"Hiro… Hiro…"
A sweet and enticing smell filled Hiro's nose as she slowly welcomed the new day. Floating in front of her was a freshly made bowl of oatmeal.
"Mom…?"
Her mother was kneeling in front of her. There was a certain sparkle in Hisa's eyes as she sat down beside her daughter.
"You should really consider bringing a pillow with you if you're going to keep falling asleep alongside Shujinkou's bed."
"Aha… By the time I do that, he'll be awake already…" Hiro chuckled as she accepted her mother's offering. As she took her first bite, she finally noticed the article of clothing her mother was wearing. "Mom, why are you dressed like that?"
"This?" Hisa stood up and used her arms to guide her daughter's attention up and down the business suit hidden under her robe. "It just so happens that I have an engagement today."
"You do? Where?"
"Oh, something I was hoping to be a surprise," Hisa admitted with a small sigh. "Anyway, I won't be around for a good portion of the day so... Don't go inviting any boys while I'm gone."
"Mom…" Hiro covered her surely red cheeks.
"C'mon, you knew that was coming after finally properly introducing your boyfriend to me," There was a brief teasing smile on Hisa's face, but it soon vanished. "You are still thinking of ways to break it to your son, right?"
"I actually was going to bring it up before but…" Hiro snuck a quick glance at her sleeping son. "Events happened."
"Yeah… And now we have to think of giving him a hero's welcome when he wakes up."
"I'm not too sure Shujinkou would want something like that…"
"I'm pretty sure it's going to happen either way. If he wakes up with something positive like that, then why not?"
"Well, Sayori and Monika did say that the whole hero part wasn't exactly a pleasant experience for him."
"Right…" Hisa awkwardly scratched her right cheek as she recalled hearing that unbelievable tale. I believe it, but still…
"Mom?"
"…Still, you know that the girls are still probably going to put some positive spin on that. Whatever happened, they do acknowledge that he still saved their lives. And Shujinkou will of course say, 'It wasn't really much' and Sayori will of course stomp out him trying to downplay whatever impressive thing he di- Then again… Sayori was pretty upset by the whole thing too…"
Hisa continued to furiously scratch her right cheek at a speed that made Hiro wonder if her mother would inevitably draw blood.
"…Never mind, best just leave it to the people that were there," Hisa conceded.
"That does sound best." Hiro agreed.
Hisa somberly scratched her right cheek. "…You know, it really does make a person feel bad when they're outside a problem that directly affects a loved one and this latest thing is partly the ongoing saga of something that's been haunting Shujinkou since his birth."
"I'm not sure it's fair to blame Jomei for this just because someone he knew from the past decided to act out the way he did," Hiro argued.
"I really hate that you have a point there," Hisa sighed. "I'm just frustrated that not only did my grandson and Sayori and they're friends not only went through such a harrowing experience, but it was also for such petty and really creepy reasons.
Plus, my Hisa-sense has been going wild lately too so it's admittedly hard to stay settled."
"What's causing that?"
"I have NO IDEA! It's driving me insane!" Hisa groaned. "I'm really hoping today will put me at ease."
With that, Hisa stood up and headed for the door.
"Wait, what where're you going off to do again?" Hiro asked.
Her mother looked back and, with a wink and smile, answered, "Hisa-things."
…
"When you walk away
You don't hear me say,
"Please, oh baby, don't go."
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go."
Natsuki tapped her finger against the kitchen table as she pondered the meaning behind those lyrics.
If it wasn't for the fact that Fuyu and Shujinkou explained bits and pieces of that game franchise, I'd seriously be wondering how… Well, I'd be a little surprised that Shujinkou got into a franchise with such a romantic theme song for the first entry.
She yawned as took a second glance at the food that was spread across the table.
"'Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight.' …Wonder what's up with that line?"
"Wonder why you're saying things like that."
Natsuki's eyes widened as she watched her father walk into the kitchen and plopped down in the seat across the table.
"You're looking better, Papa," Natsuki noted.
"Then I do look better than I feel…" her father groaned.
"Papa…"
Faced with her father's devil may care attitude, Natsuki was left speechless. At least, she couldn't imagine responding right now for any good reason.
As she stood there motionless, Natsuki watched her father dig into his pocket and pull out a crumbled up piece of paper.
"Here check this out," he said, tossing it at his daughter.
Flattening the paper against the table, Natsuki read the contents it held.
"What's this?" she asked. "'…Rewarded to Kaen'? You had this transcribed to your nickname?"
"Yes and that right there is proof that I have out-drank and out-ate everyone at the same time from the usual spot."
"You did both at once!?" Natsuki exclaimed.
"What can I say? Your father sets his sights on a goal and he obtains it." Kaen boasted.
"…How are you alive right now, Papa? It feels like all of these attempts should have caused you to explode by now."
Kaen gently rubbed his stomach. "It wasn't without some aftereffects… Anyway, what's was with the serenade you were rehearsing down here? You're not planning to on using it on that b-?"
"Of course not!" Natsuki interrupted. "I mean, it's not like I would ever say something like that to Shujinkou anyway. He'd just laugh at me."
"I wouldn't blame him there."
"…Besides, I was just wondering how cheesy the lyrics were."
"Took you long enough to realize stuff like that's pathetic."
"Y-Yeah… Besides, not like something like that would have a point considering that he's kinda asleep for an indeterminate amount of time."
"What do you expect would happen a scrawny kid tries to go against hardened criminals?"
Natsuki slowly scratched her right cheek. Scrawny is not what exactly how I'd describe Shujinkou…
Just as she finished that thought, Natsuki noticed her father's attention was drawn to her healing arm. Just the mere stare filled her with chills.
"How's your arm?" Kaen asked.
"It's healing… A lot better than it would have have at first."
"That's good. Just watch where you're falling next time."
"Y-Yeah."
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence after her response, prompting Natsuki to slowly scratch her right cheek again. There may be another reason Shujinkou does this.
"…I'm going on ahead."
The moment she was brought back from her thoughts, Natsuki finally noticed her father walking out of the house.
"Guess we'll have breakfast for dinner again… Maybe…" Natsuki said with a sigh.
She cleaned up the food and neatly put it away. She then walked out of the the kitchen, grabbed her school bag and walked out of her home, prepared for another day of school.
..-!
"Natsuki!"
"Eh!? Sayori!?"
Natsuki jumped back, completely baffled by her friend's sudden appearance.
"What the heck are you doing popping out of nowhere like that?" she asked.
"I came to here so we can walk to school together."
"Why?"
"Because I want to," Sayori said with a pout. "What's wrong with that; I mean, you went out of your way to walk to school with Shiko before…"
"That was…"
Sayori's reminder shook Natsuki in more ways than one. She remembered the embarrassment she felt when Sayori found her embracing Shujinkou, bringing those old feelings back to the surface.
"Wait… How did you know where I live?" Natsuki questioned.
"Huh? Didn't you tell me before?" Sayori wondered aloud.
"No. You guys have never came here before and I know I never told you. So, how'd you know where I lived?"
"Huh… I guess I must have overheard you say it before?"
Natsuki narrowed her eyes. "I doubt it."
"Then how could I have possibly known where you live?" Sayori queried.
"That's-! That's what I'm asking!" Natsuki snapped. "Yeesh, you're impossible sometimes…"
Natsuki walked past Sayori in a huff, prompting Sayori to follow after her.
"By the way, where were you yesterday?" Sayori inquired. "I thought you would have come to yesterday's club meeting."
"I had something to do."
"Like what?"
"Grocery shopping. Sometimes I have to do that when we're low on food."
"Wow… Your parents must be really lucky to have you as a daughter," Sayori complimented. "I bet you help out a lot at home."
Natsuki shrugged. "I guess… I'm sure one of them does."
"One of them? The other doesn't? You want me to investigate to find out?"
"No!"
"No?"
"I mean, I don't need you to do anything like that."
"But I'm really good at stuff like that."
"Really…?"
Sayori smiled and she slowly reached behind her back.
"Yeah, in fact, you can call me 'Detective Sayori'!"
She dramatically thrust her right hand in the air and slowly lowered it towards the center of her head.
"Huh?"
Sayori wiggled her fingers over her head. It didn't take long for the reality of the situation to sink in again.
"Oh right… I don't have my hat anymore…"
Sayori's eyes wavered before she suddenly shook her head.
"Anyway, you get the point."
"Yeah… Still, I don't really need to hire a detective," Natsuki refused.
Sayori puffed her cheeks out and jumped in front of her friend.
"You don't think I'm cut out to be a detective, don't you?" she accused.
"Actually, I think you have everything you need to be a great detective," Natsuki admitted.
"You really think so?"
"Yep. You got the determination and stubbornness to see something through, you're energetic and spirited enough to deal with the long time something can take whenever you're not being lazy and you have no problem snooping around in matters that are none of your business."
Sayori head swayed in an almost hypnotizing manner. "…Are you complimenting me or… It kinda sounds like both…"
"I'm just saying that I believe you're as good as you're puffing yourself up to be. Heck, you'd probably be one of those genius detectives with weird methods that shockingly get the job done and you get to flaunt how smart those methods are when you're done."
"So does that mean you'll let me take the case?"
"No," Natsuki bluntly answered.
"Why not?" Sayori whined.
"Why are you so interested in something so not important?"
"Because…! It's been years since I had a case. The last one I could remember was me teaming up with Shiko as Batman."
"…That seems so appropriate now."
"So…?"
"No."
"Oh fine…"
"Wait, you're seriously giving up?"
"It's no fun when the client is being so stubborn…"
Even with the answer she was given, Natsuki still found it hard to believe that Sayori had given in so easily, a feeling that would follow her for the rest of their trip to school.
Once it was finally in sight, Sayori suddenly asked. "By the way, have you've seen Mali around lately?"
Natsuki shook her head. "No, why?"
"She's been absent from school the last two days."
"Okay… Being absent isn't a crime. Granted, her being behind the scenes again doesn't exactly fill me with comfort… I'm actually getting chills just thinking about it for some reason."
"T-That's pretty weird… Getting chills from something like that," Sayori nervously laughed.
"Why wouldn't that make me nervous? The last time she was behind the scenes was when she launched her massive weeklong prank attack on the school."
"You don't really think Mali would do that again, do you?"
"I don't know what that girl will do, that's what makes her scary."
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure she won't do that as long as she wants to be around Shiko. She even said that's the reason she stopped."
"I know and I have to give her the benefit of the doubt considering she helped save us. Like I said, I have no idea what's going on in that head of hers."
Mali doing whatever as she pleased was a well know trait of hers. Even if one knew what she was up to, that didn't mean that they would know how she would accomplish her desires. Being reminded of that again forced Sayori to confront a familiar question again.
"So why are you wondering where Mali is again?"
Sayori's nerves were in a state of frenzy as she desperately tried to think of an adequate answer toi that question.
"I… I just need to talk to her about something," Sayori assured her.
"Something about Shujinkou?"
"Not really."
"Then what?"
"Detective stuff! I have to talk to her about Detective Stuff!"
"About?"
"You know… Stuff detectives look into."
"Um…"
"Anyway, I gotta go and see if I can find Mali before school starts! See ya later, Natsuki!"
Cutting the conversation there, Sayori quickly took off for the school. Natsuki could only stare on, dumbfounded, as she watched Sayori trip over herself as she ran out of sight.
"Now she's acting like herself," Natsuki chuckled.
"Hey!"
A cheerful voice called out to Natsuki. Monika was walking towards her with her usual positive attitude.
"Morning, Natsuki," Monika greeted. "What's so funny?"
"Sayori being Sayori," Natsuki explained. "Speaking of which, do you know if she's up to something?
"Why would you ask that?"
"Just that feeling you get when she's up to something. Plus, she really wants to find Mali for some reason."
"Oh, that."
"Is this part of her Operation: DDLC?"
"DDLC+" Monika playfully corrected.
"Right, because it seems kind of pointless now, doesn't it?"
Monika crossed her arms, looking as if she was thinking about something.
"Hello?"
"…Well, you know Sayori: She's always looking out for her friends," Monika finally replied.
"So, it is Shujinkou related?"
"I guess you could say that in a way, at least from what I understand. You know she keeps things close to her chest."
"Fine…"
Natsuki knew that there was nothing more she could gain from this conversation. It felt like Monika knew more than she was willing to admit, but at the same time, Natsuki couldn't imagine it was that important if it was kept away from her like that.
At the very least, she had no part in what Sayori was doing.
Maybe Hiro mistook what she heard, then again…
Before she could finish that thought, Natsuki felt something brush past her legs before hearing crash behind her.
"What the-!?"
Quickly looking over her shoulder, Natsuki found herself paralyzed by the sight of several boards of wood.
"Tell me someone isn't trying to finish the job…" she muttered under her breath.
Monika looked up. There was a lone board of wood dangling over the wall that surrounded their school.
"I think it was just a freak accident," Monika theorized.
Proving her point, several men in hard hats rushed over, collected the wood and returned to the other side of the wall.
"They could've at least apologized…" Natsuki grumbled.
"They seem like they're rushing to finish something… Ah, of course."
"'Of course', what?"
"Today's the job fair," Monika explained.
"Now?"
Monika took Natsuki's hand and guided her to the school gate. From there, they could see a booths spanning the entire front of the school.
"With everything that's happened lately, I've totally forgot that this was coming," Monika admitted.
"Good thing we're given no expectations for this event or else we would be in trouble," Natsuki added.
"There is one, granted they're different regarding what year you're in but-"
"I know, it's all an expensive encourage and recruitment moment perfectly placed just before the crucial part of the semester."
"Beautifully synchronized don't you think?" a third voice agreed.
"Ahhh!" In what seemed like a flash, Natsuki was being held up by Monika as she stared into Hisa's eyes. "Can everyone please just stop showing up out of nowhere!"
Hisa awkwardly scratched her right cheek. "Sorry… I didn't expect that kind of reaction out of you."
"It's just… It really seems like everyone only knows how announce themselves by trying to give me a heart attack."
"Are you running a booth today, Lady Hisa?" Monika queried.
"That's right," Hisa happily confirmed. "Fun fact, I planned for this to be a forced visit if my school trip gamble failed."
"This seemed like the less expensive option," Natsuki pointed out.
"Admittedly, I was inpatient. Anyway, I have to finish my own preparations, so I shall see you and the others later."
With a quick wave farewell, Hisa soon vanished into their surroundings.
"Wonder what Lady Hisa has in mind," Monika thought aloud.
"I hope it's better than what usually happens…" Natsuki said, dusting herself off.
"What's wrong? Did something happen last year?"
"No, it's just that I'm going to end up walking around, bored, all day while hearing about these great careers I won't get to have."
"Don't say that. You never know what the future holds, Natsuki."
Natsuki crossed her arms and gave Monika a stern look. "That's easy for you to say. You got glowing reviews from every job representative last year. You could pretty much have any job you want."
"Well, it's like I said, you never know what the future holds." Monika said with a smile.
"You know, if I didn't know you, I'd say you're enjoying thinking about the praise you got last year. Actually, knowing what I know about you, do you actually really enjoy these things?"
"It's nice to know I have options, but it's not like I was hoping for all of that."
"I know."
"But you know what I was hoping for: to use this relatively free day to spend time with everyone."
Natsuki's arms dropped to her side and dangled in the air.
"That's… pretty forward," she said.
"I know, but… It really has been a while and the thought just makes me happy to be honest," Monika explained, clearly embarrassed.
"…Not to mention, it would definitely be much better than how I spent the day last year. But you do realize that not everyone's here, right?"
"I know… But it's not he would want us sulking 24/7, right?"
"Heh, even though it would probably haunt him like that if one of switched places," Natsuki said with a small chuckle.
"That's true," Monika giggled.
"Besides, it's not like he's the only person we like hanging out with. I remember Shujinkou was the second to last person I wanted to be around."
"Actually, it really seemed like you wanted to be around him then, Natsuki."
"What makes you say that?"
"Just the fact that you paid him a lot of mind and were the one to engage in conversations with him rather than the other way around."
"D-Don't say it like that!" Natsuki snapped. "He's a close friend now, but back then I was just trying to figure out what his deal was! He didn't completely match Sayori's constant descriptions."
A wave of regret hit Natsuki the moment Monika began laughing softly.
"It's okay, Natsuki, you know I was the same when he first showed up."
"Hmph," a devious smile stretched across Natsuki's face as she approached Monika.
"You know what really surprises me in hindsight: The fact that Shujinkou wasn't more shy around you with all your teasing and flirting."
"What? I wasn't flirting…"
"Yes, you were. You were taking every opportunity that was presented to flirt with him like it was a game or something. Just compare how you welcomed him to how you welcomed us. You were pretty much rolling out the red carpet and afterwards it seemed like you were chatting him up almost as much as Sayori."
Monika's face was as red as an apple. She gently clutched her chest a took a deep breath.
"I didn't mean to come off like that, I was just interested in getting to know him. I've been wanting to do that since last year, but never got the chance to because I was nervous. So, I guess I just went the opposite route."
"You were really that nervous that you couldn't talk to him for an entire year."
"We talked here and there, but nothing that would make us friends. Plus, he was a lot more… invested in his imagination last year than this one."
"Oh."
How was it possible to continue the conversation after both were reminded of the implications behind what they initially thought was a harmless habit?
Suddenly, the first class bell rang.
"That's us. Let's meet up soon after attendance is taken, okay?" Monika proposed. "We can explore possible futures together."
"You're the one with possible futures, plural," Natsuki sighed.
"Don't say that. You never know what the future holds."
"Key word there: Future, singular."
"Fufu. C'mon, let's go."