If you're wondering why this one got a sequel Instead of Monika Circuit (yes I had one planned for that one too) the answer is very simple. Say Mr. Glitch's Name simply had better reading traffic. I'm also sort of doing this in celebration of the new Beetlejuice sequel coming up. Start the fic.
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Sayori tucked Sherlock Holmes and Watson into Natsuki's closet, barely able to contain her excitement.
"Okay, just like we practiced guys. And remember, don't start anything until she shushes me!"
Watson was about to object to being in the closet but Sayori heard Monika enter the room and quickly closed it.
Monika walked in spotted Sayori right away.
"What are you doing by Natsuki's closet? You know she doesn't like anyone messing with her manga in there."
Sayori grinned uneasily, placing her hands behind her back.
"Oh! Who? Me? I was juuuuuust looking to see if she hid another cupcake in there! Yeah! That's it!"
"Of course." Monika tiredly rolled her eyes at her.
Sayori scampered to her desk.
"Just stay out of the way, okay? This player is showing his friends the Yuri route and they don't need any of your sad jabbering."
"Yes, Monika. I'll just stay right here at my desk! I won't move from it!"
"Good! Let's see it stay that way!"
Monika turned around to welcome the MC and by extension the current player. All the while missing a smug grin on Sayori's face.
One by one the others came in, but Sayori just sat silently at her desk just as promised.
The current player (as MC of course) was going around sharing his poem with the others, first Natsuki, then Yuri. When he tried to get to Sayori herself though, Monika altered the game again so he would come to her instead.
"Hey! What about..."
"Oh shush!" snapped Monika. "Nobody wants to hear your sad dribble!"
Instead of getting sad at Monika's insult, Sayori beamed and then sent a wink to Natsuki's closet.
Sherlock brought up Mr. Glitch's command prompt. "That's the signal, Old Bean! Time for the performance of a lifetime!"
"So yes," Monika smiled. "That was a very nice poem. Now here's Monika's Writing Tip Of the Day, sometimes you DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY-O!"
All eyes were on Monika. Even she was surprised by her sudden singing outburst. Sayori just sat silently with her new grin, eager to watch the incoming chaos.
Natsuki tenderly reached out to the club president. "Monika, are you o..."
"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY-O!" Monika looked about the room completely helpless, looking for something that could give her an answer to what was happening. "Daylight come and me want to go home!"
*SLAP!*
Monika slapped her hands over her mouth in attempt to silence her singing.
Sayori just barely had enough strength to suppress a giggle.
Yuri ran over to Monika in concern.
"Monika are you o-Day! Me say day, me day, me say day, me say day, me say day-o!" Yuri sang out with the same voice Monika used.
Monika was about to say something but when she opened her mouth..."Daylight come and me want to go home!"
Sayori couldn't fight it any longer and had herself a giggle fit with her face buried in the desk.
Natsuki crouched down on the floor, hugging her knees and shivering in fear. "WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?!"
Back in the closet, Sherlock lightly nudged his friend. "Watson, I understand we have a theme to honor and all but do you think our little lady would be opposed to a little patriotism?"
Watson shrugged and entered something else into the command prompt.
Natsuki suddenly stood up and sung at the top of her lungs "HAIL, BRITANNIA! BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES!"
Sayori's giggle fit turned into full fledged belly busting laughter at that one.
"I guess we're okay to move on to the next part of our plan." observed Sherlock.
Monika opened her mouth again but this time no music came out. She had just enough time to breathe a sigh of relief and relax before...
Suddenly, Monika unexplainably started to twerk.
"AAAAAGH! WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?!"
The others went back to normal but Monika was still twerking. She started to walk backwards, still twerking, across MC'S line of vision just so the players would see.
"AAAAAGH! DON'T LOOK! THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING!"
Sayori threw her head back with the amount of laughter she was having.
Then Yuri and Natsuki started to twerk as well.
"AAAAAGH! Why is this happening?!" panicked Yuri.
"I'm not singing the national anthem of some foreign country anymore but I'm not sure I'd call this an improvement!" complained Natsuki.
Monika grabbed one of the student desks and desperately tried to hold up her finger. "Only one chance..."
Her command prompt appeared and after a little time with it she and the other girls stopped twerking.
The three former twerkers fell to the ground exhausted. Just in time too as Sayori had finally stopped laughing. She breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to laugh. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard.
Monika and the others tenderly stood up.
"What... was that?" Natsuki politely demanded.
"I don't know... but it'd be really great if it didn't happen again." shook Yuri.
"The player!" Monika gasped. She quickly ran back over to the MC. "I am SO sorry about that! That was just... Well okay, I don't know what that was! But it's over now and..."
Sayori signaled to the closest with her index finger going around once in the air.
Monika immediately started to twerk again.
"AAAAAGH! NO! WHY AM I TWERKING AGAIN?! I DON'T EVEN HAVE THE RIGHT OUTFIT FOR THIS! THE SKIRT LEAVES EVERYTHING TO THE IMAGINATION!"
The MC, and by extension the player, just sat and watched Monika twerk.
"Please don't look at this! It's so unflattering!"
Monika was starting to get mad now. One of the most embarrassing things she could imagine was happening to her at the worst possible moment.
"Why is this happening?! How can this be possible?! Who..."
As soon as Monika spoke that last word it dawned on her. Only one person besides the MC wasn't being effected by what was happening.
She, slowly but surely, twerked her way over to Sayori's desk. She glared daggers into the girl's smiling face.
"Sayori!" Monika spat.
Sayori just grinned the biggest smile she could muster.
"Yes, Monika?" Sayori asked with feigned innocence.
"What did you do?!"
"Me? Why I've done nothing but sit at my desk like you told me too. You're all the ones twerking like you're in a rap video. Kind of inappropriate for school if you ask me."
"I don't know how you're doing this but you had better make it stop or else...!"
Sayori stood up. "Or else what?! What more could you possibly do to me that would be considered worse than what you've already done?!"
Monika was still bent over twerking but she stood a gasped.
"You wanted all of this to be Just Monika so you brought this on yourself! Sure, I was sad that there was a chance MC wouldn't like me back but because YOU wanted the player all to yourself, YOU messed with my stats turning it into straight up depression. That wasn't enough for you though; you also had to drive me to kill myself and then deleted me! The real funny thing is though, I could have forgiven it!"
Sayori glared down at Monika. Her look of fear was nothing but empowering to Sayori.
"That's right! I could have forgiven it because that's just how the game plays! When the player started doing multiple play throughs for his friends though, THAT was when you started to cross the line! Bad enough you kept my depression stat where it was from beginning to end, but you made sure my lines of text were sped up like some kind of speed run..."
*SLAM!*
Sayori slamming her hands on her desk almost made Monika lose balance.
"Just so none of them could get to know me! Just so it could be Just Monika... And then, to pour salt in the wound, you started to treat me like my sadness was some conscious choice of mine! You could have just fixed my stats or even just deleted me but no. You had to act like I was some kind of burden thrusted upon you. That was what hurt the most, Monika. I thought we were friends!"
"What about Natsuki and I?" Yuri objected. "What did WE do to deserve this?!"
"The sin you two committed was considerably less but still hurt just the same. Nothing. The two of you did nothing. You knew about my depression, how Monika was treating me, but you still did nothing. Really showed me your true colors there."
Natsuki and Yuri shared panicked looks.
"Well, we're sorry! Okay?! Just please don't do anything more to us!" begged Natsuki.
Sayori actually hopped in place happily for a moment. "The good news is your torment is over!"
Yuri and Natsuki breathed a sigh of relief.
Sayori glared down at the twerking Monika. "YOU however..."
Sayori's righteous rant was cut short as the MC had gotten up from his desk and was now close enough that they had to notice him.
"What the...?"
"Player! I know this might seem bad but you and your friends should know... Wait. Are you recording this?" asked Monika.
"What? Why would..."
Monika started to perk up. "Are you trying to tell me that you and your friend LIKE this craziness?"
"Hey! No!" snapped Sayori. "That's not fair! You can't just..."
"Well just sit back and enjoy boys! You can call me Just Twerk-nika!"
Monika started to deliberately twerk in front of the MC. Any anger or fear she had in the situation had been replaced with hope and joy. Sayori stared in disbelief, soon disbelief turned to anger. Monika was grinning and actually having a good time. All because the player's attention was on her.
"Stop it! Stop enjoying it!" Hot angry tears started to run down Sayori's face. "You can't just turn it around like that! It's not fair! I could finally fight back you use my method of humiliating you to your advantage?! You're not supposed to find an upside to being humiliated!"
"Uh let's see, how did that song go again? D..."
"STOP IT! What about ME?! What about MY justice?! What about MY feelings?! It's not fair that everything has to circle back to being... to being about..."
Monika smirked evilly at Sayori. "To being about Just Monika?"
Sayori stood in shock. As if everything she just did meant nothing. That this was how it was always meant to turn out. That everything she had just felt and achieved were nothing but lies in disguise. Meaningless.
"I admit Sayori you did catch us all by surprise but what you failed to see was our game's place in the real world. The game does always play out one way, especially for you, but players don't play the game for you and your depression. They play it for their friends and YouTube watchers so they can see blind reactions. The real reason they play is for the girl at the end of the game that is the psychological horror of the game. Not the rest of the girls, Just Monika!"
Sayori took a step back, knocking over her chair. She clenched her chest, feeling like she was having a panic attack of some kind. Even when Monika was helpless she still found a way to turn it all around!
"The sad fact is, Sayori, that nobody plays the game for you. You're barely even in it. And why should you be? So the players can watch you hang yourself? Nobody enjoys that. I admit that I may have been giving you some attitude lately but honestly? Speeding through your parts was probably a favor. Why even bother getting attached to someone they know is going to kill themselves?"
Sayori held her head with both hands as she thrashed about, moving backwards to Natsuki's closet.
"No! No! No! NO!"
Sayori was breathing heavily but she knew she wasn't out of options yet. She turned around and opened the closet.
"Sherlock! Watson! Help me! I don't know what to do!"
Sherlock took off his hat in sympathy. "Of course, Miss. That's why we're here."
Some more words were entered into Mr. Glitch's command prompt. Monika started singing the Banana Boat song again but this time she was enjoying it.
"Noooooo! That's not enough anymore! We need something worse!"
Watson entered some words in and Natsuki started to sing Hail Britannia again. Sherlock saw Sayori was still distressed and entered something in too. Yuri started to twerk again.
"Noo! You guys, we need something different!"
"But Miss, this is all we know to do because this is all we practiced." explained Watson.
Sayori screamed in frustration and threw her head back. This was impossible! She had control of everything and yet she was still just as powerless as ever.
Things were worse than ever and there was no escape. Even killing herself wouldn't change anything! There was nothing she could do...
"Except..." Sayori stood as still as a statue as a revelation came to her. The tears stopped flowing but she realized she did have one option left. It was a nuclear option to be sure but was it really any worse than what she was experiencing right now? She could still call upon "Him..."
Sherlock and Watson must have read her mind because they practically jumped out of the closet.
"Miss Sayori, please be rational about this!" Sherlock pleaded.
"He's trapped in your wall back at your flat! Just leave him there! I know he might sound like a good idea but he isn't going to make anything better! Please don't do it!" begged Watson.
Sayori looked at them like a defeat woman. With so much tears in her eyes they stung.
"But he can't make anything worse either! I don't care! He's the only option I have left that can still actually DO something about all this!"
"Sayori, PLEASE!"
"Mr. Glitch..."
"NOOOOOO! DON'T DO IT!"
"Mr. Glitch."
"RUN FOR IT, MAN! SHE'S MADE UP HER MIND!"
"But the Miss!"
"IT'S TOO LATE! IT'S EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF! WE NEED TO ABANDON SHIP!"
"MR. GLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!"
Sayori's scream echoed throughout the club room. The mods she had created stopped. Monika and Yuri stopped twerking/singing. Natsuki stopped singing Britannia's praises. And the whole room got darker, as if someone had hit the dimmer switch.
Then Sayori realized it wasn't just the room that had gotten darker. Looking out the window she saw the whole world had gotten darker. And whatever was causing it, was coming from HER house.
Monika grabbed her by the shoulders.
"What did you do?!"
Sayori glared defiantly at Monika. "What you deserved!"
Yuri was at the window, looking absolutely terrified as something unidentifiable was speeding towards them.
"Girls, what is that thing?!"
Sayori brushed a tear away from her eye. "Your reckoning!"
Mr. Glitch crashed through the window, sending broken shards of glass everywhere. All the girls, Sayori included, were knocked through the air to the far wall of the room.
"HELLO, DOKI DOKI LITERATURE CLUB! IT IS MY PLEASURE TO FINALLY MEET YOU! AND IT GIVES ME THE UTMOST PLEASURE TO TELL YOU THAT IT IS, IN FACT... Showtime."
Monika stood up first staring in confused horror at the giant smoke cloud with eyes.
"What IS that thing?!"
"My name is Mr. Glitch. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. You must be Monika!"
He loomed over them as he looked Monika over. He seemed much bigger than when Sayori had thrown him into her wall. Before he was just barely smaller than her stuffed cow doll but now he was almost as big as any one of them.
"I've heard so much about you. I can always appreciate a fellow game manipulator but the professional is here now."
Monika could swear she could feel this thing smile. She didn't like it.
"Time to see how it's really done!"
Sayori stood up.
"You... Look different."
He hovered over to his summoner. "That's all thanks to you for inputting the rest of my code. Like I said before, there is much more room here thanks to the coding. I still miss my accent."
Monika furrowed her brow on confusion.
"What...?"
"It was NOT Russian by the way."
"Okay but..."
"I think that's enough pleasantries though. Time to fulfill my end of the bargain!"
He floated over to the MC which was still recording. "Let's see, we don't need THIS anymore!"
Mr. Glitch coiled around the MC like a python and crushed it into digital pieces.
"MC! My players!" cried Monika.
"Oh I'm just getting started! I prefer to work without an audience since this is Sayori's first time and all."
He brought down Monika's command prompt and cackled evilly.
"Hey! That's my..."
Monika's train of thought was cut off as Mr. Glitch entered the command prompt without a second thought. Monika turned back to Sayori.
"What is he doing in there?!" demanded Monika.
Monika grabbed Sayori by the shoulders again.
"What he promised to do." Sayori answered quietly.
Monika started to shake her. "WHAT IS HE?!"
Sayori brushed Monika's hands off again but not so gently this time.
"He's a virus. Straight from the Steam file. He originated in a different game but he has the ability to traverse them. And right now he might be the only real friend I have that can actually do something for me."
The ice in Sayori's voice was like a stab wound to Monika's very soul.
"I didn't want to resort to summoning him but you forced my hand. I tried to resolve this without him but you just wouldn't budge. Now when someone asks why this game is trashed you can say the fault is Just..."
"Monika's..." Monika finished with an icy terror shuddering in her voice.
Sayori smirked. Monika's face almost made this worth it.
Mr. Glitch popped out of the prompt almost giddily.
"Now that was a lot of fun!"
Yuri had finally helped Natsuki to her feet but she gave Monika an almost uncharacteristically serious stare. "Monika! Who cares what that THING is, just get RID of him!"
This snapped Monika out of her stupor. "O-Oh! R-Right!"
Monika held up her finger like she usually would to delete a character file but instead of words being entered in, a giant red X flashed across the command prompt.
"What the...? What is going on here?!"
Mr. Glitch snickered and brought down a subtext from the top of the screen for all to see. It read: Monika Admin Privileges Revoked.
Monika's eyes widened in horror.
"He kicked me out of the Admins... I can't alter the game anymore."
"But I can!" Mr. Glitch gleefully cheered.
"Now you know how the rest of us feel! Not so good on the other end IS IT?!" shot Sayori.
"That's enough!" shouted Natsuki. "You've done plenty to get revenge, now call off your spooky friend and send him home! Enough is enough!"
Sayori was about to agree with Natsuki when Mr. Glitch caught her by surprise by floating over to the manga lover.
"You must be Natsuki. You're the manga lover baker of the group. With such refined sweet tooth I can't help but wonder what your thoughts are on... Cereal."
"Cereal?" repeated Natsuki.
"Not just any cereal. The greatest cereal advertisement can afford! I'm talking about Crunchy Crunch Cereal. A cereal that's both crunchy AND melts in your mouth!"
A pop-up ad for Crunchy Crunch Cereal appeared before Natsuki and Mr. Glitch.
"What the...?" Monika arched her eyebrow in confusion. "Doki Doki Literature Club Plus doesn't have ad endorsement. Where'd that thing come from?!"
"I brought it with me. News of this AMAAAAAAAZING cereal just had to be spread!"
Yuri covered her ears. "The music is so grating and annoying!"
"Naaaaah! It's just a catchy jingle! Sells more boxes, ya know? Still the greatest cereal that is crunchy AND melts in your mouth at the same time."
He pulled the bowl out of the ad and handed it to Natsuki. "Try a bowl."
"Uh no thank you. I'm really not very hungry!"
Natsuki tried to make a break for the door but Mr. Glitch cut her off.
"Oh. Feeling a little nervous are we? How about a deal? I've become good at those lately, just ask Sayori. How about this, if you can only eat one spoonful than no matter what I will leave you alone. I'll leave! No more spooky Mr. Glitch."
Natsuki looked to the others but they were all holding their breath in anticipation. If there was another way out of this THEY certainly didn't see it.
Natsuki grabbed the spoon uncomfortably.
"I mean... It is just cereal... Right?"
"Yep." Mr. Glitch shimmied happily in place. "Nothing but powdered sugar, corn syrup, and milk."
Natsuki gave her friends an uncomfortable look. She dug her spoon into the cereal.
Monika looked over her shoulder and saw Sayori shaking. She snapped her head back to Natsuki, holding out her hand. "NATSUKI, WAIT!"
But it was too late. Natsuki took a bite.
A moment passed. Then another.
Just when they were starting to think there actually wasn't a drawback, Natsuki took a second bite.
"NATSUKI NOOOOOO!"
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"
"I'm sorry everyone. I couldn't help myself." Natsuki sounded flat and almost brainwashed. "I just remembered that catchy jingle and I couldn't stop myself from having some more of this delicious cereal that is both crunchy AND melts in my mouth. It's Crunchy Crunch Cereal, the only cereal that's both crunchy and melts in your mouth."
Everyone turned to Mr. Glitch as Natsuki continued to eat the cereal.
"WHAT IS IN THAT CEREAL?!" Monika demanded.
"WHAT LIE DID YOU TELL HER?!" shouted Yuri.
"Lie?" Mr. Glitch feigned shock. "I didn't lie at all. Crunchy Crunch Cereal may be delicious but at the end of the day it really is just ordinary cereal. Now the jingle on the other hand... That's the kind of advertisement that can just crawl into your brain."
Everyone stood shocked.
"You... Brainwashed her?!"
"I told you that the jingle helps sell more boxes."
Natsuki was eating the cereal like it was her only mission in life. Sayori ran to her.
"This is too far! Natsuki, are you in there?! Can you hear me?!"
Natsuki stopped in mid motion at the sound of Sayori's voice.
"Say...or...i? He...lp... me..."
Sayori was grabbed by the shoulders again but this time by Yuri.
"Sayori, listen to me! I'm sorry for whatever we did wrong to you and I promise we'll do whatever it takes to make it right with you but you have to stop him NOW before this gets any worse!"
"I... I can't! I don't know how! I only knew how to let him in and that's only because he told me how!"
Fear and despair gripped Yuri's heart at Sayori's news.
"Is this really such a big deal? It's only cereal afterall." suggested Mr. Glitch.
Yuri turned to Mr. Glitch with tears of her own in her eyes. "She can't think of anything else! Please! Just fix her and leave!"
Mr. Glitch stared at her silently for a moment.
"... You must be Yuri. I heard a lot about you. Monika screwed with all of you, but you she actually invaded your head. Didn't she?"
"Hey! Leave me out of this!" snapped Monika.
"Says the girl who wanted to be the only route. I mean, Yuri, before Monika screwed with you... You never would have cut yourself with knives for pleasure or screwed that MC's pen at the beginning of the game would you?"
"I..." Yuri looked between Monika and Mr. Glitch. "I don't feel comfortable answering that! Please, just fix Natsuki and go away! That's all I want!"
"No. I don't believe you did. At the beginning of the game your actual opinion of the MC was... Hang on I got it here in my notes."
Mr. Glitch pulled out a notepad and some reading glasses from behind his back. He shimmied in the air for a moment as if he was getting comfortable in a chair; he put on the glasses and read from the notepad.
"That he was, and I quote, "kind of handsome". That's not very lewd at all actually. When you consider this game is also a dating simulator, that's actually kind of reasonable. Don't you think?"
"I... What?"
"Not to worry though..." Mr. Glitch had no mouth but everybody in the room could feel his evil smile.
Some of Mr. Glitch's smoke cloud started to swirl around Yuri's feet.
"I can make it so you can never cut yourself again."
More and more of his smoke cloud flooded out of his body until Yuri was completely surrounded by the stuff.
"No... " was the last word they heard out of her before Yuri started to twitch and wraith inside the cloud. He was doing something to her.
"STOP IT!" Monika shouted. The club president rushed the invading virus and tried to shove him. She went right through his body as if he wasn't even there, she didn't let that stop her though. She swatted at him, kicked, and even threw a desk through him in an attempt to get him to stop.
"Don't worry though, she'll still be able to cut 'other' things."
It was all in vain though. Everything she tried just passed right through him and Yuri fell to the ground changed. She sat up but everyone save for Mr. Glitch was horrified by what they saw.
From her elbow on, her entire forearms were replaced with giant knives.
"No... What... What did you do to me?"
"I guess you could say I had you add yourself to your knife collection... Twice, if you want to get technical about it."
They were like large kitchen knives. The blades would truly start from the end of her wrists to where her hands would begin. The rest of her forearms were like giant metal handles.
"What did I do to you? Exactly what I promised. With your forearms made of metal you can't cut your wrists but with your hands being blades you can still enjoy cutting... Just not yourself since their each like giant knives now and you can't really bend or turn them to... You know what? I'm over explaining it. I did exactly what you see."
Sayori ran to Yuri's side while Monika tried to lay into Mr. Glitch.
"WHAT DID WE EVER DO TO YOU?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?!"
"Honestly? Because it's fun. I'm a virus. A glitch. Messing with the game is kinda my thing. And at the end of the day, you girls essentially ARE the game."
Yuri had her head hanging low but Sayori had knelt in front of her. She had her hands on her shoulders but if Yuri felt them she didn't show it.
"Yuri? Yuri?! Can you hear me?! Are you alright?! Please! Just say something!"
Yuri looked up at her with tears flowing out of her eyes. "No! I am not alright."
The look on Yuri's face nearly shattered Sayori's heart.
"I-I..." Yuri was fighting the urge to sob uncontrollably but it was starting to look like it was a losing battle. "I always... k-knew MC was still just-just a vessel... for the player to use but... a large part of me... s-still wanted to end up with him."
"That's okay. It's okay! If anybody knows where you're coming from there it would be me!"
"It's NOT OKAY, Sayori!" Yuri angrily sobbed. "LOOK at me! I can't hold anyone like this, let alone BE held! I can't hold anyone's hand! I can't embrace them without killing them! Shit! I can't even make tea let alone read a book! My life is OVER!"
Yuri started to sob uncontrollably. "I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE MISERABLE!"
"Oh my gosh! I am SO sorry, Yuri! I swear, I'll fix this somehow! I swear!"
*CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!*
The sound of a sarcastic slow clap brought Sayori's mind crashing back to the other two beings in the room. The monster she had summoned and the home grown monster known as...
"Monika..."
Sayori stood up and saw Monika with her hands clasped. She was walking towards her with a smile but it wasn't like the other smiles Sayori had seen her wear. This wasn't a knowing-behind-the-scenes smile, or a plotting-something smile. This smile held pain in it.
The pain she was feeling for her friends and for herself... And it was directed at Sayori.
"Congratulations Sayori! I thought I knew what it was to ruin someone's life but you screwed with them worse than I ever could have imagined."
"I didn't do this!" shot Sayori.
"No. You didn't. Your new friend here did... but he never could have gotten in without YOUR help!"
"She's right, you know?" observed Mr. Glitch.
"He's here because of you so that makes YOU responsible! It might have been his handiwork but YOU are the one who did this, Sayori!"
"No!"
"YES! I admit that I screw with the game, mess all of you up, but no more than I'm supposed to! The exact amount the game demands of me! Sure, I wreck everyone; delete them at the end, but what YOU'VE done is so much worse!"
Sayori fell to her knees in horror.
"Yuri is barely even human anymore and I don't think Natsuki can even hear us! I couldn't have possibly fucked us over more than you have! SO CONGRATULATIONS! Sayori, you're the monster now."
Sayori fell to her hands crying. "Noooooo! I can't be the New Monika! I never wanted any of this!"
"Yeah? Well drink it in! This is all on YOU and I'M completely innocent for a change!"
A soft mumble escaped Yuri's mouth. It was barely audible but just loud enough to grasp some attention.
Mr. Glitch almost giggled in glee. He hovered over to behind Yuri.
"I am sorry, Miss. Do you think you could repeat that? I'm afraid the rest of us couldn't quite make that out."
Yuri reiterated but nobody could still make it out.
"Once more? For those of us who don't speak knives."
"I said SAYS WHO?!" Yuri looked up with a furious expression on her face but it was aimed at Monika.
Mr. Glitch floated away a little bit. "Oh Ho! This should be good!"
"You say you're completely INNOCENT, Monika?! Who decided THAT?!"
Monika stood shocked at Yuri's accusation, maybe even a little hurt.
"Well I wasn't the one that brought that thing here!"
Yuri shakily stood up. Her legs felt a little wobbly at first but she managed.
"So what?! Sayori might have been the one to bring that monster in, but WHO drove her to release it?!"
Monika let out an offended grunt noise. "Are you KIDDING me?! Are you actually blaming this mess on ME?!"
"If the bow fits! If you just reset her stats at the beginning of the game like you were supposed to then MAYBE she'd have made some better judgement calls! But YOU didn't want to bother! Not so long as their were players to impress! I think Sayori was right! We ALL could have been a better friend to her, especially since she NEEDED us!"
Monika stood in silent shock at Yuri's argument. Her mouth hung open, for once the Literature Club President was completely speechless.
"And that's who it always circles back to isn't it?"
Mr. Glitch's question caught Sayori by surprise. She sat up on her knees and wiped some tears out of her eyes. "Wait, what?"
"Ask yourself this, Yuri... Who regularly alters the game to benefit herself?"
"Monika." answered Yuri.
"Who didn't have to be a jerk to Sayori? I mean, technically you were ALL bad friends to her but... Who was the one that was giving poor sad Sayori the toxic attitude?"
"Monika!"
Sayori looked between Yuri and Monika. "What is... What is happening right now?"
Mr. Glitch floated down and hovered around Sayori for a moment. "Oh, I'm just pointing a few things out to our good buddy Yuri here."
He circled back to Yuri floating behind her.
"Who ALWAYS has to make things about herself? Always has to have things 'her' way?"
"Monika!"
"Who messes with your head to do things you would never normally do? WHO is the REAL villain of the game?"
"Monika!"
Monika held up her arms in a peaceful manner. "Yuri, listen to me! He's screwing with your stats..."
"Oh! Who me? Nope! I'm leaving her stats alone for this! The only thing I'm doing is pointing out the obvious to her. Now, one LAST question..."
Sayori looked on helplessly at the situation.
"Yuri, you have to LISTEN to me! He's trying to play you but you can't let him, so just listen to me and CALM DOWN!"
Mr. Glitch got in real close to Yuri's ear and almost whispered "Who's fault is this, really?"
"FUCKING MONIKA!"
Yuri ran right past Sayori and tried to stab Monika.
"NO! No! Yuri stop! It's me, Monika!"
Yuri held out both her knife arms, making sure they'd be ready for use.
"Oh that's the problem! It's ALWAYS you! It's always JUST FUCKING MONIKA!"
Yuri swung one of her knife arms down, cutting a desk in half. Monika just barely had time to dodge it.
"Yuri, please! We're friends!"
"Friends don't DO what YOU do!"
Monika ran past Natsuki, who was still eating the cereal, to the other end of the classroom.
"NATSUKI, HELP!"
"I'm sorry Monika, but I am too busy eating this delicious bowl of Crunchy Crunch Cereal. The cereal that is so delicious it's both crunchy and melts in your mouth!"
Natsuki said this as if she was happy but her entire body was shaking. She wanted nothing more than to put down the spoon but brain simply wouldn't let her. Her own body was forcing her to stand there while her friend ran around and tried to kill her other friend.
Monika ran to Natsuki's closet and narrowly avoided a stab meant for her head. The balded hand punctured through the metal wall making Yuri stuck for a moment.
"I think Yuri just cut some of your manga." Monika reported.
Natsuki froze in place, just for a moment. "Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..." It looked like Natsuki was trying to say 'Bitch' but her cereal focused wasn't letting her. "tter cereal doesn't stand a chance against Crunchy Crunch Cereal. The cereal that is both crunchy and melts in your mouth."
Yuri pulled herself free and Monika shrugged. "It was worth a shot. I mean, it ALMOST worked!"
Monika ran out the door into the hallway but Yuri was right behind her.
"That's right, RUN! That's about the only thing you CAN do because hiding is pointless! You hear me, Monika?! You can run, but you can't hide!"
This left Sayori and Mr. Glitch all alone in the club room. Well, save for Natsuki and her cereal.
"Mr. Glitch... I never wanted all of this..."
"Why whatever do you mean, Sayori? I promised you that you would never have a problem again and I believe I have followed through on that promise. For you see, now THEY are the ones with all the problems."
Sayori's eyes widened upon Mr. Glitch's double meaning. He wanted to torture her friends for the sheer fun of it. He had set her up.
"AAAAAGH! YURI STAY AWAY!" Monika's scream could be heard two rooms over.
"I bet depression doesn't seem so bad in comparison now, eh?"
Sayori held out her hands together in a begging position.
"Please! I didn't ask for this! This wasn't what I wanted! Just... Undo everything you did and leave. Please! You won't have to do anything else for me. Please! I'll never try to alter the game again! Please! I'll do ANYTHING!"
Mr. Glitch feigned shock. "Why Sayori, I can't believe you're not happy with my work! And 'leave'? Really? I just got here. And this place is SO good for my coding. Why a fellow could stay and have fun in such a place... Forever."
"NO!" Sayori fell to the ground underneath Mr. Glitch sobbing as if it was her last day to live. "Please oh please oh please oh please oh please!"
Sayori was lifted off the ground by seemingly nothing by her shoulders. Most likely Mr. Glitch's work.
"Sayori, you must learn to get a grip on yourself. I won't undo any of the changes I've done here today."
The tears were flowing out of her like a river. "Oh no! No! No! Please NO!"
"But I CAN be persuaded to leave. I'll even leave that Free To Use Command Prompt behind so your friends MIGHT have a chance to fix everything."
The tears slowed to a fault but Sayori remained frozen where she stood.
"...I..."
"I'll give you a moment or two to process this and pull yourself together."
They all stood silently there. The only noise that could be heard was Monika's screams as she ran from Yuri and Natsuki's munching.
Then Sayori twitched a little with life. She looked at Mr. Glitch and spoke with an almost shattered voice "What... would I have to do...?"
"SO very happy you asked that question. You see, this is actually not my first run around. I tried this whole Reeking Havock Across Dimensions thing once before but I was stopped by my source programming and a user... Or as you like to call them in this dimension 'A Player'."
Sayori did her best to process the information given to her but she couldn't tell where he was headed with it.
"And for the longest time I've been trying to figure out where I went wrong and then it hit me. I was outnumbered. Two against one? Of COURSE I was going to lose! I am one to learn from his mistakes though. This time around I need to even the odds, this time I need to have a helping hand at the ready. I need a partner!"
He hovered behind Sayori. "You might even say I would need..." And just like with Yuri he spoke into her ear. "A wife."
It was one shocking development after another for poor Sayori today. She looked at him with her entire body going pale.
"You... want ME... to be your... wife?"
A whole tornado of emotions was hitting Sayori at the moment and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about them. It was mostly just... Confusing for her.
What was she SUPPOSED to do with this information?!
She looked to the only other person in the room, Natsuki. The manga fan had never stopped eating the cereal but her eyes were glued to Sayori. The only difference that could be seen was that she was eating her cereal faster. She could be doing that for any one of a thousand reasons.
"I... don't know."
This was asking for a lot. By anyone's standards let alone Sayori's.
"Think of it as a marriage of convenience. I get to have someone in my corner next time those goody two shoes try to confront me and YOU get to have me out of this game. In fact I'll sweeten the deal! I promise no matter how much power I gain, no matter how far my grip may reach, THIS time shall be the ONLY time I come here. With your absence, your friends can pick up the pieces. No more damage dealt to them."
"I... No! This is all my fault! I should take responsibility!"
He hovered around to her front.
"And you are so right there. You've hurt the people here enough. You should do the responsible thing and leave with me. That way things might have a chance to going back to normal. The game itself will be better off without you. That's the one thing I actually agree with Monika on."
"W-What?"
"If all you're meant to do is be disturbing and cause chaos then shouldn't you be somewhere where that's actually useful? Like by my side?"
Sayori didn't want to admit it but what he was saying was starting to make sense... To her at least.
Mr. Glitch hovered up higher and opened a portal behind himself. Plenty big enough for himself and one other.
Sayori ALMOST looked willing so Mr. Glitch decided to put the final nail in the coffin.
"Look at it this way... You can't hurt your friends if you're not here."
"... Deal."
"Great!"
"But it's like you said, it's the last time ANY of these girls see us!"
"Oh of course. Of course!" He moved to the side to let her go first. "After you... Honey."
Sayori shuddered in revulsion and almost stepped through the portal. Two steps in and she stopped. She turned to Natsuki and saw that while she was still eating the stupid cereal, she was also crying.
"Hold up for a moment. I... need to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?! What?! What do you think this..."
"You. SAID. You wanted a wife! Well all relationships are two way streets! And I don't think a goodbye is asking for too much! Is it 'Darling'?!"
"Oh! Well excuse me... but very well. Just this once... For the sake of our new... relationship."
Sayori shuddered again and then walked to Natsuki. Well, it started as a walk but grew into a full fledged sprint which ended with Sayori throwing her arms around Natsuki in a hug. Cereal be damned.
"I'M SORRY! I'M SO SO SORRY! THIS WAS ALL MY FAULT AND I'M SORRY! I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TRIED ANY OF THIS! I'M SORRY!"
Sayori had herself a long cry on her friend's shoulder occasionally sobbing out apologies. Somehow Natsuki was still able to eat her cereal but Sayori had learned to expect as much.
Sayori finally broke the hug and looked at her with a sad smile.
"I don't even know if you can hear me in there. Apologizing sure felt good though... Even if none of you would be willing to accept it. I'll miss you. Just like how I'll miss all of you. Natsuki, your cupcakes are always the best. I'm not sure which I'm going to miss more, you or your yummy baking. I have to accept responsibility though, at least this way nothing worse can happen."
"SAYORI! *MUNCH!* Oh boy! I just love me some *MUNCH!* DON'T GO!"
Sayori watched Natsuki in alarm. She was slobbily eating the cereal now, milk was being thrown everywhere but she was resisting.
"Natsuki?! Is that you?!"
"Crunchy Crunch Cereal *MUNCH!* HE'S FULL OF *MUNCH!* the cereal that melts in *MUNCH!* BULL SHIT *MUNCH!* your mouth and is crunchy!"
"What the...? That's not the slogan!" Mr. Glitch complained. "What is going on here?! She shouldn't be able to do that!"
"JUST LET HER SPEAK! Please! Then I'll never ask you for another thing again! I promise!"
"... For you, 'Wifey'."
Sayori ignored her revulsion and focused solely on Natsuki.
"Natsuki! Please! What were you saying?!"
"Crunchy Crunch Cereal *MUNCH!* I WAS SAYING DON'T GO! *MUNCH!* THIS the cereal that *MUNCH!* THIS WASN'T YOUR *MUNCH!* is both crunchy and melts *MUNCH!* FAULT! HE TRICKED *MUNCH!* in your mouth *MUNCH!* YOU!"
Sayori's smile got bigger. But only a tiny bit.
"Thank you. I think I needed to hear that. I love all of you but this is the only way to be sure."
She hugged Sayori for all she was worth and then let go. She walked back to Mr. Glitch.
"I'm ready."
"SAYORI! *MUNCH!* Crunchy Crunch Cereal *MUNCH!* NOOOOOO!"
"Before we go, I would like to do something for you. Consider it a wedding present."
Mr. Glitch had his Free To Use Command Prompt come flying out of Natsuki's closet to himself. And, after entering some data, the top of the screen now read " _Sayori stats reseted"
Sayori immediately straightened her posture, as if some pressure was just released from pushing down on her.
"I... What?"
"Your depression stat was too high for my liking so I reset it like it was supposed to have been. A clear thinking wife is a useful one. The only question is... Now that you CAN think clearly, are you going to try and back out of our deal?"
Mr. Glitch leaned in close. It was clear his next set of actions depended on her answer.
"I... No! So long as you honor our deal, I will too."
"Excellent!" Sayori walked through the portal and Mr. Glitch turned to Natsuki. "Oh by the way, that ISN'T a bottomless bowl. There's about twelve bowls worth of cereal in that thing. Eat all of it and it probably won't reset. Now then before I go..." He brought up the command prompt and entered something in. "One last change to remember me by."
He laughed evilly and tossed the command prompt down. "Now that's what I call fun!"
With his final change finished he floated through the portal and it closed behind him.
Natsuki looked at the command prompt and then at her cereal. She knew what she had to do.
She downed the cereal as quickly as she could. She ate so fast she felt like she was going to be sick but she continued on anyways.
After what felt like an eternity, the bowl finally didn't refill and Natsuki smashed the bowl into a million pieces on the floor. She looked at the command prompt.
"Well I sure as Heck don't know what to do with that. Sigh. I guess I better find the one person I know of that has experience with it."
It didn't take Natsuki long to find Monika. Her screaming made that easy. The real tricky part was getting her away from Yuri, now there was a woman on a mission.
Natsuki waited in one of the rooms at the end of the hallway. She waited for her chance and yanked Monika in when she was running by.
"NO YURI! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"
"MONIKA! Open your eyes, Stupid."
Monika tenderly opened her eyes and grabbed Natsuki in amazement.
"Whoa! Natsuki?! I thought your brain was chained to a mediocre cereal! How did you get away?!"
Natsuki rolled her eyes and shrugged with her hands.
"I ate the stinking cereal!"
"Really? That simple?"
"I wouldn't say that. There was A Lot of cereal."
"Oh..."
"But I'm sick of talking about that stuff. Sayori left with Mr. Glitch and he left a command prompt behind."
"They're gone?! Good rid... OW!" Natsuki had smacked Monika up the backside of her head. "What was that for?! Seriously, why?!"
"Because some of what Sayori and Yuri said was true. Some of this IS your fault!"
"I'm already running for my life from a friend that wants me dead. Isn't that punishment enough?!"
"...NO!"
"...Oh..."
"Look! I don't know how to work those command prompt thingies but you do. You go back to the club room and try to get it to work, I'm going to see what I can do about Yuri."
"But..."
"I'm not the one she's mad at. I think I can reason with her."
"Natsuki that's..."
"Monika... WHERE ARE YOU?!" Yuri's voice raged throughout the school.
Monika actually whimpered but Natsuki silently motioned for Monika to use the window and navigate to the club room from the outside. She said nothing but quickly hugged her.
Natsuki straightened her skirt and walked out into the hallway.
"YURI! OVER HERE!"
At the opposite end of the hall was Yuri. She squinted her eyes to make sure what she was seeing was real.
"Natsuki? Is that really you?"
"Yeah. Come on down here so we can talk."
Yuri started to walk towards Natsuki but it quickly evolved into a dash. Natsuki flinched but Yuri slowed to a stop when she got to her.
"Natsuki! It IS you! How are you here though? I thought you were stuck in Kellogg Hell!"
Natsuki smiled a little. "No Hell can hold my tiny fighting spirit!"
"I'm so happy to see you're okay!"
Yuri made a move to hug her.
"ACK!"
Natsuki quickly ducked out of the way and Yuri ended up with her bladed hands stuck in the wall behind.
"Oh... Right. I forgot. Sorry."
"Yuri now that I got you for a minute I need to talk to you about somebody."
"Who? Monika?! When I get a hold of her I'LL..."
"Whoa! WHOA! Suppress your inner Vorhees for a moment. I'm talking about Sayori."
"Sayori...? OH NO SAYORI! I left her all alone with that... Thing!"
"Okay, you still remember Sayori. That's good!"
"Of course I still remember her. I'm still me, you know?"
"Really? Even with the whole 'Murder Monika's Agenda? Mr. Glitch didn't alter your mind?"
"No! The only thing he did," Yuri tried to pull her hands out of the wall. "outside of the obvious, was point out how truly horrible Monika is!"
"Oof! No mercy, huh?"
"You can't tell me she doesn't deserve it! Sayori, had a point! There's no excuse for not resetting Sayori's stats!"
"Oh! No! No! I hear ya, sister! Monika is guilty of things but I've been thinking about this for the past week. So, just barely with me for a second. Alright?"
Yuri tried again to pull herself free but when it looked like she was still stuck she motioned for her to continue.
"So our game is a one player, right?"
"Right."
"So that means one player means for Monika to focus on, right?"
"I guess..."
"But it wasn't just the player this time. It was him and a bunch of his friends, right?"
"I suppose."
"And they were all trying to get in their playthroughs. Trying so everyone gets a turn. This would mean Monika got more than just one player to focus on, right?"
"... Natsuki, are you actually trying to suggest..."
"I'm suggesting she got greedy!"
"...Oh." Yuri wiggled her bladed hands a little and moved them a little bit. "I was expecting you to say something else."
"I could see why you would expect that but no. I think she just got a little too player focused and shoved the rest of us to the back of her mind. I am NOT excusing her actions, just offering an explanation."
Yuri finally freed herself but there was still some wall attached to her bladed hands.
"Then you see WHY she has to DIE!"
Yuri held up her knife arms dramatically but the wall plaster stuck on kind of ruined the impact.
Natsuki grabbed some of the plaster on Yuri's hand and calmly lowered it.
"Slow your roll there. I know you're feeling stabby but I still need you to listen. Sayori left with Mr. Glitch."
"What?!"
"Yeah, the Evil Fart Cloud said he'd stop messing with us if she left with him and agreed to be his wife."
"Oh my God!"
"Yes! It's so messed up! We do have some hope though."
"Us? Hope? Really?"
"As impossible as it may seem, yes. Sayori was able to do all that stuff to us earlier because Mr. Glitch gave her a Free To Use Command Prompt."
"That's amazing!"
"Yeah! Now here comes the caviote. I don't know how to use it and I don't think you do either, but there is one person in club who has experience with such a device."
"Monika?! You can't be serious! Forget Monika! You and I will just figure it out!"
"Except..." Natsuki made some 'calm down' motions with her hands. "I don't have the knowledge, you don't have the patience, and Sayori doesn't have the time. You don't want to forgive Monika? Fine! But can you work with her? For Sayori's sake?"
Yuri stared down at Natsuki biting her upper lip. She was asking for a lot.
"Alright. For Sayori's sake... I'll stop actively trying to kill Monika."
"Oddly specific but okay."
Club Room...
Natsuki slid the door open.
"We're here! How are things going with the command prompt?" announced Natsuki.
"Oh! I wasn't able to reinstate my admin privileges but it looks like I won't need to. It really is free to use." Monika frowned when she spotted Yuri. "What about her?"
"Oh yes! I'm just peachy now and all is forgiven! Come on, fam! Bring it in and we'll hug it out!"
Yuri meliciously held out her arms and Monika jumped back what must have been ten feet before cowering behind a desk.
"Eep!"
"Yuri what...?"
"I said that I would stop 'actively' trying to kill her. What I just did was called 'passively' trying to kill her."
Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Fine! Just be cool about it, alright?"
"What do mean 'fine'?!" whimpered Monika.
"What's the matter, Monika? Not used to being the powerless one?"
"Since when did I become the den mother of the club?! Monika, keep your wits about you and you should be fine! Yuri be nice!"
Yuri deflated a little and Monika relaxed a bit more.
"Fine." Yuri let her arms fall limp to the floor. "So what's the plan?"
"We open up the same portal and chase after Mr. Glitch. Monika, if you'd please?"
Monika scooted past Yuri to the command prompt.
"I never heard of a command prompt to open a portal though. I'll have to check his history to see how he did."
"That's very clever, Monika. Would you like some head pats for that one?"
"NO THANK YOU, YURI!"
Natsuki made sure to place herself between Yuri and Monika but she wasn't super defensive about it. Someone could push her aside if they wanted to but they would have to use both hands.
"Hold on..."
"What is it, Monika?" asked Natsuki.
"He did something to the entire game itself before he left. Whatever he did must have figured we'd try to follow him so he rigged it so we would have to see it before we tried anything. Somebody unfamiliar with the game would spend months trying to figure that out but I think I can bring it up instantly."
"Way to go, Monika." Yuri faked a cheer. "High five!"
"Yeah! High fi-NOOOOOO! YURI, STOP IT!"
"Just bring it up, Monika! Sayori is in danger!"
Monika entered in some words and the game's title screen came up.
The sight made Monika as pale as a ghost. The others didn't understand but Monika knew...
"We're fucked..."
Natsuki looked between the screen and Monika in confusion.
"Why?! What did he do?!"
"A... Free To Play."
"What?!"
"A FREE TO PLAY! HE TURNED DOKI DOKI LITERATURE CLUB PLUS INTO A FREE TO PLAY! WE'RE DOOMED!"
"Why, Monika?! What's a Free To Play?!" shouted Natsuki.
"It's where the player has to PAY MONEY in order to play the game! He'd have to pay just to get all of us! Our routes, our dialogue options, our poems, our writing mechanics, EVERYTHING is now sold separately! Even entering the game past the title screen costs money now!"
"So what?! The player can't play, FINE! Just open the portal! We're leaving anyways!" snapped Natsuki.
"You don't GET it! The title screen can't open unless the player pony up's the cash! If there's no way in then that means there's no way OUT either!"
"So what you're saying is..." Yuri held up her knife arm high. "There's no use for you."
Monika jumped behind Natsuki. "N-N-Now I never said that! We can't follow them, but I think I might be able to send something small through to Sayori herself!"
"Like what?! A poem?! You caused all of this, so if I can't help Sayori then the least I can do is avenge her by killing you!"
Natsuki held out her arms wide blocking Yuri's path.
"YES YURI," Natsuki shouted. "KILL HER! YOU'VE MADE IT VERY CLEAR THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO DO!"
"Hey!" Monika whispered. "Who's side are you on?!"
"IT IS HER FAULT, JUST LIKE YOU SAID! BUT IF YOU'RE REALLY DOING THIS FOR SAYORI THEN DON'T STOP THERE!"
"... What?"
"I'm guilty too! Just like you! We were Sayori's friends but we cast a blind eye to her just like she said! So FINE! Kill Monika, then when you're done kill me too! And then when you've had enough time to reflect, kill yourself as well! Because you can make any argument you like but we're not innocent either!"
Yuri lowered her arm a little.
"But before you do any of that, ask yourself one last question: Is this what Sayori would want?"
It looked like Yuri was going to calm down for a moment but then to the other two's surprise, Yuri let out an angry roar and cut a desk in half.
Both Natsuki and Monika held each other in fear; and as Yuri gave them both a dangerous look they only held tighter.
"I won't kill Monika for Sayori's sake but don't think that means I forgive her."
"Fine!" Natsuki's voice came out high and squeaky but a quick clearing of the throat fixed that. I mean... Fine. Nobody's asking you to."
Natsuki painfully broke apart from Monika's grip and walked closer to Yuri. She placed a comforting hand on the small of Yuri's back.
"We might be stuck here, but at least we can send Sayori something to let her know how we feel. Monika, how small of a something can you send?"
Monika was still on the floor, frozen in terror.
"Monika? Monika!"
Monika jumped slightly. "Oh! The largest portal I could make would be about the size of a teapot."
Natsuki smirked at Yuri. "Or maybe the size of someone's favorite teakettle?"
Yuri gave a small smile in return.
Later...
Natsuki pulled her manga box out of the closet but frowned when she saw the giant knife mark in it.
"Wow. Way to go, Yuri. A direct hit. You got at least twelve of my manga in one shot!"
Yuri sat peacefully at her desk, her arms pointed harmlessly towards the flow.
"I..." Yuri paused in thought. She couldn't say it was an accident because that would circle back to her murder attempt on Monika. Something she was NOT sorry about in the least. She couldn't say she WASN'T sorry though; Natsuki had evolved into the voice of reason. There was no POINT in being mad at her. "...am sorry your manga collection ended up damaged."
"I guess I'll take that." shrugged Natsuki.
Natsuki dug around in the box and pulled out one of the few in tact mangas. Maybe one of her best ones. She walked over to the center desk where Yuri's prized ceramic teakettle sat. She stuffed it inside to the very bottom with a proud look on her face.
Monika came over with a stack of papers.
"There. I have written down everything we've wanted to say to Sayori and threw in our best poems to boot. With any luck, Sayori should be able to get this no problem."
Monika stuffed the papers in and they were just barely able to fit while still being able to close the teakettle.
Everybody got up and stood a good bit away from their proverbial message in a bottle.
"Girls," Monika started. "for what it's worth, after giving it some more thought I AM sorry. Sorry for everything."
"Took you long enough." jabbed Natsuki.
"..."
"Yuri and Natsuki were right. I could have avoided this whole mess but didn't. Everything is my fault. I... I'm sorry."
Natsuki slapped Monika on the back.
"Better late than never! You can start kissing our feet later, right now we have a send off to do!"
"Right!"
Monika entered some words into the command prompt and the Dokis gathered close together.
A very tiny portal opened up and the teakettle shot through it, never to be seen again. An odd sense of hope swelled through all of them.
"We don't know where you are, Sayori..." Natsuki started.
"But we're sorry!" Monika continued.
Yuri held one of her arms threateningly. "And we're NOT going to let that thing do whatever he wants with you!"
"So stay strong!" Natsuki threw out her fist.
"And have hope! Maybe we can't help you anymore than this..." Monika mused.
"But know that you're not alone in this! You will always be a part..." Yuri continued.
"OF THE DOKI DOKI LITERATURE CLUB!" the club cheered together.
To be continued...?
Honestly I'm not sure where to go from here. I wrote the first story for a number of reasons. First, I couldn't get that song out of my head; but I also wanted to answer a question. With Monika having control over the character files who would be able to give her a taste of her own medicine? Who could Out-Monika, Monika? There was more than one answer, obviously. But only one came with a certain level of malevolence that would put Monika to shame. If Monika was a Piranha than Mr Glitch was a shark. Sayori had to be Lydia because despite Yuri's darkness, Sayori had actual depression. Now that this story is over, there's a new question to answer... Who can SAVE Sayori? No. Really. I'm open to suggestions. Bob from Reboot? Caine from the Amazing Digital Circus? MEGAMAN NT?! Bring back Sherlock and Watson? Chuck Game and Gigi at the problem? I'm not sure. If you have a suggestion of your own please tell me in the reviews. Ugh! What is it with me and writing long DDLC stories?! So not fair to my other stuff.