Through Thick and Thin
It didn't take long for Monika to make it back to the classroom that was home to the Literature Club. She took in a small breath to prepare herself before she opened the door and walked in, having both the diaper bag over her shoulder and Sayori in her arms. Natsuki looked up from her manga when she heard the door open.
"Let me guess," she said with a smug grin. "She got lost in the hall." In reality, Sayori had been gone for almost a half hour before Monika had gone to look for her.
"W-Well…" Monika hesitantly began. "N-Not exactly." Natsuki's smirk immediately vanished when she heard Monika's hesitant tone. Even Yuri was pulled from her reading when she heard what Monika said. Monika noticed that Yuri's eyes went a bit wider when she took notice of the toddler. Natsuki on the other hand had an expression comprised of both confusion and shock.
"I-Is that…?" Yuri mumbled.
"W-What? W-What the hell?!" Natsuki blurted out. Monika glanced at the floor nervously.
"I-I'm just as confused as you guys. I don't know how this happened." Monika struggled not to grit her teeth towards the end of this sentence. She hated having to lie to her friends, but at the same time what choice was there? Monika shifted her stance so that the two shocked girls could clearly see Sayori. "I-I'm sure you guys can already tell, but yes, this is Sayori."
"I-I…I don't understand…" Yuri spoke, albeit a little shaken.
"I'm planning on trying to do some r-research on it," Monika stated. Another lie. She knew exactly how this had happened. Research was the best censoring she could come up with in terms of examining the game files. "Maybe there's some way to try to fix it."
"F-Fix it?" Natsuki questioned. "Fix what? She's a freaking baby! How do we fix that?!" Upon hearing these words, Sayori's heart sank a tiny bit. Natsuki had a point. A really, really big point actually.
"I-Is there even a way to fix this…?" Sayori's cheeriness faded slightly at this thought. Monika frowned at seeing Sayori's faintly gloomy expression. She took in a breath before speaking up once more.
"O-Okay everyone, please listen." Monika paused briefly as she organized her thoughts into words. "I know this all seems unreal. And the idea of fixing it may seem just as impossible, but I promise I will figure out a way to fix this. Th-That's my job as the club president after all. To make sure my members are always at their best, and to fix any problems that may be preventing that." Monika sighed. She was saying this more as a means to try and reassure Sayori. Though much to Monika's dismay, the toddler only hid her face in her shoulder. Sayori felt bad about making Monika have to put in so much work just for her sake. Her sunshine-y mood was becoming blocked out by rainclouds. And for some odd reason it felt harder than usual for her to shoo those rainclouds away.
"I-I'll help," Yuri said. Monika got a small look of surprise at this. Yuri started playing with her own hair as she spoke. "S-Sayori is one of my closest friends. If there's anything that I'm able to do as a means to help her through this, then I'll gladly do it." Yuri looked away from the others as she finished her sentence, feeling a little anxious speaking to everyone at once.
"I'll help too or whatever," Natsuki added. She folded her arms and pretended as if she didn't care quite as much. "I-I mean she's my friend too after all." Monika's worried look faded a bit as she listened to both Yuri and Natsuki. She took a small breath to recollect her thoughts before she smiled at both of them.
"Thank you both so much," she said.
"Oh, hey, what's with the weird bag?" Natsuki suddenly asked. Monika suddenly remembered the bag that was on her shoulder, and she gently set Sayori down on the floor before taking the bag off and examining it closer.
"I-It was in the closet where I had found Sayori," Monika stated. She opened the bag to look at its contents, getting a small look of surprise as she saw that it was full of items for toddler care. "I-It…I-It's full of stuff for toddlers."
"It's a diaper bag," Yuri suddenly spoke up. However, she quickly became anxious when Natsuki and Monika looked over at her. "Th-There was a c-character in one of my books who would carry one around a lot because it reminded her of the daughter that she lost." Yuri looked at the floor as she nervously started playing with her hair again. "Th-That's how I know." Natsuki scoffed at this. She was about to make a snide remark when she noticed that Sayori was reaching for the tray on her desk.
"Hey!" Natsuki cried. She marched over to Sayori and hoisted her up by her underarms, carrying her away from her desk and setting her back down near Monika. Sayori looked at the floor a bit timidly, poking her tiny index fingers together.
"S-Sorry I forgot…" She thought.
"Well at least we don't have to worry about needing anything for her," Monika said, as she closed the diaper bag.
"Th-That may be true, but we lack experience with childcare," Yuri responded. Natsuki gave a nod at this comment.
"For once Yuri's right," she said. "I think we're all clueless when it comes to babies."
"W-Well she isn't entirely a baby," Monika said. "It's like she still has most of her normal mind, yet her lack of control over her body makes her unable to talk or walk properly. She's able to understand us though."
"Wait really?" Natsuki asked. Monika nodded. She thought for a moment before she opened the diaper bag and looked through it, eventually pulling out a little cup of applesauce and a plastic spoon.
"Sayori, would you like another snack?" She asked the toddler. Yuri and Natsuki watched as Sayori immediately dropped the crayons and paper she was holding. She looked up at Monika with an eager smile before she began reaching up for the cup of applesauce. Monika couldn't help but chuckle at this as she peeled the foil seal off of the cup.
"W-Wow. Sh-She really can understand us," Yuri said, looking surprised. Monika nodded at her before handed Sayori the applesauce cup and the spoon.
"Ooh yes! Applesauce! One of my favorites!" Sayori thought, as she attempted to scoop up a bit of the golden mush with her spoon. Though she was successful, she couldn't quite keep a tight enough grip on the spoon. So, when she tried to bring it to her mouth, it simply slipped out of her hand and hit the floor with a faint clatter. "No spoon come back! I need you!" Sayori thought. Though she suddenly had an idea.
"I mean I'm sure we could all learn as we go," Monika said. "I honestly don't think it can be all that hard."
"Oh, uh, Monika?" Yuri said. The purple haired girl slowly motioned to Sayori. Looking where she was pointing, Monika saw that Sayori had gotten the applesauce all down her chin and the front of her uniform. Her hands were covered in it too, as she had used them to feed herself after dropping her spoon. Monika got a bit of an embarrassed look at seeing this, especially given the fact that she just said childcare didn't seem too hard. Natsuki stifled a laugh at this. Hearing this, Sayori looked up at the three girls who had been discussing her. She giggled a tiny bit when she noticed them all looking at her. Though when she noticed how much of a mess she had made, her smile faded.
"O-Oops…" That was all the toddler could think as she looked up at Monika with a timid look of apology.
"I-I'll go grab some paper towels from the restroom then," Monika said, chuckling a tiny bit. With that she walked out of the classroom, leaving the toddlerfied vice president with the remaining two club members. Natsuki looked over to Sayori and chuckled a bit.
"Jeez, you're even messier as a baby," she said. It was well known that Sayori was never the neatest person when it came to pretty much anything. So, it didn't really come as a surprise that she had gotten the applesauce all over herself. Sayori's face held a sheepish pout at Natsuki's comment, something that Yuri couldn't help but smile faintly at seeing. Looking to her feet, Sayori noticed the art supplies that she had dropped earlier. Without thinking, she attempted to bend down so that she could retrieve the items off of the floor. This ended up being a bad idea though, as the toddler immediately lost her balance upon bending over. Both Yuri and Natsuki were a bit startled when they saw Sayori fall forward. Despite Natsuki's attempt to rush over and catch her, Sayori hit the floor face first with a hard wince. Natsuki bit her lip as she quickly helped the toddler back up. It was much harder for Natsuki to hide her caring side when her friend was a literal two-year-old. Not only because she felt more protective, but also because she had to admit that Sayori looked pretty adorable. "Here." That was all Natsuki said as she carefully set Sayori back on her feet. Meanwhile Yuri had already walked over to check if Sayori was hurt. Sayori felt a small pit in her stomach as she noticed her friends' looks of worry.
"I-I'm okay! I-I just can't balance very good anymore," she thought. Once again though, her thoughts only translated to gibberish as she attempted to speak them. Sayori frowned a bit at this, looking at the floor. Thinking of a way to lighten the mood, Natsuki spoke up.
"W-Well you may not be able to talk, but Monika said you could still walk. So why not just get better at that?" Sayori thought about this for a moment before looking at her feet with a hesitant look. After her faceplant on the hard wood floor, she wasn't really eager to attempt any more advanced maneuvers. Natsuki felt the remainder of her careless persona crumble at seeing her friend's hesitation. The pink haired tsundere gave a soft sigh before she carefully took Sayori's hands, holding them by the wrists as to avoid getting any applesauce on her own hands. Sayori looked up at Natsuki. Her blue eyes widened a bit in surprise when she saw that Natsuki was giving her a gentle smile. "W-What if I helped you?" Hearing Natsuki's softened voice, Yuri looked over with a faint look of surprise. Sayori looked at her own feet hesitantly for a few seconds. Natsuki just waited patiently as she kept a gentle hold of the toddler's wrists. "Go ahead. Just put one foot out and then follow it with the other. I'm not gonna let you fall." Sayori took a small breath before she took a wobbly step forward. Natsuki got an encouraging smile at this. "See? Not so hard huh?" She said, not noticing that Yuri was watching her. Sayori took another step forward, slowly becoming confident once again. She took another, and another, and another. Her paces slowly started becoming quicker and less wobbly, and all the while Natsuki kept ahold of her arms and walked with her, smiling.
"I-I never assumed you had a soft side with kids, Natsuki," Yuri said, an adoring smile on her face. Natsuki felt her cheeks flush hard at this.
"O-Oh come on," Natsuki huffed. She was blushing hard. "S-She's just cute, alright? I admit it. I-I'm not heartless." Yuri's smile only widened as she giggled. Natsuki just rolled her eyes as she continued to walk along with Sayori. The toddler's steps were much better at this point, and Natsuki eventually let go of her hands to see how she'd fair. Despite wobbling a bit at first, Sayori managed to keep her balanced as she walked around effortlessly. Natsuki crossed her arms as she got a prideful grin. "Told ya you could do it," she said.
Monika came back into the classroom, holding a few paper towels that she had briefly run under the faucet. She got a surprised smile upon seeing Sayori walking about.
"Oh wow! You picked up on that fast, Sayori!" Natsuki just turned her head away, hiding her smile. Monika carefully lifted Sayori up, sitting her up on the front desk. She kept her smile as she started to clean Sayori up with a damp paper towel. All the while Sayori avoided her gaze, blushing a tiny bit at having to be cleaned up by her club mate. "I-I know it's a little embarrassing, Sayori," Monika began. "But I promise, none of us think any less of you. Not even me." Sayori's sheepish look faded a bit at this comment, and she looked up at Monika with a tiny smile. Monika smiled back at her as she finished wiping the applesauce off of her uniform. "There we go." With that, Monika gently set Sayori back on the floor before throwing the paper towels in the waste bin. Sayori continued to toddle around on the floor as she listened to her friends' conversation.