It was Friday, the day where they were supposed to decide on what they were planning to do for the festival. This might be the last chance Issei has to keep everyone safe. As he entered the club room he saw that everyone was already there, even Natsuki.

Even after sharing their poems there wasn't anything out of the ordinary aside from Yuri and Cordis, as they both seemed to continue hanging out more than they did, to the point that they even left the room for whatever reason. As they came back Monika proceeded to announce what they would be doing for the festival.

"So" Monika clapped her hands once "Now that everyone is here shall we proceed to confirm that everyone is on board with the idea?" She directed her gaze towards Natsuki who simply sighed.

"Oh, sure I'll do it, not because I want to, but because I don't want the club to look bad on the spot" It seemed that Issei was able to make Natsuki be on board with the idea, even for different reasons.

As they continued everything seemed to go somewhat smoothly until it came to Yuri, Monika this time didn't seem to think highly of her, which he didn't really like, but Yuri's demeanor had changed a lot that she seemed confident of herself in a way, she seemed unsure of what to do, but she knew what she wanted.

It came to the same problem again, the girls wanted Cordis to help them with their tasks... except Natsuki, it seemed as she was more worried about her friends than anything else. Both Monika and Yuri kept fighting over who got to partner up with Cordis.

Issei on the other hand simply said "Mind if I help Natsuki a bit? My mother is pretty good at cooking and I'm pretty sure she knows how to bake as well" It was true, she was incredibly skilled at cooking so it was the perfect excuse to stay close to Natsuki.

"Yeah, sure you can do that if you want" Monika nonchalantly accepted it, she was too focused on Cordis. Meanwhile Natsuki seemed a bit flushed over the fact that he had asked to help her, but he didn't say anything.

As Monika and Yuri continued to argue, Natsuki tried to calm the situation, but that wasn't her forte, it was Sayori's, in the end it ended with them saying something hurtful to each other. Cordis on the other hand didn't say anything, staying quiet for the whole time until he got to choose who to help.

He said Monika, but Yuri refuted it. Yet, it felt wrong, something felt... off, like there was something that was not supposed to happen. Yuri ended up breaking down as she completely had gone crazy, she laughed maniacally as she did not accept this response. This... never happened the first time around, what in the world had changed for her to end up acting like this?!

Natsuki was starting to get scared, Issei stood near her while he whispered "We should leave the room for a bit" They both made their way outside the club room while Monika tried to stay in it, but she was then pushed by Yuri and then the doors closed.

"Well, that didn't go as expected" Monika seemed dissappointed, yet Natsuki went up to her and screamed "What the fuck is wrong with you?! You've been acting so weirdly lately! You've even told stuff behind our back to Cordis! You... You're not the person I once knew, what happened to you?!"

Issei stood there quiet as Natsuki took everything out of her chest, Monika simply stood quiet, but this did beg the question, what was happening behind their back? He knew he left prematurely when he went after Natsuki, but he didn't expect there to be something different when he left, everything else felt the same, or at the very least, almost the same.

Was this all because Sayori wasn't here? No... she once said they never acted like this until Cordis came, could it be that this Romance story was screwed up from the very beginning? Was this even romance? It didn't feel like it this time around, it did before to some degree. Yet now it has morphed beyond recognition of what it was supposed to be.

Issei thought that this was enough of Natsuki yelling at Monika, as it looked like she didn't care. "Natsuki, I don't think yelling at her will fix anything, how about we let her talk about it first?"

Natsuki thought about it and then stopped, then Monika proceeded to say "Thank you Hyoudou, the reason why I was doing so is because... You've seen how Yuri was acting, I didn't want Cordis to continue hanging out with Yuri, because... the reason why she's acting like this is because of Cordis."

"What?" Issei couldn't believe what he was hearing but Monika continued to explain "I advised Cordis to stay away from her, because it would make it worse, but he ignored each warning I gave him so in the end he reaped what he sowed."

"But then shouldn't we worry about what they're doing inside?" Natsuki was very worried, but Monika quickly responded "I wouldn't if this is the only way we can calm her, then I'd say let her be, both of them seemed to want to see each other so there was no way of stopping them."

In the end they all went silent, Issei still needed a way to make sure the two sane people would still be fine so he proceeded to ask "So are we still doing the festival preparations?"

Monika immediately responded "Oh yes! Absolutely, while they may not be coming out any time soon, we should still make sure that we prepare for when Monday comes!" Wait so does that mean that they were doing it insi-

"Ew, please remind me to get a mop and bleach so I can not only clean the room up but also remove that mental image." Natsuki felt disgusted about thinking what they were doing inside there.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave, I'll see you on Monday" Monika quickly left the scene, leaving Natsuki and Issei alone. To which Issei started by asking about how they would work together.

"Sooooo, when can you come to my house?" Issei asked Natsuki, to which said "What makes you think I would go to your house?" It took a second before Natsuki realized "Oh right, you know. Let me think about it."

"We should also leave this place, I don't want to hear them do... whatever they're doing inside" Issei would have loved to stay to listen if he was still his past self, but right now, he just wanted nothing to do with both of them. Cordis seemed to have completely lost his mind, or maybe this is the consequence of not having a childhood friend, without her he was basically similar to him and his friends, he could easily pass as another one of them.

They were now outside of the Academy, no one seemed to be near, it seemed like they spent a long time inside debating on the preparations. They were both walking together, not knowing when they would depart from each other.

"So did you make up your mind?" Issei asked again on what time she was available, he predicted Sunday like how it happened last time, he was unsure if there was a reason why she couldn't come earlier, maybe her father didn't want her to go outside or maybe there was something else going on.

"I've decided on Sunday, I'll be going to your house, so"Just as Issei expected, she went through her bag to pull out a small piece of paper. "Here's my phone number if you need anything ask me, don't you dare use it for anything funny though."

"Thank you, but here's something that might also help" He quickly pulled out a piece of paper as well, Natsuki looked confused as she took it, she then read what was written on it "Wow you really want me to go to your house don't you?" It was his own address, he came prepared in case she needed help as soon as possible.

"Just remember, don't be scared to come to the address if you need to" Issei felt like he was being paranoid, but after what happened last time, he still didn't want anything to happen ever again.

"Why are you even helping me this much? We've only met like 3 or 4 days ago" That question would have been impossible for him to answer, but with his past experience he decided to painfully use it to his advantage.

"Well, maybe one day I'll tell you" He didn't know when, but he was sure he would tell her when she came to his house. "I guess this is where we part away, I'll see you on Sunday."

"Same to you, and just so you know, you better not think anything funny when I come visit" Natsuki tried to threaten him, but it only came out as your typical Tsundere line, despite that, Issei knew that they all weren't the typical ones as he thought they were at the beginning.

It was now Saturday, Issei hadn't gone out with his friends for almost a week now, he really wasn't in the mood, but his friends seemed to not ask either, since they were jealous of his affiliation to the Literature Club, seriously though, how long would they continue acting like this?

He spent his days laying in bed doing nothing, his usual routine of making poems was long gone after Sayori's death and his interest in games and porn was long gone, the only thing that really entertained him was the manga that Natsuki showed him, it thankfully did show up in shops despite it not existing before.

He was currently alone at home, since his parents went out due to important work reasons, they usually didn't work for a long time, usually working during the time Issei was at Kuoh Academy and something during the middle of the night if their bosses asked for it. But never during the afternoon and they seemed to not be coming any time soon.

Thankfully they always had leftover food for situations like this, so he didn't have to worry about starving, but when he heard someone knock at the door, he was expecting to see them, when he went downstairs towards the doors, opening it, he never expected Natsuki to be the one on the other side.

"Natsuki? Why are yo- Wait is everything alright? Did anything happen at home?" Issei started to ask her as he grabbed her by the shoulders, Natsuki pushed him away as she started screaming "What the hell are you doing! Don't touch me unless I tell you to!" Her attitude calmed Issei down as it seemed like nothing bad had happened.

"I came here because... I- I ran away" Natsuki finally confessed as she looked down. Issei felt like this way he could make sure she was safe which made him happy, yet at the same time it surprised him that she would make such a big decision, he then continued to say "I'm sorry for acting so rashly, here come in."

As she came in he noticed that she had a huge bag with her, it surprised him the fact that she could even lift the thing up, but that thought was replaced as Natsuki commented "Hey where are your parents?"

Issei scratched his neck. "Well they said that they had important stuff with their jobs so they had to leave, this doesn't happen very often but I don't know when they'll come back."

"Oh well, I guess it's just... the two... of us" Natsuki started blushing, Issei figured out why but didn't comment, he simply went to the living room to sit down on the couch while he waited for her to follow.

She eventually did sit down on the couch as they both decided to talk while watching the TV. "So got any ideas if they'll be back tomorrow?"

"Oh most definitely, they don't take more than a whole day to work, I would have loved to see you and my mom get along since she's been trying some new recipes for desserts recently and she would' have loved to share some with you" Issei looked at her, waiting for the right time to really get more information out of her household.

"Ah, if anything I'd say she would be thanking the heavens that her son was able to bring home a girl" Natsuki seemed to be more relaxed, a part that Issei didn't see or wasn't able to see much. "Uhm, if it's not much to ask, can I stay here for the night? I'm not sure if you'll allow me.. or if your parents will allow it."

Issei quickly responded "So it was that bad... But responding to your question, I'd say they would let you live here actually, we do have a free room, we could set it up for you"

"Wait, are you serious?!" Not long after Natsuki brought back her composure "N-not that I really want to, it's just... are you sure?"

Issei was happy to respond "Why yes, my parents would treat you like their own daughter, they've been wanting to have more kids but... they've had difficulties doing so and... they were thinking of even adoption." This was a half truth, he wasn't sure if they truly would have gone to adopt someone, but he knew well that his parents didn't really have a good time during their previous expectations.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I guess I'll accept the proposal" Issei smiled as Natsuki took the offer "But only if I hear it from your parents!" Natsuki made sure to still keep part of her strong persona with her, even when she was alone with only one other person.

"Then I guess we should go have dinner now, I've got some leftovers my parents left just in case they had to be at work for a longer time." He went to the kitchen where he crouched to get a bowl wrapped in plastic, inside it were the leftovers of pasta that they had yesterday.

"Actually I could try cooking!" Natsuki seemed to be determined. "Do you actually know how to?" Issei seemed a bit skeptical, baking and cooking were two different enough things.

"Eeeh, I've actually never tried but I could just do some stuff if you could help me" Issei thought that she might have some knowledge in cooking, mostly because maybe her father didn't give her food and so she had to do it herself.

"Sure, I'll help, this might work as practice for when we do stuff for the festival." He placed the pasta on the counter in case they ended up having to eat it. "So what should I get out of the fridge chef?"

It was decent, not the best, not the worst, just decent. While she could make scrambled eggs there wasn't much else she could do since she didn't want to waste the stuff in her bag. They ended up eating the scrambled eggs with the pasta from yesterday that Issei had taken out before. In the end it was a good meal as they both had a nice conversation over the food.

"And so when Matsuda tried to get up, he headbutted the kendo girl by accident" Issei was telling a funny story of one of the times he had peeked at the girls kendo club, not the best story to tell anyone, but Natsuki really didn't care as she had heard worse.

"Jeez you guys really are perverts" Natsuki seemed a bit annoyed but was having fun listening to his stupid shenanigans "I can't believe you guys aren't expelled yet"

"Actually I do wonder as well, but I didn't really want to challenge fate." Issei added as he washed the dishes. Natsuki was looking at the light on the ceiling and she then asked. "What made you join the Literature Club by the way?"

Issei paused for a second, he didn't know what to say really, saying that he did it because of the system would make him look crazy, saying that he just felt like it was also dumb, but he remembered that what he told Yuri before.

"I've actually been practicing poetry for a while now." This took Natsuki's attention. "There are many of varying quality, some are terrible, others are decent, and there are some that I think are pretty good. If you want to, we can go upstairs to my room to look at them and also prepare a bed for you."

"Wa-wait to your room?! I-I mean sure, let's go there" Issei didn't know what was going through her mind to insinuate anything like that, he didn't love her like that, he did not love her, at all. As Issei convinced himself in his mind that he didn't love her, they quickly went upstairs after Issei finished putting all the plates back to where they belonged.

"And here's my room, sorry for the mess, I wasn't really expecting you to come" Issei opened the door as Natsuki entered his room. It was a bit messy, but compared to how it used to be, it was much tidier than before.

"Oh wow, look at that mountain of notebooks" As Natsuki went towards it, she took one of them and started reading some of the poems, "Pfft, wow this one is bad."

"Then how about this one.'' He gave her Poem The Cherry Blossom's Grave. "This one is the most important to me." As Natsuki took it, she quickly went to read, her face looked really concentrated.

Issei then went back to remembering Sayori and how she could brighten up the Literature Club, without her all he had now was Natsuki who seemed the only other member to be sane enough to see that there was an evident problem within.

She finished the book to finally comment on it. "I... got the message from it... Do you by any chance want to talk about it?" Natsuki seemed sympathetic towards him, he wasn't expecting her to really know what it was about. But he decided on telling her about it. "Yeah, I'd appreciate it" He sat down on his bed next to Natsuki, he continued to take a deep breath before telling her.

"I've met someone before. Someone who I loved. She was... actually how I got into making poems, if I hadn't met her, maybe I wouldn't have started composing them. I loved her, but she didn't love me. She loved someone else, her childhood friend. Back then I didn't know that I loved her, and when I did, I said something that made her not like me. When I wanted to apologize, I ran away. And before I knew it... She was dead." He started to sob near the end, it still hurt him to remember, even when he was able to finally get her off his head thanks to Natsuki, he still missed her.

Natsuki proceeded to hug him.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I can never know what you went through, but don't worry, everything is ok now. I'm sure she would forgive you, you didn't mean to say, it was an accident and they always happen." She paused a bit as she continued to hug him "So please, don't blame yourself for it, you have other people that can listen to you, your parents, your friends... even me."

It was a nice feeling, it felt incredibly nice for him to finally let someone else know, his parents learnt about it, but they knew nothing, and they also completely forgot about it. But Natsuki... She was a friend of hers, she acted mean but was kind on the inside, she was the one Sayori thought of when the mention of friends helping came. He knew that he was in good hands, and he wanted to keep those hands safe as well.

His heart calmed down as they still were hugging tightly, this hug felt nice, soothing, calming, there were many ways to describe it, and Issei didn't want to let go. But he had to, he had to try to make small steps to finally move on, and this would mark the first one, he hoped he wouldn't regret it later.

"Thank you... I really needed that" Issei softly whispered in response as he finally started to calm down. He finally let go and tried to gain back his composure. After minutes of silence and Issei taking deep breaths he finally stood up.

"Now then, shall we make sure you don't have to sleep on the floor?" He now felt like he could actually smile now, not like the past few that he did, where he had finally practiced his fake smile and put up this calm persona that he used. "I'll be putting a futon on the floor, you can take my bed." He went towards his closet, where he began searching for a futon.

But the next thing he heard from her made him stop in motion.

"I think it would be better if we slept together." Never in his life would he have thought he'd hear those words directed to him, Natsuki quickly added. "N-not like that you pervert! I mean it has in we use the s-same bed." She was blushing while looking away, already regretting her use of words.

"S-sure if that's what you want" Issei seemed to have gone back into his timid self when talking to pretty girls, Natsuki still red proceeded to say. "Uhm alright, in that case, get out of the room for a bit." "But this is m-" "I'm planning to change clothes, get out!"

Issei went outside of his room waiting for her to open it, never in his life would he have thought of getting kicked out of his own room by a girl, but ever since he's joined the Literature Club he's been experiencing many new things.

He wondered when the next quest would appear, because it was taking too long to show up. He was scared that it would be something bad like last time, but he wanted to stay positive, especially after Natsuki helped him out.

Natsuki finally changed into her pajamas as she opened the door to tell him "Ok you can come in now." When Issei looked at her, he didn't expect to see her without her hair accessories, all he could think was that she was cute, and he would not attempt to express that in front of her.

They both sat on the bed again awkwardly, looking around they didn't know what to say now, it was a boy and a girl about to share a bed without any parental supervision. They knew that this usually led to something, but both didn't know if they really were going to, Issei was denying to do so, he didn't want to simply fall in love with someone again after seeing his past one sided love end so horribly, while Natsuki didn't know if she wanted to do make any moves, she didn't love Cordis, she knew that, even when she felt something for him at the beginning, that little crush slowly faded as she spent more time with Issei.

"I guess we should sleep now..." Issei was incredibly nervous, how couldn't he? His heart started racing, he then looked at Natsuki. "You sure you want to sleep here with me? I can still get the futon and sleep there." He wanted to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.

"No, I'm fine, I'll just get in as well" She then also layed in bed, Issei looked at her for a bit before snapping out of it, he then got to her side in bed, they were both making eye contact, yet as every second passed, they started to calm down. It was relaxing, just looking at each other laying down after they had gone through their own hardships, they both had met someone who could understand them, as they started to smile, they felt as they kept getting closer.

Each time they got closer they could feel each other's breath, neither of them really pointed it out, it calmed them, before they knew it they cuddled together as they felt comfortable to one another, the feeling of pressing one self with another felt a bit strange at first but in the end they got used to each other's physical tact as they hugged each other, wrapping their hands around the other person. There were no words exchanged, they simply stayed this way as the noises outside their comfy abode went away as they both slowly fell asleep.

It was Sunday, the house was completely quiet, the sun had finally risen and its rays of light were sneaking between the curtains, they coincidentally placed themselves on Issei's eyes, he slowly woke up as he then looked around, he noticed that he was still snuggling with Natsuki, yet he said nothing, he simply waited for her to wake up.

It was nice, staying like this felt nice, he wouldn't want to trade it for anything in the world. Minutes passed and Natsuki finally woke up, she was sleepy, Issei helped her up as they both were sitting on the bed. "We should get up and do the festival preparations, you know?"

Natsuki was putting her head on Issei's shoulder as they stayed in that position to continue feeling comfy. "Just five more minutes... can we stay like this at least?" Issei obliged as he didn't want to get up either, he simply admired her, he would have never thought that things would end up like this.

This moment was disturbed by the sound of the door to his room opening. They then saw Miki Hyoudou coming into the room as she was going to wake him up since it was around 10 AM now, she saw that a petite girl was incredibly close to her son.

She then closed the door before saying "Uhm, I just wanted to tell you that breakfast is ready." Only to start sprinting down the stairs, Issei could hear his mom yell "Dear! Issei took a girl home while we were gone!" He then continued to hear his dad "He what?! Did he get a girlfriend?!" He felt embarrassed about what his parents were saying but the next thing did alarm him a bit.

"I don't know but she looks way younger than him!" Ok, I think it was time for him to go down, he looked at Natsuki who was trying to hold her annoyance in. Oh boy he was gonna have a long morning.

"Uuuuh, Mom? Dad? This is Natsuki sorry for not letting any of you know about her" Issei was sitting on the table alongside Natsuki, on the other side were his parents looking nervously.

"She's a student at Kuoh Academy and also a member of the Literature Club" He proceeded to continue presenting her, this time however, both of his parents sighed in relief as for a moment they thought that their son took a liking to younger girls.

"Oh, sorry for my previous outburst, I was surprised to see my son with a girl in bed." His mom was relieved and proud that his son was able to take a girl home. Just then Natsuki decided that it was finally time to talk as the conversation was starting to get incredibly embarrassing.

"It's a pleasure meeting both of you, I apologize for creating any misunderstanding." She bowed her head as she wanted to be polite, Gorou Hyoudou was looking at his son for his specific taste in women and how surprised he was to find that he took home a girl that was the opposite of what Issei liked.

"So how did you both meet?" His mom asked as she wanted to know everything about her and if they were really in a relationship. Natsuki continued to respond "I met Issei when he wanted to join the Literature Club, we then started hanging out in the room for a few days and our club president decided that we needed to prepare for the festival."

Issei decided to continue giving details "So we partnered up to bake some stuff to bring to the festival, and uh, we should als-" Before he could say anything his father then questioned him on something.

"Wait you've joined a Literature Club?" Gorou was surprised, and so was Miki, they did feel a little bad as they didn't know anything about what Issei was doing at the academy "Issei, you could have told us about this, did you feel like we would not like you trying out something new?"

"N-no, it's not that, it's just... I had so much going on in my head that I... sorta forgot?" Issei didn't know how to excuse himself out of this one, but thankfully his mother was able to change the subject.

"So Natsuki about the festival, you said that you were going to bake to bring stuff to the festival right?" Natsuki nodded in response as Miki continued, "then I can see why my son asked to partner up with you, I guess he wanted me to help as well."

"Are you good at baking ma'am?" Natsuki questions only for her to be more casual "Yes I am! Also none of that ma'am talk, call me Miki, you're close to my son, so I want you to feel comfortable around ok?" Natsuki didn't know how to respond, she was never treated so kindly before, Yuri was too shy to do so, Monika was at the beginning but she started to change, but Issei? He worried about her, and his parents even seemed to be willing to help even if they knew nothing about her.

"I uh, also want to talk about something more serious." Issei had to interrupt this happy conversation, Natsuki knew what this was for, but before he could continue his mother yet again asked an out of pocket question.

"Don't tell me you did it without protection" Natsuki went completely red as Issei slammed the table while getting out of his chair "No we didn't do anything like that!" It was incredibly embarrassing for him. But he quickly calmed down to continue what he was trying to say.

"Can she stay with us? She's not safe in her house so... I want her to live with us." Natsuki was anxious to hear the response, she didn't know if it would actually work, but color her surprised as they proceeded to happily allow it "Of course, we can get the extra room ready in a moment." They seemed worried about what Issei told them and they wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to Natsuki, as they already warmed up to her quickly.

"Th-thank you for letting me stay." Natsuki didn't know what to say, but she felt relieved, she felt as if a huge weight was taken from her, but she knew that there would be a moment where her father would come searching for her for doing such a thing as running away.

"Now then how about we start making those preparations for the festival while Issei and his father start setting up the room for you?" Issei's mother seemed to really want to get to know her as she could feel that they both had good chemistry.

Issei and his father went upstairs to get the room ready as both Miki and Natsuki started getting every tool they needed and put on an apron. Upstairs Issei felt his father touch his shoulder as he seemed to want to ask something.

"So... you like-" Before he could finish that sentence Issei immediately denied it "What?! N-no I don't! We're just friends and she needed someone to help." Issei simply wanted to deny any form of showing affection, he did once before, and he still felt that he needed to move slowly past it, as it only happened last week technically.

"Son... I know something changed you but... I suggest you don't let go of a chance like this, I've seen both of you look at each other from time to time, she looked at you unsure that we would let her live here, but you always looked back to assure her." Gorou kept talking as he moved some furniture out of the way. "You care about her a lot, I don't know what happened for you to act this way, but I know my son wouldn't act like this for any women, so I tell you, go for it." He finished as he put a mattress on the bed frame. "That should do it."

Issei looked thoughtful, he was unsure of what his father said, but he knew that his father had more experience at love, he was married for god sake! But in the end they simply finished without exchanging any other word. Before they went downstairs again his father gave him one last piece of advice.

"You shouldn't be scared of what could happen in a relationship, it is part of the learning experience, maybe you don't connect, but in the end you both will learn something from it."

They both finally got downstairs, Issei looked at Natsuki who had an apron, thinking of how she looked it did make him flustered, his father noticed this and gave him a smirk. "We've finally set the room up." He then took a seat. "So what did you both do while we were upstairs?"

"Well we mostly took out the ingredients and planned what to make, we ended with various cupcakes, donuts and if we have leftovers ingredients maybe making some cookies. "Oh, also Issei come here dear" His mother called for him, as he went towards them she said "Put this apron on, you're going to help us bake, and then I'll teach both of you how to cook."

"Sure, I wasn't expecting just letting both of you do everything" He put the apron on as he went to wash his hands first. They spent more time trying to teach Issei how to mix bowls and how long he was supposed to have the dough in the oven. In the meantime, he also learned how to make whipped cream thanks to Natsuki.

He ended up trying some of his ideas while baking, making a mix of the red and black colors as well as white and blue to represent the mysterious books he had as icing, while the red and black one looked good enough, the other one just looked like a big blob of toothpaste.

"Wow, you really didn't think this through" Natsuki was laughing at him as he took both of the already made cupcakes and decided to save them for himself since according to both his mother and Natsuki no one would pick them. "Sure sure, I'll just eat them myself later." I was having fun with it, this was both a bonding moment with his parents, Natsuki, everyone present in the room really.

As they continued to have fun, Issei realized that Natsuki had icing on her face, so instinctively, he put his finger near where the icing was and took it, proceeding to eat it. Natsuki realized what just happened and was completely red over it.

Before long Issei then realized what he had done and weakly said "S-sorry about that, I didn't think that through." Natsuki didn't look at him, not because of anger, but because of embarrassment. "No, it's fine, just don't do that again."

After they finished doing everything they could think of in preparation for the festival, Issei's mother proceeded to say "Now then, since we're still in the mood, how about I teach both of you how to cook?"

The evening was spent in learning how to cook, while Natsuki easily adapted, Issei was falling a bit behind, he knew that without the system's help he couldn't really do much. But with enough hard work he knew he could end up making something good.

"Hey Issei could you pass me the spatula?" Natsuki asked him as he was closer to it, he immediately did so, Here you go." Upon looking at what Natsuki was cooking he saw that she was making an omelet this time, a step up from when she ended up making scrambled eggs.

"Say Natsuki, have you ever thought of working at a bakery?" Issei wanted to know more of her dreams and what she wanted to do when she grew up.

"Mmm, maybe I'm not telling, but if I did I'm sure it would be popular" Natsuki was confident in her ability, and Issei couldn't blame her, he proceeded to say "Well, if the face of the bakery was you then there would be no surprise."

"Ah?! What do you mean by that?" Natsuki inquired more, Issei oblivious to the fact he was complimenting he continued "Well, it's because you're beautiful, you're nice as well Natsuki, your ability and creativity in baking could make any brand new bakery boom in popularity."

"..." Natsuki was stunned, she didn't expect him to think of her that highly, but she was convinced now, Issei Hyoudou was someone she could always count on. "Thanks..." She whispered, not enough for Issei to hear.

"Pardon? Could you repeat that?" Issei didn't know what she said, but she continued to refuse. In the end they simply spent practicing their cooking without exchanging another word unless it was asking for utensils or ingredients.

They ended up making pretty nice dishes according to Issei's parents, but Natsuki's was better, Issei didn't really care, he was proud of himself for being able to do something well. It later got late as they had to go to sleep so that they would go on Monday to the festival. They all went to their rooms.

Issei was laying in his bed, still awake as he couldn't sleep, he was nervous, he didn't know what would truly happen on Monday, all he knew was that Sayori committed suicide as early as 3 in the morning, he didn't go to the festival and didn't know if something else happened there.

The noise of his door made him snap back to reality, as he looked to see who was entering his room, he found Natsuki with a pillow, he asked her what was wrong, " Natsuki? Why are you in my bedroom? Do you not like the room we set up for you." He stood up from his bed looking at her with worry.

"I just couldn't sleep." She admitted, she was starting to blush a bit "I uh... just want to sleep in the same bed as you just like last time, it felt nice..." Issei looked away and said. "I see, in that case, sure, hop in."

He saw as Natsuki slowly got to the side of his bed, she then put her pillow beside him and went into his bed, just like last time, they were in the same position as before, looking straight into each other's eyes as they kept quiet.

That silence was broken as Natsuki started to softly say "You know... It's kinda weird that we ended up like this..." Issei could agree, he didn't know what changed in the other members that only the two of them could depend on each other.

"But do you hate it?" Issei was still a bit insecure of what his father suggested as he asked her if she didn't like how they ended up in this situation. "No... I don't hate it, I love that I can stay here besides you... besides someone I can trust..." Natsuki was smiling now, it was a calm smile that comforted Issei, before long he felt as Natsuki put her hand near his cheek, this action made his heart start racing.

"I just want to thank you for everything you've done for me, I worried that maybe... If I stopped acting like I used to, others would simply pity me, that made me feel weak, and I didn't like that" Natsuki looked down a bit sad, only to smile again. "But you've shown me that there is nothing wrong with asking for help, you've shown me that I can be strong with the help of others... you've shown me that it is much better to ask for help in a weak state, than to pretend to be strong while deep within you feel weak."

Issei simply smiled back at what she had said, he had done it, he was able to help someone, he felt like this was enough to make him not question himself about if he was doing the right or wrong thing, he was glad that he wasn't as useless as he thought.

Gently Natsuki got a bit closer, she continued to whisper "Issei... I have been feeling like this for a while now... every time you talk to me... despite yelling at you and calling you a pervert, you have been patient with me... ever since you've made me tell you about my troubles... I wanted to do this."

Issei was about to ask what she was talking about, only to be interrupted by a pair of lips slowly clasping with his own, he felt his hand being held tightly as he felt the soft tender lips of the girl that he didn't quite know how to feel about.

But in the end he accepted it, he accepted the kiss, he closed his eyes as they both took their time to feel the sweetness that they were both sharing. As they slowly pulled back all Issei could say was. "At first, when you came to my house, I wasn't sure how I felt for you, ever since what happened to the last time I fell in love, I quickly tried to deny my feelings..."

"But you've made me want to move on, if I hadn't met you I wouldn't have known what to do... But Natsuki, I love you. I love you so much, despite how you initially treated me, I saw how you worried for others, I saw how you put your friends before you, I saw how you were willing to open up to someone like me. I really do love you."

"So does that mean that we're official?" Natsuki didn't know how to respond, she saw as Issei started smiling genuinely this time, he simply responded "Of course, I would love to be your boyfriend."

They quickly snuggled together as they giggled a bit, as they got closer Natsuki wanted to know something, "So... would that make the festival our first date?" Issei gently put his hand on her head, "If that is what you want, then yes."

They slowly drifted to sleep as they held tightly to one another, the guilt that Issei felt was slowly being left behind while the fear that Natsuki felt accompanied it.

Unknown to Issei, the system had given him another image to the gallery.

A new image has been added to the Gallery

My Cooking Companion

Finally, it was Monday, Issei woke up, he felt refreshed, he yet again, waited for Natsuki to wake up, in the meantime, he wanted to see the Relationship menu out of curiosity. What he saw alerted him quite a lot.

Relationships

Story 1

Cordis 14/100 - 0/100

Monika 22/100 - 0/100

Natsuki 100/100 - 75/100

Sayori 70/100 - 20/100 (Unavailable)

Yuri 10/100 - 0/100 (Unavailable)

Why was Yuri showing up as Unavailable? Did this mean that something happened to her? Issei theorized that she may have gone too far with her self harming activities, so he simply tried to not really have this let him down.

Right now he just wanted to pass the time with his new girlfriend, he didn't want her to worry, so he wanted to make sure that at the very least they had a good time before she learnt about it. Just then the system gave him the next quest, it was about time it did, but since it came after a while, he knew that something bad was happening.

Mission #8

Raccoon's Streetlight

Condition: Go to the Literature Club Room

Failure: You don't go to the Literature Club Room

Accept

He deduced that upon entering, he would see something terrible, maybe that was where Yuri had died, if so, he would make sure Natsuki didn't see that. He'd made sure to protect her from any more suffering, he knew she was strong, but this was too much for her.

Natsuki finally woke up, this time she smiled at him as she had a good night's rest. They both got ready in their own rooms, they had woken up before Issei's parents were awake so they didn't need to explain why Natsuki was in Issei's bed.

As both of them got ready to go to the academy, they both said their goodbyes to Issei's parents, you could see Miki clear some tears as she saw his son next to a girl as they went to school together.

Upon arriving at the gates of Kuoh Academy, the gazes that they got were many, seeing the pervert enter alongside a girl who was holding hands with him was something that many were surprised to see. To the point that some girls even went up to them to ask.

"Hey there uh... is the big scary man forcing you to do this?" One of the students asked, this made Natsuki completely angry as she declared. "Don't say that about my boyfriend!"

This confirmed that they were indeed a couple, they then split up to go to their respective classes. He then heard loud footsteps coming behind him.

Both Motohama and Matsuda saw this and immediately ran towards him. "ISSEI YOU BASTARD! How could you betray your comrades in our alliance!?" Matsuda seemed much more emotional over the debacle while Motohama told him to calm down so that Issei could explain.

Issei proceeded to say "Sorry, but I've had a lot happen to me during the weekend, it's a bit personal, but I ended up having her stay at my home, that's all I'm gonna say." They proceeded to cry saying stuff like lucky bastard, I'm jealous and so on.

Issei ignored them, he didn't need this right now, he had to make sure that he completed the quest without Natsuki noticing, he spent most of the time thinking about her or the quest, he wondered how Monika and Cordis were doing, if Yuri ended up dying in the room, that would mean Cordis knew about it, or maybe he rejected her and left, not knowing that Yuri, in her unstable mind proceeded to use her knife to commit suicide...

This was really messed up, yet it was scary how calmly he was thinking this through. He has seen Sayori's dead body before, but he wasn't sure if Yuri's was going to be more graphic.

Time passed until it was finally time to go to the Literature Club. Issei was nervous, he waited for Natsuki to join up with him, then they would enter the room together, or so Natsuki thought. As they finally gathered they went towards the Club room.

On their way they found Monika, when they did she seemed to be putting a smile on her face, upon noticing them she greeted them "Oh, hello Hyoudou, Natsuki, have both of you done the preparations?"

"Yeah, you did say that the festival would happen in the afternoon." Issei commented just to act more normal. Monika saw as he and Natsuki were quite close. She then went on to try and tease them. "My you both are pretty close, did you both end up falling in love or something?"

Both Issei and Natsuki said at the same time. "Yes, we did." Upon realizing they said it at the same time they laughed, but Issei noticed that Monika looked surprised, she seemed to not have expected this, but seeing her surprised expression was something that he didn't see often.

"Oh, uh, well congratulations!" Monika seemed a bit doubtful about something but she wasn't sure, "Well, uh, I wasn't expecting this, how about we enter the club to talk about it?" She moved towards the door as Natsuki was about to open it, Issei grabbed her hand.

"Uh? Is something wrong Issei?" She was confused as to why he had stopped her, but Issei looked worried, so she let him talk "Please cover your eyes." Natsuki was doubtful on the reason why but Issei's look of desperation was enough to agree.

"Open the door now Monika" As Issei instructed her, Monika seemed surprised on how he acted. Just as he had expected, Yuri was dead, her body was in the floor as there were many blood stains around, but he did not expect to see Cordis there, he had a dead look on his face. Had he entered the room to see her body? Did her body stay there for the weekend?

"Oh, well that's a shame" He heard Monika say as she laughed a little, he didn't expect her to react that way, but it seemed like she was expecting it. As she continued to talk to Cordis she said some strange stuff to him, script? What script?

"What's Monika talking about?" Natsuki was still present but she was starting to get worried, she was starting to get curious and was about to open her eyes. Before she could do that, Issei held her hand softly, a signal that she had to keep closing her eyes.

He saw as Yuri's body disappeared into thin air, this put Issei on high alert, he was about to ask something but before he could say anything.

He felt that his hand was now grabbing air.

Looking back to where Natsuki was supposed to be, she was not there, she had disappeared as well. Issei didn't know how to act, he found love again, and now it was gone just like the first time. Issei felt despair, he felt like his heart shattered into pieces yet again.

Just how Sayori shattered it, Natsuki took them and brought them back together, only for it to shatter yet again. Issei felt like he wanted to simply disappear, just like how Natsuki did in front of him.

"This is strange..." Issei looked at Monika who looked at him confused, she seemed like she was trying to figure something out, but in the end ignored him. He was about to yell at her, asking for any kind of explanation.

But before he could do so he found himself in the club room, but it seemed like it was darker. Looking outside the window he saw as it was completely dark, it looked as if he was looking at outer space. He couldn't handle what was going on, just what in the world was wrong with this specific Monday? Why did they have to die? Why was there no sign of a happy ending? This didn't feel like a romance, this didn't feel like what the story told him. Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY? WHY?

He gave up, he simply let himself sit on the floor as he rested supporting himself on the wall. He saw both Monika and Cordis on the table, completely talking one to another, but in the case of Cordis, he still looked dead, as if he was a corpse. He decided to simply listen to them talk, or more like he listened to Monika talk. She was obsessive, not to the point of Yuri, but she was able to hide it.

He wasn't sure what was going on, was there someone else aside from Cordis in this room? I didn't know, nor did he care, he kept listening.

He heard Monika say she was the reason why Yuri's personality changed, he didn't care, he kept listening.

He heard as Monika said that she did the same to Sayori, he cared about that, but he was currently in no mood to move, Natsuki was now more important than Sayori to him now, even though he still felt like Sayori deserved better, he felt as he didn't have any right to even come close to her. He kept listening.

He heard as Monika admitted to deleting... them all... He cared about that, he really fucking cared about that, because of her, Yuri had to die, because of her, Sayori had to die... because of her... Natsuki had to die...

All because she loved Cordis, or atleast what was behind controlling Cordis... was this the reason why Cordis acted differently for each time? Issei wanted to get up, but right now, the pain that he was feeling from losing Natsuki was too much, he simply couldn't.

He was mad, he was devastated, he was too unstable to even know what he should do, or even think. He simply stayed there as Monika continued her conversation with whatever was behind Cordis.

The revelation that this was a game... Wooooow what a shocker, Issei could fucking care less as apparently everything was scripted... Everything except Natsuki, she was the one who always was the voice of reason, she was the one who questioned Monika's actions... She felt like she broke away from what the script was, and that made Issei hate what Monika did even more.

He simply wanted to reveal to her everything he knew, but in the end, he wanted her to just suffer simply believing that she was meant to be programmed this way. He knew that her feelings were understandable, but she unknowingly made things worse for everyone, all for a selfish action, that he, again, didn't blame her for, but it didn't mean that he couldn't be mad about it.

He kept staying there, letting everything she said into his mind. He wanted to know what made her like this, he wanted to know why did she love Cordis or the one behind Cordis so much, did she visit him before thinking that this was part of the game? Or was he part of the game?

Did she also have the Writer's System and couldn't finish the last Quest? Or did the Writer's System extract the game and applied it into his reality? What was the true reality? The one he was living in? or the one that Cordis was living in?

Many questions arose from the conversation, he kept listening and listening, he didn't know how long he stayed there but he had no way out now. There were no objects to use on himself to activate Second Take and there was no Quest active telling him what to do. He simply waited until he could get a lead.

Just how long has he been there? He didn't want to hear anymore, the way Monika talked about the other members... how they were simply a game, how they had their personalities programmed, how everything was scripted... it pissed him off, he knew damn well that Natsuki was not like anything that Monika said, and it pissed him off that he was stuck there for possibly forever.

He noticed how he was starting to hear voices... the voices of both Sayori and Natsuki, while one was telling him he was guilty of every action... the other told him that he was innocent. He knew that his Sanity was going down, and when that moment came, he didn't know how he would act.

He decided to look through his menu again. He felt like he had been there for days, weeks, even months, but according to Monika, he had simply been there for 4 hours. Time seemed to have been fucked up in here and all he could do wa-

Wait, he had the Feedback skill.

He forgot about it, he hadn't used it in any other time due to how simple things seemed, he was never ever hard stuck in a place, but now, it seemed like it was the optimal time to use it.

Skill Feedback has been activated

Delete the anomaly

What? This was more encrypted than the last time he used it... which was the only other time he used it, but what did it mean by the anomaly? He was running out of time, he kept hearing the voices whisper to him at the same time, making it impossible for him to know what they were saying. He simply gave up on fighting his depleting Sanity, if anything, it would make him make a move far sooner than later.

Your Sanity is lower than 5%. Proceed with caution.

Ah, his Sanity was about to deplete, he waited, as he did he slowly could hear the voices start making sense now. He could hear them, he could hear their sweet voices, he really missed both of them, he wanted them back he just wanted to go back to when Natsuki slept together with him, to when he tried comforting Sayori, he wanted those moments back.

"You've already done enough damage, you should atone for what you've done" The voice of Sayori kept telling him that he deserved it, he knew well that Sayori would never tell him that, this was simply his mind playing games on him as it used the guilt still deep inside him to make him do irreversible stuff.

"Shhhh, everything is fine, don't worry about it, it won't be your fault for whatever happens next" The voice of Natsuki kept telling him that whatever happened wouldn't be his fault, he was scared of what he would do once he entered in a Panic state, but listening to Natsuki's voice made him want to believe it, even if whatever it was saying was just an excuse to do terrible stuff.

In the end it wouldn't matter, the memories he's made will still be there, but the happiness he felt sharing it with the world, showing that he could make poems, showing his parents that he wasn't a good for nothing, seeing them proud that he was able to get a girlfriend, one who he held so, so dearly.

But because of Monika those moments would be erased from existence.

Your Sanity has been depleted, entering Panic state

Your Panic status is Murder

It was her fault, it was because of her everything bad happened, if only she hadn't existed, if only she wasn't so fucking selfish, maybe everyone else would be happy, he didn't that she was feeling lonely, who was there to listen to him talk about how he loved Sayori? No one except Natsuki, yet despite that, in the original timeline he kept it to himself, because he knew damn well that the person they loved was more important than their own love.

Because of how selfish she was she took away the love of others just because she felt like she was entitled to it. This pissed Issei off, he needed her to fucking die. He wanted her to fucking die. He stood up, Monika didn't notice as she kept talking to whatever the fuck was Cordis.

Issei sprinted as fast as he could and grabbed her by the neck.

Knocking her out of her chair they both layed on the ground as Issei was on top of her he pressed her hands over her neck, starting to strangle her, Monika started to ask.

"Wh-what the hell do you think you're doing?" Attempting everything to make him release his grip she tried hitting his hands but to no avail. "What the fuck do you think?! I am doing this because you fucking deserve it!" Issei screamed as he could feel Monika's hands around his as she tried to make him release them.

"Why... Why the hell won't you let me be with him?'' Issei didn't know if this was directed to him or to whatever she was talking to, but either way he said. "This is for Sayori." He pressed even more on her neck. "This is for Yuri." He started to knee her on her stomach, he could see as she started to foam. "And this is for Natsuki." He started bashing her head towards the hard floor as he continued to strangle her. He didn't know if this was giving her time to breath or not, he simply didn't care, he wanted her to suffer, not mentally, no , he wasn't that evil, but physically, as it was the more impactful way to make someone suffer as unlike mental damage that could be permanent, physical damage had more impact at the beginning but could easily be forgotten. That didn't matter as he was planning on killing her.

"J-just why can't I have a happy ending..." She started to cry, he felt more hesitant to continue, it seemed like his Sanity was regenerating, yet he didn't know that. He looked as Monika was crying while apologizing for everything she did "I'm sor- I'm sorry for what I've done to you Sayori, I'm sorry for wha-what I've done to you Yuri, I'm sorry, so-so-sorry for everything Natsuki'' She genuinely felt sorry what she had done, even when they were scripted, she was still friends with them, and she knew her times with them before her epiphany were true.

Slowly Issei could feel Monika's hands lose grip from his, he saw as her arms finally went numb and her head dangled to a side, he let go of her, making her drop dead in the ground. Issei was breathing heavily, how did he do that? wasn't she powerful enough to simply delete everyone? No... maybe she just wasn't able to do anything to him as he was not part of the game, looking towards where Cordis was supposed to be, he didn't see him. He had disappeared just like others.

He then looked back at Monika, she was still on the ground dead, Issei slowly looked at his hands, they were trembling. Upon gaining back his Sanity he started to hyperventilate.

He had killed someone.

He had killed someone directly, with his own hands.

Just what was wrong with him? He was a monster, he had killed Monika by strangulating her. Issei started to scream of horror and sadness as he didn't want it ending this way. He was now alone, he didn't know what would happen next, all he could do was scream as he got on his knees. Before he knew it, he felt as his eyelids got heavy.

(A/N)

10k words baby, so yeah, we are getting close to the ending of the first arc, I think I overestimated how long this arc would be actually. But anyways this is possibly one if not the longest chapter yet, and I am not sure if I'll be doing another like this.

So... Natsuki and Issei's Relationship, I will be honest here, I was not thinking of writing it, I somehow went from shipping Issei x Sayori to making a Issei x Natsuki, despite that, I still love Issei x Sayori for being one of the OG crazy ships that I possibly am the only fan of, and this wont be the only one. You thought mentioning Sayori's name 80 times in a chapter was bad? try 120 for Natsuki.

There were so many chances in this chapter for a Lemon to happen... but I dont write taht sorry. Continuing to talk about this relationship... I don't thinks it's completely sane, there are some small parts where I've added some questionable relationship thoughts from Issei, from him excesively wanting her to stay at his house to him feeling relieved that she decided to run away etc, he's just a poor broken boy right now.

But at the same time, holy shit this was the most fun I had writing. I felt like I had written so much about it but I only wrote like 3k when I realized.

Monday was probably one of my weakest parts imo, it was one taht I had planned for so long yet I think it fell flat.

Now onto the references and stuff.

My Cooking Companion... yeah that other novel that has a similar concept to DDLC which is also pretty good, the photo was in reference to that, but also because Cooking Companions was supposed to be an arc that I later scrapped. He was actually supposed to replace the MC, but thought against it since the story got a bit complicated for me and there came a sequel and prequel... Also the art is from Dragoon who you can find in Pixiv

Monika being strangled is somewhat of a reference Lost Time Memory, you know that scene where Issei being Shintaro and Monika being Ene. Didn't put the song here since it wasn't the actually place where I got the idea but rather it happened despite the song that I was listening having no reference to strangulation, in fact Lost Time Memory made for the first idea for The Grimm Emperor, which is a REALLY OLD version of the fic where the plot is completely different to the one im making.

Scrapped Ideas for last chapter.

I was really thinking of skipping the whole reset thing actually, just Issei not even showing up and deciding to finally show up on next monday, but my sudden liking of Natsuki said "Nah" and proceeded to make me write these two chapters.

Again, the Red book with black gems was also supposed to show up much later but just like the otehr book, had to be introduced now.

Thats about it, I'll see Y'all when I next update