The room is somewhat similar to the rest of the facility, with computer screens lining the walls. This one is much more compact, though, and only includes a few chairs. The floor is covered in wiring, and there is some sort of coffin-like capsule to one side of the room. On the other is a filing cabinet, filled with what I assume to be pages upon pages of paperwork.

"Mr. Williams." The woman turns to look at me. "Wyatt, was it?"

"Uh-" Her referring to me by name throws me off-balance for a moment. "Yeah, that's me."

"I've heard a lot about you. Top of your class at Brown, two-time Tournament of Champions winner in high school debate, stock market millionaire… It's fully understandable why we have you hired here."

"Oh, well… I don't like talking about that stuff too much, to be honest…" I laugh, slightly uncomfortable at the notion of having half of my resume recited back to me. "Anyways, what was it that you needed? Who are you, even?"

"I'm your employer," she says in a nonchalant tone. "I'm in charge of this strand of the simulation project."

Once again, I'm put off balance by her statement. Was I being rude? Should I have said more to her? Am I getting fired? Thoughts rush through my head as I think about the implications of this woman being my boss.

Right as I was about to say something else, she continued to talk. "I've brought you here because I need your help on a special project. You've consistently been our most loyal and capable employee, so I thought you would be an ideal fit."

"All right…" I squirm in place, still confused. "What's the project?"

The woman changes her position, walking across the room to the monitor. She switches it on to flash the live feed of the sim. Monika and her friend are shown, still typing on their laptop.

"As I'm sure you know, this behavior is unusual out of that girl," my boss states, motioning at Monika. "As for the other girl, there's never been anything unusual about her that I've heard of. So why her? I have a theory."

I take a couple of steps forward, hoping to bridge the gap between her and I slightly. "What's your theory?"

"You're aware that the previous phase of this project involved people from the real world entering the simulation, correct?"

I nod. It was common knowledge among the employees, though we also knew that the simulation no longer supported doing that.

My superior continues. "I think that a certain individual may have snuck their way into the simulation. I think that the sentient one knows that."

I jolt at her comment, and simply stand paralyzed behind her. I'm in disbelief that such a thing was even possible at this point.

The woman walks over to what looks to be a safe built into the room, and enters a combination that opens it. She reaches inside and pulls out what looks to be a gun of some kind. She unloads it and takes a bullet out, holding it between her thumb and index finger for me to see.

"This is the instrument that was used to enter people into the simulation. The bullet would transfer the individual's brain data to itself, connect to the Internet, send the original to the simulation's servers, and use a copy of it to create a functional clone of them in order to avoid suspicion."

Though I didn't know any of those details, I nod and motion to her to go on.

"Right after one of our… Associates… quit their job, a slight supply discrepancy was noticed. We have reason to believe that person stole from our supply and has possession of the bullets. And if this is the case, she could very well be attempting to use them to sabotage us."

"Sabotage?" I ask, with my confusion mounting. "If this person used to work here, why would she do that?"

"I don't know." The woman turns towards me. "I wasn't… where I am now back then."

The way she phrased that was a bit confusing, but I understand the message.

"Regardless…" She continues without missing a beat. "Your task is to help me find who this intruder or intruders might be. It may simply be the girl that heretic is talking to, but I suspect it could go deeper. You will report to me every morning from here until those impostors have been caught and ejected. Tell no one about this."

Not quite knowing what to say to her, I nod in agreement.

Acknowledging my agreement to her offer, she turns back around to watch the sim. "A bit strange for it to have been a school day for them today. It's Sunday, is it not?"

"Oh, yeah, about that…" I cross my arms and sigh. "We had an, uh, issue crop up last Tuesday. Ended having to force reset the simulation, so it's a day ahead. Nothing that can be done about it, but it's not the biggest of deals."

My boss grunts before pulling out her knife from earlier. She points it towards her face and makes a clean stroke down her cheek. I squint and take a small step away from her in shock and discomfort.

After a short pause, the woman simply uses five words to explain herself.

"I'll take note of that."

…

I wake up, groggy from an eventful night. Light from the sunrise peeks through Monika's window shutters and warms up my face slightly.

I clutch my head and sit up. I'm still in Monika's bed. I guess we ended up sleeping together for whatever reason. I don't remember anything that recent.

What do I remember? It seems as if the last thing I can recall is her saying that she proposed an event to draw in new members to the Literature Club, essentially as an excuse to have me join the club. I can also recall that she agreed to have sleepovers with other people as well, as well as to have more regular ones with myself as cover. That way, the people watching the simulation wouldn't be able to just assume my identity.

I get out of bed and look around for my school uniform. I didn't bring any clothes to sleep in, so I guess Monika just lent me hers to wear. It's a bit big on this body, but works well enough.

For all that my two years of insanity were, potentially the only perk of it was the clothing. Women's clothing felt a good bit better than what I was used to, so it's certainly something about having the body I do right now that I don't mind.

Regardless, I suppose I should let PG know that I'm awake, in case she fell asleep herself.

Hey, I'm awake.

"Morning, dork," Phone Girl says groggily, "Why'd you have to remember that I'm here, I was having a lot of fun listening to you nerd out about women's clothing."

I scoff. You're so weird.

"You're one to talk."

Anyways, how's Natsuki doing?

"I debriefed her on all of the stuff you and the new Monika went over, and on what the plan is going forward."

The new Monika? Why say it like that?

"Well, we know that this Monika is different than the one any of us are familiar with. Same goes with everyone else."

Suddenly, I hear a sound coming from beside me. "...Morning."

Ah, right.

I turn around to see Monika herself. Her hair is a mess but somehow her face looks amazingly full of energy despite having just woken up. It almost looks as if she's wearing makeup, though I know that can't be true.

"How'd you sleep? Were the clothes comfy?"

"Yeah, thanks for that."

The two of us chat casually, obviously not discussing anything relevant to the simulation or our new plan. Eventually, though, Monika decides we should change into our uniforms, as school begins soon.

Soon enough, we split up and go about our respective days.

Oddly, though, I couldn't help but keep thinking about her for hours afterward.