Back to Square One

"I-I just wish I was able to talk to her myself…" Natsuki said. Sayori sat in the pink haired girl's lap, listening intently as Natsuki processed her own thoughts aloud.

Ever since Yuri had left, the tsundere had been a little on edge. Sayori was quick to notice this, much to Natsuki's dismay. And despite the pinkette's initial denial, she eventually caved. Now she sat at the teacher's desk, idly swaying back and forth in the office chair as she expressed her thoughts to the toddler in her lap.

"Like, I know Monika's better at this kinda stuff than I am, but she's not perfect at it. N-Not like you anyway…" Sayori didn't so much as utter a giggle at this comment. Instead, she sat contently and listened to her friend. It wasn't every day that Natsuki was open like this, so Sayori knew that whatever was on her friend's mind must be really troubling for her. "I-I know I try to play it off a lot, but I don't actually hate Yuri," Natsuki admitted, biting her lip a bit in embarrassment. "Sure, we disagree a lot, but that doesn't mean I don't like her." Sayori noticed the pink haired girl take a small breath in, as if she were steeling herself. "I-I'm just… really worried about her because…" Natsuki paused.

Looking up at her, Sayori could see that the girl's expression had changed drastically. In that moment, Natsuki looked timid. The sight itself caused Sayori's own eyes to widen a bit out of pure surprise. The pinkette was quick to notice this however, and she quickly bit her lip as she attempted to put her apathetic mask back on. She gritted her teeth as she spoke, her words sounding almost forced, like she truly didn't want to speak them. "L-Let's just say that I-I have past experience w-with anxiety…" Natsuki said, before she exhaled.

Damn her pride. As protecting as it was, sometimes it was a real pain in the tsundere's ass. Thicker skin was nice maybe 90% of the time, but every now and then Natsuki was reminded of how her careless persona wasn't perfect. Its most recent mistake had been how careless she had initially acted when Yuri had seemed on edge. She saw how Yuri had shaken in that moment. How her breathing was rapid and ragged, sounding as though she would pass out at any second. Though what had caused Natsuki to eventually voice her concern had been the look in Yuri's eyes. Terror. Pure unfiltered terror. The only other time Natsuki had seen such emotion in a person's eyes had been in the eyes of her own reflection. And it had caused a memory to come to the front of her mind.

She remembered laying on the stained carpet in her room. She remembered her father's fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white with intoxicated fury. She remembered how her nose ached, as well as the warmth of the blood running down from her nostrils. And of course, she remembered seeing her own reflection in the cracked, full-length mirror that sat in the corner of her room. How her magenta eyes were wide with terror…

It had been these memories that led Natsuki to attempt to voice her concern for Yuri. In that brief moment, she had pushed her feigned annoyance for the girl aside, and had attempted to ask what was upsetting her. And although Yuri lashing out in response had stung, it only made Natsuki more concerned for her clubmate. So concerned that she had swallowed the rest of her pride, and even voiced her concerns to Monika.

And despite all her attempts to show she cared, Natsuki was still frustrated with herself as she sat in the clubroom with Sayori, anxiously waiting for Yuri's return…

"W-Where did it go?" Monika asked aloud. Once again, she sat at the back of the otherwise empty computer lab with her laptop open in front of her. After successfully helping Yuri to a much calmer state of mind, the club president had a small hunch that the game files had once again been tampered with. How else would Yuri's anxiety variable have been fixed? To Monika's dismay, her suspicion was proven right, as she noticed that the troubleshooting file she had read earlier was now nowhere to be seen. Monika had searched the entirety of the game folder in an attempt to locate the file, but to no avail. The last place she had looked had been in Sayori's character folder. Regardless, the troubleshooting file just seemed to not exist anymore, most likely having been deleted. Monika let out an annoyed groan as she held her head in her hands. This was beginning to feel like a punishment, and the president's fear of it all was slowly turning to anger. What the hell was she supposed to do? Was she even supposed to be trying to fix this?

"I-Is this all just some sort of sick game to you?" She asked, scowling in disapproval at her computer screen. In her hand she held her signature red pen. The little red heart on the end of it remained unphased as the club president's fist tightened around the pen in anger. A few seconds passed; the faint ticking of the clock being the only thing cutting through the silence. Monika let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head a bit. "I-I'm going to fix this…" The club president thought, setting her pen aside. "I-I have to…"

Something new suddenly appeared on the screen of her laptop, pulling Monika from her thoughts as her emerald eyes focused on the newly added file. The page still displayed the contents of Sayori's character folder, and the new file stood proudly below the original .chr file. Monika's heart sank to her stomach as her eyes scanned the name of the new file.

"mental_agemod. rpa."

"Oh, you're back," Natsuki said, seeing Yuri walk into the clubroom. The tsundere still sat at the teacher's desk, though Sayori had since dozed off in her lap. Natsuki's attempt at making a displeased face had come across as less than ideal, as Yuri could see the grief in the girl's magenta eyes.

"I-I uh… w-wanted to apologize for my outburst earlier," the taller girl said. "It was rude of me to have raised my voice like that, a-and my emotions were no excuse to lash out at you…" Yuri's eyes fell to the floor as she spoke, her voice trailing off as she nervously played with her hair. "S-So, I'm sorry…" Natsuki's eyes widened in surprise ever so slightly, though she did her best to keep her nonchalant disposition as she waved a hand to dismiss the girl.

"J-Jeez, no need to make it a big deal alright? It's fine." She then folded her arms and grumbled in an attempt to mask the faint blush in her cheeks. "So, like, apology accepted, or whatever…" Natsuki held her face in an angry pout, which was more aimed towards her own behavior. Yuri bit her lip a bit, looking towards the floor.

"A-Alright…" She said, awkwardly trying to maneuver the conversation.

Natsuki's cheeks burned as her mind was in turmoil. Half of her conscience was screaming at her to apologize to Yuri, and the other half was screaming at her to keep quiet. She settled with keeping her eyes on the floor, not even realizing how hard she was biting her own lip.

"I-Is there something on your mind…?" Yuri's voice was somehow quieter than usual as she asked this. "I-If you would like to talk about it, I-I wouldn't mind listening… I-I'd be happy to actually…" Natsuki felt a knot in her stomach; she gritted her teeth as she felt a wave of guilt crash upon her. It was Yuri who had just been on the verge of a panic attack, and yet the girl was now apologizing as if her fight or flight induced outburst had been her fault. And to make matters worse, she was now the one attempting to comfort Natsuki.

"N-No!" The pink haired girl blurted out. She clenched her teeth in anger as she desperately wrestled with her thoughts. "Y-You're not supposed to be the one apologizing!" Yuri was a bit startled by Natsuki's sharp response, nevertheless she listened. "I-I- y-you- you're not- ugh!" Natsuki growled in frustration; stumbling over her words like a flight of steps. "I-I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry I was a jerk!"

Both girls were suddenly startled by a loud wail that came from the previously sleeping toddler in Natsuki's lap. "C-Crap!" The tsundere exclaimed, shakily trying to pull the crying vice president into a hug. "I-I didn't mean to wake you up! I'm sorry!" Despite Natsuki's attempts to soothe her, Sayori just continued to cry. "I promise, Yuri and I weren't fighting. I-I didn't mean to make you upset, okay? I-I'm sorry. R-Really." Natsuki looked at Sayori with an apologetic look. Though her magenta eyes held a pleading look in them, as she was hoping that the toddler would stop crying.

Sayori looked back up at Natsuki as she continued to cry. Her mind felt incredibly foggy, and she found it difficult to comprehend what the pink haired girl was even saying. She wanted to sleep more than anything though, and all of the loud voices and commotion was overwhelming for her. So, she just continued to sob as she gazed back up at the girl's magenta eyes.

"I-Is she hurt…?" Yuri asked, a look of great concern on her face.

"I-I don't know!" Natsuki blurted out, a bit panicked. "I can't get her to calm down!" The tsundere hesitantly lifted up Sayori's skirt to check the state of her diaper, and she was both confused and relieved when she found that it was still clean. "She doesn't need changed."

"M-Maybe she's hungry?" Yuri suggested, reaching to grab the diaper bag.

"I think she would've let us know if she was," Natsuki replied. Yuri took a small breath in before she gently took the toddler from Natsuki, pulling her into a hug.

"S-Sayori, p-please, w-what is bothering you? W-We can help you; we just don't know what the problem is," she said, albeit quietly. She even tried bouncing the vice president gently in an attempt to soothe her. But despite it all, Sayori continued to cry.

The vice president's mental fog remained thick and unfading as the other two girls continued trying to soothe her. A part of her still knew they were important to her, but she couldn't recall why or how. The purple haired girl's voice was a bit soothing, but being bounced was the last thing that Sayori wanted in that moment. So, she tried to hide her face in the girl's shoulder, noticing how soft her purple hair felt as she did. Though her crying had died down to sniffly whining, Yuri and Natsuki could tell that more crying was imminent if they didn't figure out what was wrong soon.

"Monika!" Natsuki exclaimed, noticing the club president enter the clubroom. Hearing this, Yuri turned to look at the door, getting a small look of relief when she saw Monika.

"P-Please help us, w-we can't get Sayori to calm down…" Yuri pleaded, still holding the fussy toddler. Monika frowned at this, both because she could see how upset Sayori was, and because she knew that the vice president now had the mind of a two-year-old.

"Th-That's because she isn't herself anymore… M-Mentally I mean," Monika said, as she gently took Sayori from Yuri. The toddler gave a hiccupped whine as she was transferred, squirming a bit in displeasure. However, she quieted back down as the club president pulled her into a gentle hug, allowing her to rest her head on her shoulder.

"W-Wait. So, she's like an actual toddler now?" Natsuki asked, a look of shock on her face. Monika gave a saddened nod as she gently rubbed Sayori's back.

"Do you still have that pacifier, Natsuki?" She asked.

"Oh, right, yeah," Natsuki replied, before she retrieved the blue pacifier from her pocket and handed it to Monika, who promptly placed it in Sayori's mouth. Both Yuri and Natsuki watched as Monika began to gently rock the toddler in her arms, occasionally cooing or softly shushing to her as she did. Sayori's whimpers and whines had slowly quieted, and now the girl rested in Monika's arms; her head lay against her shoulder as she sucked on the pacifier sleepily. And soon she was fast asleep once more.

"H-How did this happen?" Yuri asked, keeping her voice quiet. Monika bit her lip slightly before whispering her reply.

"I-I'm not sure exactly. All I know is that things may be getting worse."

"Worse?" Natsuki chimed in, keeping her voice low as well. "You mean this is going to get worse than Sayori literally losing her mind?" Monika gave a small sigh before she nodded.

"I-I'm afraid so," she said. "I-I haven't been able to get anywhere with my research yet." Monika bit her lip once more, feeling the sting of her lie.

She knew that there were more changes occurring in the files as the club members spoke. The only reason she had gone back to the classroom was because she couldn't bare to watch it anymore. It was as if she were in a cage, forced to watch her loved ones being tortured, with no way to put an end to it. It was emotionally agonizing, and Monika just needed a moment to collect herself before she did something she'd regret. After all, a hole punched in her laptop's screen wouldn't do much good for the situation…

Monika's attention was suddenly drawn to Sayori, as she felt the toddler trying to nuzzle against her as she slept. Figuring Sayori was cold, the club president turned to the diaper bag and carefully opened it to try to find a blanket. It took a bit of rummaging around, though Monika was eventually able to find and retrieve a small baby blanket out from the bag. But before she could drape it over Sayori, her emerald eyes suddenly went wide as she got a better look at it.

The blanket was a gentle lavender color, being embroidered with designs along the edges of it. Said designs ranged from babyish words stitched in fancy calligraphy, to little designs of teabags. A sleeping raccoon was embroidered in the center of it all.

Monika's attention was suddenly pulled to Yuri, as she heard the tall girl let out a squeaked gasp. Her lavender eyes were eying the blanket with a look of hesitant fear, and she held a hand over her mouth to hide her jaw, which was slacked in shock.

"I-I-Is th-that…?" She squeaked. "I-Is that for m-me…?" The last thing Yuri could comprehend before her vision went black were the looks of shock on both Monika and Natsuki's faces. But it only lasted a few seconds as the shy bookworm felt her body freeze up, and her thoughts were swept away by a nauseating darkness…

End of Act 1