anyway?" She asked with an intrigued tone and curious eyes.
" Well, if you don't want to spend an afternoon going out with me, then I guess I'll just have to let you summon the ingredients." I looked at her face as it turned into that of realization.
" N-never m-mind what I said! L-let's go out on t-this date!" She quickly got up and dragged me out of the house.
" W-wait! It's not a date! We're just going out to buy ingredients and spend some time in the park for a while!" My voice got drowned out by the loud footsteps as Monika and I ran towards the nearby mall.
As I pushed the cart trough the aisles, I kept glancing at Monika and the stuff she places in the cart. I bought mostly vegetables and sweets, but I still bought some bacon for my sake. We mostly talked about the nutritional contents of the stuff we bought. I didn't tell Monika what I was planning to make with the stuff I bought. After we finished paying for the stuff, we took a slight detour home. We went trough the park before going home. I was curious on what a place that was not in the game looked like. It looked like a regular park, like the one in most cities. As we walked by the pond, I realized that Monika was holding my arm all this time.
" This is nice, isn't it? The feeling you get when you spend time with the person yiu love." Monika said softly, with a calm tone behind it.
" Yes, it is nice. But you know what is better?" I asked teasingly.
" What could be better than this?" She asked curiously.
" I'll tell you later once we go home." Monika pouted and punched me softly on my shoulder.
" Such a tease. This is why I love you~" I laughed and we continued walking home.
We reached my house around 6:00 pm. I decided to make some vegetavle curry with beef substitute. Monika decided to take a bath as I cooked our meal. I savored the smell that it emitted. I could feel the gentle and mild spice in my mouth. The tomatoes, onion, garlic and curry powder becomes an aroma bomb, filling my house with it's scent. I added the seitan, bouillon cubes, vegetables, water, salt and pepper and cocunut milk. I let it cook for 30 minutes. I pulled out my phone, which I finally found inside my bag. I checked to see that it was hard reset. I installed some apps and for the meantime, looked at memes.
" Hey! That smells so good! Is it ready yet?" I turned around to see that Monika is wearing a green T-shirt with a broccoli on it and leggings.
" Uhh, 20 minutes. You want to watch some anime while we wait?" I gestured to the spot beside me. She nodded and jumped on the sofa.
" Oof! Y-you're haevier than I expected!" Monika laid her head on my lap and started snuggling and purring like a cat.
" That's not nice! I'm not that heavy! Anyway, what anime we watchin?" She looked up at me with a cat face expression. God, she's really cute, control yourself Yoku! We don't want to stab her head with your sword!
" U-um... You want to watch... Drifters?" I managed to calm myself down and keep calm.
" Sure!" I pressed play and we begin to watch.
I liked the action and gore this series brings. The plot too is enjoyable for me. Monika tho, not too much. She likes the plot and story but the gore is a little bit too much for her. But she does enjoy the action and strategies used. We finished the first episode just as the curry finished cooking.
" I didn't know you liked such violent shows." Monika pouted at me.
" I don't really enjoy the violence, it's the plot I'm after." Monika raises an eyebrow at me.
" Let's just eat that curry! It's aroma is already delicious." As she sat down, I grabbed two bowls and filled them with rice and curry. I placed the bowl in front of her along with her spoon and fork. We began to eat immediately.
" Wow! Nice call with the seitan! I really gives texture to the curry." She was impressed.
" I know right! I wanted it to feel like a curry with meat." I smiled proudly.
" Yup! It's really delicious!" And, once again, god is here.
" Why do you keep popping up in Yoku's house?" Monika groaned at the being.
" Because I want to see how he is doing! Duh!" He was eating the curry quickly.
" Aren't you an all-seeing god?" He paused for a moment and sighed.
" Not really. Sure, I have great knowledge, but I'm not all-seeing. Besides, I'm not the same 'God' that most of humanity worships." We stare at him in silence as he gulps down the food.
" Anyway, I have something to give you." He threw the bowl into some sort of portal and he pulled out a notebook.
" You're holding the game's logs. Even Monika can't access these files cause I locked her out of it, it would make her too op. It would allow you to see the actions of the three girls in intervals of 15 minutes." He slide it down the table and smiled. We were both shocked to be given such a tool.
" But it comes with a side effect. The longer you use it, the longer the intervals become. You'll need such a power in the days to come. Now, farewell Yoku! It'll be a long time till I speak to you like this!" Light flashed and 'God' is gone.
" What the hell... Such a huge amount of data." I could see Monika stare intently at the notebook.
" What could you see Monika?" I asked her.
" The data is encrypted, but I could feel it's weight. It's like the entire world in a small amount of space." I felt awed by such an item in my hands. It's like being a god. But... I know that it's too dangerous.
" We... shouldn't open it. We should use it in emergencies only." We both nodded and stood up.
" I'll go take a shower so that we could both sleep. I'll leave the notebook in your care Monika." I handed her the notebook and got inside the shower.
As I took a cold shower, I thought hard on how will I help everyone in this world. The chills sent down my spine were not caused by the cold droplets hitting my back. It was caused by the thought of what failure would mean. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. I'm not willing to lose them again for a 36th time. As those thoughts finally cleared, a glimmer of hope shined brightly. I got it! I quickly finished my shower and put on my pajamas. I rushed inside my room to find Monika using the computer inside my room.
" WHY DON'T WE HELP THEM ALL TOGETHER?!" I shocked Monika, who nearly fell off the chair.
" W-what? What do you mean?" She recomposed herself and stood up.
" Instead of choosing just one of you guys, why not invite them all over to my house! This way, Natsuki and Yuri won't be fighting with each other!" As I proudly declare my solution, Monika pondered about it and sighed.
" You do know that multitasking to help two people qwith tedious tasks is really hard, right?" Monika folded her arms.
" But you and Sayori is right next door. If you guys manage to finish the task early, you could come over and help me. It would really help me and make it feel that no one got left out." I awaited Monika's response. She let out a sigh and nodded.
" Well, Sayori seems to be doing fine. But I feel she still harbors those feelings of regret. The feeling that she is losing you." A worried expression washed over her face.
" You're right. But... as long as I am able to convince her that I'm not leaving her, it would be fine. Right?" I'm getting nervous and my tone shows it. Monika places a hand on my shoulder to reassure me.
" Hey, don't worry. Knowing you, I'm sure you can do it. Besides, I can now support her instead of making her depression... worse." Her smile fades into a frown. I see that she deeply regrets doing that to Sayori.
" Don't worry. It's not your fault. You were just following the game's script. Anyway, I'm wondering, how do we help the other girls?" We sighed and scratched our heads.
I think we spent a few hours drawing up plans for each girl except Natsuki. Natsuki's problem would be hard to deal with. It's a problem that would require her to face alone. Monika and I concocted for Yuri. As long as I don't make her feel too attach to me, she won't fall in love with me and kill herself. As we finished talking about this, we felt tired both physically, mentally and emotionally. I looked at the time and saw it was around 11:00 pm. Tonight was a silent one, only the crikets and bats could be heard. We both laid ourselves on bed and said our goodnights. I looked at Monika's face, her green eyes staring back at me. I brushed a strand of her brown hair and tucked it behind her ear. She smiled warmly and placed a hand on my cheek. I grab her by the waist and pull her closer. Her soft breaths I could feel on my face. The rhythm of her beating heart I could hear. As she closed her eyes, so did I. I leaned closer to the point I could feel her lips graze along mine. I hesitated for a second and then...