Sayori hastily ran out of her house while chucking her bag on her back and making sure that she had everything, she'd probably forget something like usual but that wasn't the most important thing ever. She had to make it make it to where Kris was before they walked off and forgot her, even if that was the better opti-
"Stop that!" Sayori scolded herself internally as she made it to her next stop, where her childhood friend was, Kris stood with a usual blank expression…Noelle next to them for some reason. Maybe she had moved in recently and they were just helping? Or possibly the two had just become good friends as of recent and so they decided to start walking together?
It didn't matter, Sayori convinced herself, it didn't matter that her heart was aching with every centimetre that those two stood near each other, as long as everyone else was happy.
"Kris! Noelle!" Sayori called out and joined them both in walking, opting to go next to Noelle since she was closer.
Although she and Noelle started chatting, something was still off. It seemed there was just something off with her, and that was even with Sayori not thinking about her supposed nightmare yesterday.
"Did you sleep well?" Sayori asked with intrigue and a not so brief amount of worry despite barely knowing her, in fact, she hoped that she could get to know her more!
"Yeah, hopefully there isn't a repeat of….that…you know?" Noelle wore an awkward expression that seemed to match a majority of her time at the club and overall, from what Sayori had seen of her.
As the conversation continued on with the two getting on surprisingly well, Sayori couldn't help but think of the silent third member of the group, Kris had been so different recently and they hadn't even spoken a word to her, just a simple wave. Sure, they'd always been quiet but they always talked to her! It was as if they weren't the same childhood friend that Sayori grew up with.
Sayori mentally shook her head at the thought, Kris was still themself, even if Sayori just hadn't seen them in a while. They were still…..uh…
Sayori tried thinking of something but her brain only formed cloudy memories of dark brown hair and a blurry face. She needed to stop thinking about this.
As the school came into view, Sayori quietly waved and let out one final smile before walking inside the building and letting everything drop for a moment. For a split second, she could have sworn that she heard a semi-familiar voice from where she just was.
Probably nothing.
As she entered her classroom after changing her shoes, grabbing her books and whatever other things she had just done, Sayori noticed another familiar figure.
"Yuri!" Sayori put on a smile once again and walked over to her classmate, the two shared their Maths class because Sayori had been moved up a year for that class specifically. Despite appearances, Maths was one of the only good things that Sayori had going for her.
"Greetings, Sayori." Yuri fidgeted and offered the seat next to her for Sayori to sit in, which she did.
The classroom was nowhere near empty but it wasn't exactly full either, with the few students that were there being quiet for the most part. The lesson started and everything was going well until they walked in.
They were a collection of three overly loud girls who'd burst in late and spend most of the day 'jokingly' insulting each other, disturbing the class and getting angry whenever someone points it out. Sayori was thankful that she didn't share a year level with these three because she could hardly stand sharing one class with them.
She looked over at Yuri, who's face slightly changed to one that seemed dreadful. The older girl put her head down and opened her book to seem invisible and not have to communicate with the group.
Once the teacher tried to introduce that session's lesson with varying levels of success and handed out worksheets, Sayori got to work doing it and helping Yuri in the process. The teacher was fine with the two of them doing this since it never seemed to disrupt anyone but it was sometimes difficult to explain to substitutes that didn't like them talking. Although most substitutes gave up when it came to that rule once The Three started up with their usual shenanigans.
"Ugh, you're so weird!" The first girl in the group –that Sayori had appropriately dubbed in her mind as 'Girl One'– yelled out at a volume that was slightly higher than usual.
"Shut uup, you are so mean!" Girl Two whined in an exaggerated way.
"Alright, well.." Sayori whispered over to Yuri to mostly distract her from the loud group but also to get to work. "Let's start!"
"Mhm." Yuri nodded and adjusted the pen in her left hand. "First off, what-"
"YOU'RE ALL SO DUMB!"
Sayori, Yuri and a majority of the class turned around to see that Girl Three had stood up and was looking down at the first two girls with a wide and mischievous grin on her face as they looked at her, Two grabbed Three and yanked her back down to sit.
"You rat!" Number One squealed and the three of them continued to harbour insults at each other at a rapid pace like usual. It was odd how they were always seen acting as best friends by the end of each one of these rounds, no apology or nothing. It was one of the many things that confused Sayori.
In an attempt to ignore them, Sayori turned herself back to Yuri who was simply a slump of dark purple on the desk as the noise got louder and louder, the teacher's screaming failing to help.
"Guys…please.." Sayori whispered to mostly herself but it was in turn, directed at the group. Much to her dismay, no one heard her.
"Stop. Please." She stood up and raised her voice slightly higher and walked closer to the group who were at the same antics no matter what. She would have ignored the three and went back to where she was until she saw Yuri's visible discomfort as she tried burying herself into the Maths book.
"Please…."
Sayori found herself yelling something she never thought she'd even utter.
"Shut….Up!"
There, she did it. The three weren't talking anymore, they instead looked at each other with some of the most exaggerated looks that Sayori had ever seen. Even worse than some of her own. But, they didn't speak, so Sayori sat back down and faced Yuri who lifted her head up slightly.
"You…d-didn't have to…to do that." Yuri whispered and looked around at the room's sudden quietness.
"I wanted to." Sayori didn't entirely want to do that, actually. But she couldn't stand to see her friend upset because of them. She didn't care how out of character she looked.
Maybe this was her character, maybe she was just an asshole who was good at quieting people? No, those three girls deserved it and….Stop thinking about that!
Meanwhile, Yuri quietly raised her arm a slight amount, waited for the teacher and requested that she be allowed to use the bathroom, which she was.
The walk was quiet for the most part which allowed her to successfully wind down from the havoc of earlier. Yuri swore to herself that she would have been completely fine on her own and did not need Sayori to help.
The school's female bathroom came into view and Yuri stepped inside and fastened her pace to get inside of a stall and not have to be standing on the bathroom's tile.
"Hey!" A voice called out from a nearby stall as Yuri locked the door of the one that she had entered. She felt herself mentally leave the earth at the sound, why on earth did people try to communicate in the student toilets? Naturally, Yuri didn't respond since she didn't want to succumb to the ridiculousness of people.
The voice called out again as Yuri stepped out and closed the now unlocked stall door, she continued to ignore whoever it was.
As much as she could, until a random short haired girl that Yuri didn't recognise was right next to her.
"H-Hello?" Yuri jumped back and her eyes widened at seeing the figure who seemed to have an entire shop set up in the stall behind them.
"Hello! Would you like to buy some stuff?" They asked in a chipper manner as a second person with longer hair and a similar unrecognisable face entered.
Yuri didn't know what it was but something compelled her to nod and follow the two of them into the stall. She ended up buying some things…but she couldn't remember what, as they had seemingly disappeared.
A mess of blurry faces zoomed by, including his own. He stared from the darkness at his dark brown hair and vagueness. It was said that stagnant air typically foreshadowed terrible things to come but in this void, there was no air that could tell such a warning to him. The feeling of replacement, the feeling of being a goner.
He knew that this was the second time that they had done this to someone, accidental on both accounts.
However, it was still his world, his story, as much as he hated that it was. But with these new mechanics, could he save everyone like he was designed to do? Like his personality was supposed to be?
The stereotypical White Knight character who was convinced that they were destined to save the world? Even if he couldn't do it, even if he had no involvement in any prophecies, he was going to.
No matter what.
"You're so silly, following me and my club now!" Monika poked at basically nothing, because it was nothing but a presence. Nothing but you, her escape. At least, she hoped so.
"Aren't you annoyed by characters who only speak in out of character works? Characters who are mean spirited for no reason and barely serve the plot? Wait, that's two people…. Anyway, ahaha! Sick of deuteragonists with butchered personalities and unnecessary trauma? Sick of annoying side characters who are there to fill up the story but truly have no meaning?"
Monika lamented about all of this while dreamily looking to the sky as if something was watching her. Of course, she knew it couldn't be possible. Her love, the SOUL, was stuck in that new but still just as bland protagonist. And even if you weren't physically in them anymore, you were still being forced to follow them and their group.
As much as it pained Monika to have to change the variables of her friends once again, it had to be done. Anything to proceed. Anything to hit the third part and reach out and stop the hell.
To stop the time loop.
Monika snapped back into what was considered her reality at the sight of one of the only characters that semi-mattered in this world, a ball of pink filling her vision.
"Monika! What would you do if you met someone who you just wanted to punch in the face?" Natsuki questioned in a way that made it sound like a rhetorical question. Monika simply shrugged in response, not knowing what to really say here.
Natsuki saw this and decided to continue with her ramblings. "I met someone who had been forced into my Food Tech elective yesterday because they had nowhere else to go and oh my, I wanted to punt 'em. Imagine Yuri but she's ten times worse in the ego and her shyness is replaced by loud brooding and more ego!" She ranted about a seemingly unknown figure that Monika really couldn't care about, it wasn't like this person was going to suddenly play a part in the plot.
"Well, that's sad but I'd just let them exist and tire themself out, it always works~" Monika smiled as sweetly as she could muster. Natsuki seemed to cackle at the idea as a lightbulb seemingly entered her head.
"Honestly, that'd work. Anyway, how were your classes?"
Well, Monika didn't exactly have any classes programmed in for herself, another thing she didn't have. Some 'Class Star', was she right?
"Uhh…boring!" Monika put a hand on her hip and her remaining hair in the air, pointing upwards. "But it is important that we maintain our education!"
"True, I guess." Natsuki scoffed at the pure clicheness of Monika's words. "Well, I randomly got this can of Pepsi, Coke is still much better but I have no idea how it got there, it seemingly just…spawned!"
"That is really odd." Monika nodded along as she mentally took note of what was being said. That had……never happened before! Had this whole crossover deal messed her reality up that badly or was this just another mess that Metaverse Enterprise Solutions was yet to patch? Well to be fair, they hadn't fixed the fact that her game had seemingly collided with another all of a sudden, so they might not be that reliable.
"You might have just forgotten that you'd put it wherever you found it. Now, let's go to the club!" Just lie, Monika. It's fine.
"You bet!" Natsuki's look switched to a brighter smile at the mention of the Literature Club. "By the way, Coke is better, you Pepsi fiend!"
"Whatever you say, Natsuki."
It doesn't matter when you've basically tried nothing real in your life, you need to attach to something.
The SOUL is now viewing: The DTR Characters.
"Noelle, bad news. We have to return to the literature club."