Brief Context Note: The events of this story take place after the events of the DDLC Side Stories but before the events of the main game.
Act 1: Little Ball of Sunshine
A Not-so-Normal Glitch
"Okay, everyone!" Monika called. "Now that we're all here, we can discuss preparations for the festival! I know it's still a few weeks out, but I was thinking if we could try to get ahead in our planning, we could really create something that would connect with people."
"Awww but couldn't we have some time for a snack first?" Sayori timidly asked, poking her index fingers together. Monika couldn't help but chuckle at this, smiling as she gave a feigned sigh of defeat.
"Well alright. But only because Natsuki made cupcakes."
"Yay!" Sayori exclaimed, practically grinning from ear to ear. She rose from her desk and made her way over to Natsuki, who was lifting the foil from a small tray. Sayori watched intently, practically leaning over Natsuki as she did.
"Personal space, jeez!" Natsuki scoffed, giving Sayori a semi playful shove away. She uncovered the tray to reveal four cupcakes that were slightly larger than the ones she usually made. Each one was decorated differently to coordinate with a specific club member. Sayori's eyes immediately widened in amazement.
"Ooh those look so good, Natsuki!" She exclaimed. Monika curiously made her way over to Natsuki's desk to have a look. Yuri followed behind her.
"Wow Natsuki, those are wonderful!" Monika said, smiling.
"Yeah, yeah quit your yapping and just take 'em already!" Natsuki folded her arms in fluster. Compliments always made her feel a bit weird, so she tried to meet them with indifference. She couldn't help but crack a little smile though, her head turned away from her friends. Sayori reached in the tray and retrieved her cupcake. Her blue eyes sparkled as she admired its décor. The cake itself was confetti themed, being speckled with a rainbow of colored spots. The peach-colored frosting on top was speckled with blue sprinkles. And a red fondant bow topped it off perfectly. Yuri retrieved her cupcake from the tray. It was a deep purple color with lavender colored icing. An eye made of fondant lay in the icing. Yuri got a small smile at seeing this while Natsuki started listing the different flavors.
"Sayori's is confetti. Yuri, yours is green tea. For yours I took inspiration from that 'Painting of Marco' book you like." Yuri smiled at this.
"W-Well first, it's actually called the Portrait of Markov," she began. "A-And second, I'm impressed that it's green tea despite it being purple." Natsuki just rolled her eyes.
"Well duh, ever heard of food coloring?"
"I-I know. I-It just looked as though you put a lot of work into it is all I'm trying to say."
"W-Well maybe I was just having fun with it!" Natsuki stammered, getting flustered once again. Even Yuri was making an effort to compliment her. "Y-You're welcome by the way!" Yuri couldn't help but smile to herself at Natsuki's reaction. Her flustered stammer was an indication that the compliment had landed, which had been Yuri's hope. Natsuki watched as Monika retrieved her green cupcake from the tray. It's butterscotch icing was adorned with a white bow made from fondant, similarly to the one on Sayori's cupcake. "Monika, yours is vanilla with butterscotch icing."
"I'm very impressed that you made all of them different flavors!" Monika complimented. Natsuki just huffed another sigh.
"I'm just a pro," Natsuki said, putting her hands on her hips with a confident smile. She then started to put the foil back over the tray, which attracted the attention of Sayori once again.
"What about yours?" She asked. By now her own cupcake was half eaten.
"Mine is chocolate with strawberry icing." Sayori's eyes lit up once more at hearing this.
"Oh, that sounds sooo good!" The bubbly girl then poked her index fingers together. "C-Could I maybe try-"
"No! I already gave you yours!" Natsuki was quick to cut the girl off. Sayori giggled a bit.
"I was just kidding, Natsuki!" She said, though her slightly defeated look said otherwise.
"Riiiight," Natsuki replied, raising an eyebrow to display her doubt. Sayori made her way back to her own desk. Yuri walked back to her desk as well, sitting down before taking a small bite of her cupcake.
"Now then," Monika began, still smiling. "Why don't we at least start discussing poster ideas?"
"Omkay!" Sayori agreed, her mouth full of cupcake. Monika chuckled.
"Does anyone have any ideas to start us off?" The room fell silent for a few moments, prompting a nervous chuckle from Monika. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to put you all on the spot. I know the festival is still a few weeks away." Monika paused as she thought for a moment. "Hmm. Sayori?" Sayori looked up from her cupcake, looking over to Monika. "Why don't we work on posters for the festival then?"
"Sounds fun!" Sayori replied with a smile. Monika turned back to Yuri and Natsuki.
"And of course, if you guys happen to have any ideas for the posters you're welcome to jump in as well. If not, you're welcome to do whatever literature related activity you'd please." Yuri was already pulling a book from her backpack. Natsuki gave a nod to Monika before getting up from her desk and heading towards the closet. Noticing this, Sayori slowly rose from her desk, her eyes locked on the foil covered tray on Natsuki's desk.
"Don't even think about touching that cupcake, Sayori!" Natsuki said. She didn't even have to turn and face Sayori. A part of her just knew that as soon as she got up, Sayori would make her way over and claim the cupcake as her own.
"Awww but I just wanted to look at it!" Sayori said with a giggle in her voice. Part of that statement was indeed true. Sayori was genuinely curious to see how Natsuki had decorated her own cupcake. Then again, she would be lying if she said she wasn't thinking about taking a small swipe of the strawberry icing from it with her finger.
"Oh no we're out of poster paper," Monika said, after looking in the closet for some. Overhearing this, Sayori spoke up.
"I can grab more!" She said, looking over at Monika. Monika thought for a moment before giving a nod.
"I think there's some in the art club's room. They don't usually meet today, and I doubt they'd mind if we borrowed just a little bit."
"You can count on me!" Sayori replied happily. Then she skipped her way out of the classroom, entering the hallway. Her hair and skirt bobbed a bit as she continued to skip her way towards the room that the art club normally used. Today had actually been a relatively good day for Sayori. It hadn't been as hard for her to get out of bed this morning, so she was able to walk to school with the friend she had grown up with. "Hmm… He said he would join a club this year. I'll ask him about it next week!" Sayori thought to herself. It was true, her friend had promised that he would join a club this year, though Sayori had a feeling it was more as a means to get her off of his back rather than him actually wanting to socialize more. The bubbly girl giggled to herself at this thought. Before long, Sayori had reached the classroom. Or rather she skipped right past it due to being occupied by her thoughts. Luckily though she didn't make it too far before realizing her mistake and backtracking.
Pulling the door open, Sayori walked into the classroom. The desks were all neatly lined back up as if the room had just been cleaned for the day. So Sayori made an effort to not mess any of them up as she made her way to the closet.
"Hmmm, if I was poster paper where would I be resting?" She thought, after opening the closet doors and examining the contents inside. Her eyes scanned the closet, suddenly stopping as she noticed an open package of poster sheets on the very top shelf. "Ah there!" Sayori exclaimed to herself as she reached up to retrieve a few sheets.
Sayori's vision suddenly went black. Before she could comprehend what was even happening, she felt her body freeze up. An intense wave of nausea washed over her. It was as if she could feel her surroundings moving around her despite not being able to see them. All of this only seemed to last for a brief second before her vision returned and her body unfroze. Dizzied, Sayori collapsed to the floor as she failed to regain her balance in time. "W-What was that…?" She wondered, as her blurry vision started to normalize. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what had just happened. The whole event already seemed so fuzzy just seconds after it had happened. It was like trying to recall a dream later in the day, or thinking about really early childhood memories. Sayori just sat on the floor of the closet and tried to process it all. Had it even happened at all? Maybe she was just dehydrated or tired. No, something was wrong. Really wrong. Even in her slightly foggy state, Sayori could tell that she was fairly lower to the ground than usual. Confused by this sight, she held her hands out to look at them. Though her confusion only seemed to grow as she saw that her hands were now smaller and chubbier. "W-Wha…?" That was the only thing she could get out before she was taken aback at the sound of her voice. Sure, her voice was naturally high pitched and cheery, though now it seemed impossibly higher, not to mention slightly nasally like the voice of a young child. But that was impossible right? The thought just wasn't logical, even for someone as imaginative as Sayori. Her uniform still fit snuggly as it always did, so if she had somehow magically shrunk or gotten younger, then her uniform had to have shrunk as well. Sayori's brow furrowed a bit as she sat on the floor of the closet, perplexed by her thoughts. Though she didn't have much time to think before a familiar voice suddenly came from the previously empty classroom.
"Sayori?" The voice sounded gentle yet polite, and Sayori had no doubt that it belonged to Monika.
"Have I been gone so long that I made Monika start to worry about me?" The thought ran through Sayori's head almost automatically, eliciting a small frown. She hated making people worry about her. Her thoughts were once again interrupted when Monika peeked into the closet.
"Sayori?" Though as soon as Monika spoke, she noticed someone sitting on the floor of the closet. A small child with big blue eyes looked back up at her. And after seeing the red bow in her coral pink hair, Monika suddenly went wide eyed as she realized who the child was. "S-Sayori?!" She stammered, not even believing her own eyes.
"Y-Yeah, it's me… I-I don't understand how this even happened though!" Sayori said. Despite these words sounding clear as day in her head, Sayori's voice became a bit quiet as she realized she was speaking toddler gibberish. But how? She understood Monika's words just as clearly as she would on any other day. So why couldn't she herself speak anymore? Noticing Sayori's confused reaction to her own babbling, Monika knelt down to her.
"Can you understand me, Sayori?" She asked. The toddlerfied vice president gave a nod of confirmation. Monika gave a small sigh of relief at this.
"O-Okay. That makes things a little simpler," she stated. As if any part of finding your friend as a toddler was simple. Monika tried to ponder just how any of this could have happened. Sure, the code bugged out every once in a while, but it never resulted in anything even remotely close to this! Something like this wasn't even possible according to the game's files. Wanting to be of help in any way she could, Sayori decided it would be best to stand up. She shifted to her knees so that she could get to her feet; an action that proved to be surprisingly difficult with her new lack of motor control.
"Would you like some help getting up?" Monika asked, offering a hand to Sayori. Sayori timidly took Monika's hand and was helped to her feet. She wobbled a bit as she let go of the club president's hand. And within seconds of trying to keep her balance she fell back to the floor, landing on her bottom with a small squeak. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean for you to fall," Monika said. Before she could help Sayori back up, Monika suddenly stopped as she noticed something. Her eyes were fixed on Sayori's waist, and she had an expression of both surprise and confusion. Puzzled, Sayori looked down at her waist to see that her skirt had rolled up when she had lost her balance, exposing a diaper around her waist. The vice president felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment as she lifted her skirt a bit more to examine the padded undergarment. It was white with little pink, pastel hearts on it. On the front of it was a little pastel picture of a cow plushie, which Sayori recognized immediately.
"M-Mr. Cow…?" She thought to herself. Monika bit her lip as she watched this, though it wasn't out of discomfort. Part of her wanted to 'aww', so she was suppressing her smile as to not make her friend feel any more embarrassed. Even on a normal day, Sayori always carried an adorable disposition. Though in her younger state it seemed like it was amplified tenfold.
"Hmm, how about I hold your hands until you find your balance?" Monika proposed. With that, she gently helped Sayori to her feet once more, only this time she kept ahold of her hands. The toddler tried to focus on steadying her legs as they wobbled under her. She couldn't believe how difficult an otherwise easy task like standing had become. She frowned a tiny bit in dismay before looking up at Monika for advice. "It's okay, just take your time," Monika said, with a reassuring smile. Sayori couldn't help but smile a bit at this. She took a breath before focusing all her energy into keeping herself balanced. And soon enough she felt the courage to let go of Monika's hands.
"I-I actually did it!" She thought. She then started to wobble a bit, though this time she quickly stuck her arms out at her sides and caught herself before she could fall. She looked up at Monika, who was smiling happily.
"There you go, nice job!" Sayori couldn't help but get a small smile at the praise, regaining a bit of her bubbliness. As Monika made a mental note to double check the game files, her eyes suddenly fell on something that was on the top shelf of the art club's closet. A rather babyish looking tote bag was propped on the shelf, its bright coloring having been the thing that had caught Monika's eye. The bag was baby blue with a red strap that made it so it could be worn over someone's shoulder. Though the thing that mostly caught Monika off guard about it was that there was a tag attached to the handle. It hung down at an odd angle that allowed Monika to immediately see the words written on it. It was almost as if she was supposed to see it. "T-To the Literature Club…?" Monika read the tag aloud, her eyes narrowing a bit in suspicion as she did. This couldn't have just been caused by a glitch in the game files. No, someone would've had to purposely make this happen.
A gleeful babble suddenly came from Sayori. Upon hearing this, Monika looked down at her toddler-sized friend to see that she had managed to toddle over to a box in the corner of the closet. The club president hesitantly took the bag from the top shelf of the closet, putting it over her shoulder before she knelt down so she could talk to Sayori.
"Oh, you took a few steps by yourself," Monika said, smiling at the toddler. Sayori giggled happily as she turned to face Monika. She took a couple wobbly steps before holding a box of crayons up to her, her blue eyes practically sparkling as she did.
"Hey Monika! We can use these to work on posters!" Sayori thought as she held up the crayons. Monika couldn't help but let out a chuckled aww at seeing Sayori holding the crayons.
"Why don't I grab you a few sheets of paper so you can color, okay?" Sayori beamed with excitement at this.
"Actually yeah! Coloring sounds fun!" She thought, jumping up and down happily. This was short lived though, as her jumping caused her to lose her balance. Once again, she fell back on the floor, landing on her padded bottom. The toddler pouted slightly at this before sticking out her tongue and blowing a raspberry at her own legs. Monika put her hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh at Sayori's pouty expression. Although this was a beyond unusual situation, Monika felt that as long as Sayori wasn't hurt, she would just go with it the best she could. At least until she had time to examine the files.
"Here you go Sayori." Monika smiled as she grabbed a couple sheets of printer paper and gave them to the enthusiastic vice president. Sayori babbled up to Monika as an attempt to say thank you. "Now then, why don't I just carry you back to the club room? I understand you're not completely unable to walk, though I just think it would be easier for both parties, okay?" Monika kept her warm smile as she said this. Sayori thought for a moment before she gave a nod up at her friend. "Alright, now up we go." Monika gently lifted her friend up by her underarms, eventually shifting her to a more comfortable position before she started off back to the Literature Club. She was both worried and curious as to how Yuri and Natsuki would react to their friend 'magically becoming a toddler'. Or at least she knew that's how they would probably see it.