If Sayori's abrupt silence wasn't already enough to alert me of the script's return, the urge to get up and welcome our late arrival that I'm immediately struck with would have clued me in pretty quickly.

"Hi again, Elano!" I find myself cheerily greeting. "Glad to see you didn't run away on us. Hahaha!"

The small laugh comes out far more genuinely than I would have liked. While I'm cursing Elano on the inside at his horrible timing, I can't manage to put much malice in it, as although I'm annoyed, I'm also kind of happy he came back today. Again, even though I obviously knew he was coming back today, because that's how the game goes. Stupid emotion bleed.

"Nah, don't worry." he replies. "This might be a little strange for me, but I at least keep my word."

I smile at Elano before moving back to let him inside. Thankfully, it's just a sort of general happiness at his return, rather than the kind of infatuation I'd have expected this game to force on me. I guess because Monika doesn't have a route, there's no real need for that. Even so, it's extraordinarily irritating — at least in the abstract — that I'm so darn pleased about the MC showing up to ruin everything. Sayori was just about to answer me! Could he really not have waited another five seconds?!

I sigh, quietly enough to remain unheard by anyone else, not that any of them would likely react to it right now anyways. I suppose I shouldn't complain; I got way more time with the others without the script or Elano present than I had any right to reasonably expect. Plus, since I'm pretty certain the game won't just erase that conversation from everyone's collective memory now, I can probably just pick things back up again later.

...still annoying though.

Yuri kindly welcomes Elano back to the club, expressing some sympathy that he's being forced to jump into the subject of literature so quickly. Natsuki immediately follows this up with some rather scathing criticism, evidently not trusting that Elano will take the club all that seriously. Which is perfectly fair, considering he chose to join pretty much solely to hang out with the all-female membership, yet a twinge of irritation still rises within me at the shorter girl's remarks.

"Natsuki, you certainly have a big mouth for someone who keeps her manga collection in the clubroom." I tease.

I mean really, I'm not angry, but there's no need to try to chase him off- ergh, stop that, you stupid game! You're infecting my real thoughts now!

Natsuki sputters with embarrassment, and cries to the room that manga does so count as literature, while I push past the now familiar desire to wait my turn to speak in order to confirm that we've returned to the status quo.

"So, we're back to no one being able to hear anything I'm saying, right?" I ask the room at large.

Despite how I practically yelled the question, no one reacts, or even so much as acknowledges that I spoke. Yeah, that's about what I thought. Well, it was nice while it lasted…

I take a moment to check the script again. Looks like I don't have any more lines until the character exclusive scene, which I suppose is a good thing. While I'm still not thrilled to have been interrupted, it's kind of just been one thing after another since I "woke up" at the piano, and honestly I could probably use the chance to reorganize my thoughts, lest I end up starting another conversation as awkwardly as I did the last one. Not to mention I still need to plan out what I'm going to say to Sayori in a few minutes… which I probably should make my top priority actually, given its relative imminence.

In the absence of any further urges, I return to my seat to think things over as Elano starts talking to Sayori and Yuri.

Alright, let's see… I suppose the obvious course of action to take with Sayori is to continue the discussion we were just having, one on one. I already know that she's likely to snap at the revelation of this world being what it is, so taking extra time to talk to and ease her, specifically, into the idea might not be a bad plan. Unfortunately, I can't tailor what I plan to say to her based on her response to my earlier questions, because I didn't get to hear said response.

I take a moment to glare at Elano out of the corner of my vision.

Alternatively, I could avoid bringing up the subject again entirely, and let the talk be a completely unimportant one. I didn't really create the upcoming conversation for any particular purpose other than to see if it was possible after all, and it might be better to put this particular plan on pause anyways, at least until it's solidified into something more than my frantically grasping at the barest threads of ideas and hoping one manages to hold. Ad-libbing my way through a subject this loaded is... probably not the best idea, and it would be easy enough to excuse wanting to talk to Sayori alone by just making something up, maybe about thanking her for not telling everyone when she found me crying in the restroom yesterday.

Although, I also have to consider the possibility that Sayori might use the conversation to confront me about last night, since she apparently might possess the agency to do that even without the script's prompting...

I cross my arms, tapping my right index finger against my left arm as I consider that. Honestly, of all the things I've discovered this morning, the fact that the girls possess minds and thoughts outside of what the script assigns to them kind of overshadows everything else. I mean, I'd already imagined they might, but there are so many questions inherent in that confirmation that I barely even know where to start — though, I suppose the one that immediately jumps to mind is, how the hell haven't they noticed the script yet?

Seriously, if the others have the same capacity for thought and awareness that I do, and I can tell when the script is controlling me, then they should be able to as well, right? Does it just not bother them enough to say anything about it? Or maybe they just can't differentiate between the script's lines and regular thought…? No, that doesn't make sense, if they exist outside of the script's influence even for just tiny portions of the day, then surely they would have noticed the difference between having and not having control of themselves.

Unless…

I close my eyes, frowning. I'm thinking about this wrong, aren't I? So far as I've experienced, the script doesn't directly control anything. It's easy to let it "steer" things when I'm not paying attention, but it's not really a joystick so much as a sort of mental parasite; a bug that invades your mind and pretends that the ideas it feeds you are actually your own. I personally notice when it does that, not just because I can literally see what the script reads, but because what it makes me want to say and do is so contrary to my normal thought processes. However, the girls don't possess the same outside-context knowledge I do, and on top of that, the script is based around their personalities to begin with. Or possibly vice versa?

I shake my head. Which way around it is doesn't really matter, but if the script's lines fit perfectly to the girl's .chr files, or whatever it is that functions as their true brains/minds/selves, then I guess it does make sense that none of them have noticed it. I doubt I'd be likely to notice the script's compulsions either if they were only telling me to say and do things that I would already say and do without them. In fact, since I've yet to figure out how to access the hidden script, there's technically nothing to say that's not happening even now…

My teeth clench together for a moment before I force myself to loosen my jaw. No, let's not get caught up in stewing over that again. I have enough definite issues already without worrying about hypothetical ones, such as the script's apparent self-editing abilities, the fact that I keep having the emotions of the actual Monika — or at least the game's intended version of her — forced on me, my incomplete escape methods list being sent in as a poem-

-crap. The poem sharing bit is coming up soon, isn't it? I was so angry about the game qualifying my list as a poem at all, I didn't even think about what that means for the portion of today where I'm supposed to share it. Am I going to be forced to show everyone that? If it was accepted at all, then that seems likely... but it isn't even here with me, is it? The list was in my hand before the fade out, but I didn't have it when I got here, so- no, that means nothing. Since the game "filled in" what happened between my writing the list and being warped to the piano room, it's probably been placed in my bag or something. Maybe I can just tell everyone I forgot it? That's not in character for Monika though; even if they could hear me they'd definitely know something's off if I claimed that, and I'd rather not complicate, or possibly outright invalidate my plans before I can even attempt any of them by revealing I'm not really her right now. But there's no way I can show them what I actually wrote-

"Hey, Monika?"

My eyes snap open in response to the voice and the feather-light touch on my shoulder. Sayori is standing in front of me, her face bearing a hesitant expression.

"You wanted to talk once club started, right…?"

I look around to see Elano happily receiving a book from Yuri, and Natsuki already moving towards the closet. Wait, is it seriously time for this already? I still haven't even decided what to say to Sayori! I got sidetracked by... everything, again. Damn it, why can't I seem to keep focused on a single subject for more than two straight minutes?!

"Ah… yes, let's do that." I say after a long moment, reluctantly standing up from my desk.

I begin walking as slowly as possible towards the back door of the classroom, trying to think fast.

Okay, since my brain is clearly too easily distracted and indecisive to make this choice, let's just go by instinct — do I use this conversation to continue working towards revealing the truth of this world to Sayori, or do I wait until later so I can actually plan out how to do that and lessen the chances of my screwing things up?

…instinct says use it to progress. I'd much prefer to have prepared for this beforehand, and I still need to go looking through the game files to see if I was left any actual information regarding the possibility of escaping it, but I think I need to keep moving forward with this plan regardless. It's pretty nebulous execution-wise right now, and may end up being completely pointless anyways in way of actually getting me out of here, but succeeding at bringing any of the girls into the know will at least give me someone to talk with and bounce ideas off of. That's something I'm beginning to realize I sorely need, as I'm very obviously starting to get way too caught up in the echo chamber of my own head.

I reach the doorway, and the script takes hold of my movement as it reaches the line where the MC notices us leaving. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Elano briefly glancing at me and Sayori, before turning away to sit down beside Yuri as we step outside.

As the door shuts behind us, the prodding of the script vanishes, much as I'd both assumed and hoped it would now that we've exited the sight of the MC. Smiling, I turn to Sayori, who still looks rather uneasy.

Surprisingly however, she's also the first one to speak.

"Um, Monika," she starts, pressing her index fingers together and staring at the floor rather than look at me. "Why did you need to talk to me out here? Is this- last night, did you… no, I mean- that question you asked, I…"

She trails off, seemingly as unsure how to continue as I am how to respond. Even if she didn't exactly complete the thought, I didn't expect her to try and question me about last night's incident so directly... should I just tell her? Hell, if she's asking about it outright, maybe-

Before I can decide, my mouth opens, and words begin jumping out of it on their own.

"No need to seem so worried, Sayori. I just wanted to talk to you about the upcoming festival is all."

Sayori finally looks up, seeming stunned. "Huh?"

What the- oh COME ON, why is the script back again?! It literally only just went away!

"Really, don't look so stressed, I'm noooo~ottttt here to talk about the DAMN FESTIVAL!" I cry, taking over the sentence halfway through, my fingers curling into claws.

Sayori doesn't seem to notice, instead looking relieved, presumably at whatever it was she heard.

"Oh… then you…" she trails off again, before giving me a small smile and bringing her arms back to her sides. "Nevermind. Right."

The high-pitched screech of rage I let loose in response comes out so loud and unexpectedly piercing that I'm almost surprised the hallway windows don't shatter.

Slumping from the exertion of my outburst, I allow the script to take over again, whereupon it proceeds to have me start talking to Sayori about exactly what I just said I wasn't here to talk about. Well, apparently all that planning just now was for nothing, and this is going to end up being a pointless conversation after all. And here I thought I'd finally found a way around the script... I don't get it. What's the difference between now, and the period before club starts, or last night in Sayori's bedroom for that matter?

I check the code window, and see nothing resembling the conversation I'm participating in right now. This must be the hidden script then, as I'd already assumed since the MC can't see us. So, what, it decided having any sort of unscripted conversation out here counted as derailing the plot, and decided it couldn't stand for that? I guess that kind of makes sense, but I'd thought that since the normal script changed-

...hold on. Is this maybe only happening because there was already a conversation for us scripted to occur during this time period? If I recall correctly, Monika and Sayori are indeed supposed to be talking about the festival right now, as seen when the MC eavesdrops on them during Sayori's first exclusive scene. And during the restroom incident, the game's prologue was supposed to be happening, which obviously was intended to include Monika. In contrast, what happens at nighttime and the spare minutes just before club starts are never even mentioned, because they aren't intended to be remotely relevant to normal gameplay...

Alright, a revision to my earlier conclusion then. I was right that the script can't just force things to proceed exactly as normal when something happens that isn't supposed to, since Sayori clearly remembers me popping into her room last night, and I was able to get us out here to begin with. Evidently however, it can still steer us away from acknowledging those events, even in a scene that didn't originally exist, so long as it had already planned for us to be doing else something at the time…? God, the rules this world seems to abide by are so ridiculously convoluted, and I'm stuck with no choice but to try and make sense of them. This is maddening.

Sayori says something that the script has me agree with, and I laugh, complimenting her.

…not that you'd know I feel that way from my outward demeanor. My vexation with this place aside however, this is a problem for Plan Meta-Aware. Assuming I've finally got the right of how the script works, I might be able to talk to Sayori without issue so long as I do it at night — but from here on out, I'm pretty sure Monika is planned to arrive late to club every day, which means there won't be ANY time that I can freely talk with Yuri or Natsuki. I could try teleporting to their houses after the club ends, but since the player never sees where they live, there likely aren't any background image files for me to do that with. Following them home directly isn't an option either, since the game jumpcuts us out at the end of the scene... in fact, seeing as how I just got sent to a classroom floating in a void of nothingness, it's entirely likely that Yuri and Natsuki don't even have homes. How am I supposed to explain any of this to them if I have literally NO opportunities free of the script with which to do so?

I take a minute to think about it, actively ignoring the conversation my body is still busy participating in.

Well... if I can't bypass the script, and I can't get away from it, then maybe I can force it to address the things I want it to? From what I've seen, it seems to be trying to keep things relatively "natural", in that nothing is being outright ignored as if it never happened, but things are brushed off as unimportant if the game doesn't want to address them. However, there's likely only so far that can really go. Maybe if I set up another out-of-clubroom conversation with Yuri and Natsuki, and am way less vague about what I want to talk about this time- no, that's cyclical logic. Without another free time section, I don't have the ability to set something like that up, and if I did then this wouldn't be necessary anyways.

Okay, then what if I rewrote the script? That idea mostly only features in my "Revolt Against the Game" strategy right now, but there's no reason I can't use it more constructively. I could edit some of my own lines to be what I actually want to say; maybe even ensure the others react well-

Wait, no. Didn't Monika already sort of prove that doesn't work? She wasn't trying to do the same thing, but when she started inserting new lines to try and drive the player away from Yuri and Natsuki, none of the characters ever seemed to notice or remark upon them — much like how all the things I've been saying keep getting flat out ignored, actually. The result might be different depending on if this is Actual Dating Sim or Psych-Horror DDLC, but given what happened before when I tried to skip to the end of the day, I'm already sort of wary about outright changing the script file while it's actively being run. So if other evidence suggests there's a high chance of it not working anyways... damn it, is there anything the game CAN'T just disregard or work around?

...

Well, there's definitely at least one thing that might fit the bill, if Monika's efforts were any indication…

I switch my focus to the console and reopen the characters directory, having it list out the contents again, just to be sure that nothing's changed.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Doki Doki Literature Club: cd characters
C:\Program Files (x86)\Doki Doki Literature Club\characters: dir

flair .chr
natsuki .chr
sayori .chr
yuri .chr

Much like before, I find my attention drifting towards my own file, but I pull myself back almost immediately. Of the four "minds" on display here, mine is the one I'm least ready to examine in detail, and it would be pointless for what I'm potentially about to do anyways.

Instead, let's go with... Sayori's? I just need an example to examine for now, so hers should work fine.

Steeling myself, I enter a new command.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Doki Doki Literature Club\characters: edit sayori .chr

Sayori .chr

Description: Vice president of the literature club and the neighbor of [player]. A seemingly cheerful girl afflicted by long-standing depression, and a subsequent lack of motivation in almost all things. Desires for those around her to be happy, and so hides her true feelings by acting joyful and enthusiastic in front of others, unwilling to inflict her problems upon them. Secretly in love with her childhood friend, [player], and sincerely cheered by his presence, but possesses little belief in her own self-worth, and thinks he would be better off without her.

-Event Log-

Day 0:
-Spied [player] walking down the road in the morning, and ran to catch up so she could walk to school with him. Talked to [player] on the way, saying that he should join a club, and mentioning how important his happiness is to her. Convinced him to check out the Literature Club after school.
-Went through the school day as usual.
-After school, arrived at the Literature Club with [player] and discovered Monika wasn't there yet. Quickly became worried for her, and talked Yuri and Natsuki into looking for her, leaving [player] behind in the clubroom.
-Found Monika in a restroom and realized she'd been crying. Offered to lend an ear to her troubles, but was rebuffed. Upon returning to the clubroom with her, claimed to have found Monika already on her way there.
-Ate cupcakes with the rest of the Literature Club. Complimented Monika's leadership and Natsuki's cuteness, showed enthusiasm for Monika's proposed idea of the club sharing poetry daily, and hugged [player].
-Got home and spent the evening unable to summon the motivation to do anything. Ended up going to sleep early with the lights on, but awoke later to find Monika in her room, who reminded her of the poem she did not write. Panicked, fell out of bed, and stood up to find Monika gone.
-Wrote her poem, unsure if Monika was ever really in her room or not, but remained convinced it was more than a dream. Went back to sleep.

Day 1:
-Woke up and walked to school. Progressed through the day as usual.
-Left for the Literature Clubroom, telling [player] she'd be there when he finished cleaning. Became nervous upon arriving, remembering the previous night and wanting to ask Monika about it, but was unsure how to do so. Sat down with the other club members and listened to them talk about the possibility of a programmed universe, but was too distracted by Monika to pay much attention. Brought up her "dream" when questioned about her behavior by Natsuki, but did not go into detail. When asked, agreed to talk to Monika outside, in private, after club officially started.
-Defended [player] from Natsuki's accusations, mentioning how much he helps her. Urged Yuri to be good friends with [player] as well, and brought up the book the other girl brought for him, in an attempt to bring the two closer together.
-Reminded Monika of the talk she'd asked for, and walked outside the clubroom with her. Discussed preparations for the upcoming school festival.

It takes me a few moments to process what I'm looking at, but even once I have, I'm still sort of dumbfounded. I don't know exactly what I expected the inside of a .chr file to look like, but somehow I didn't imagine it to be anything so… straightforward. I mean, technically all of Sayori's basic personality traits are here, and there's a list of all her relevant recent memories, but surely you can't boil a mind down to just this, right?

I frown. Then again, Monika was supposedly able to modify these files without a great deal of difficulty, despite possessing no prior coding experience whatsoever. Perhaps it only makes sense that they're this basic, else she likely would have found it nigh-on impossible. It still seems kind of odd though — I mean, isn't the description sort of a spoiler if someone happens to look at this before actually playing the game? Not to mention, the existence of the event log just strikes me as... strange. Wish I'd bothered to look at the contents of one of these before I ended up in here, so I could judge exactly how strange, but that opportunity is long since lost.

Still, strange or not, this is potentially my best avenue of approach if I want to change things without the script being a constant impediment. According to the game itself, when Monika edited the .chr files of the other girls from their intended states, it significantly altered the way events were originally set to proceed. I don't know how that worked logistically, whether the change in their personalities overrode the script, or forced the script to change in response, or what, but if the principle holds true, then I should be able to find out pretty easily. Granted, the principle might not hold true if this is Psych-Horror DDLC, since I doubt that version of Monika actually did anything to the .chr files at all, but the fact that this file does seem to actually represent Sayori, and isn't just meaningless gibberish or empty space, suggests that there's still a chance it will work even so.

At the very least, it's worth a try.

I nod to myself. Now, the question is, how do I use this? From what I'm seeing here, I assume I can just write in or delete whatever I want, then save the file to make a modification. But whereas Monika was trying to exacerbate the others' negative traits to make them less likable, I need to somehow make it possible for me to talk to them outside of the script's control, using the exact same tool. Maybe if I just make them want to speak with me after club ends... no, that might work with Sayori since I can get to her house at night, but the game would probably use a scene transition to end the day before Yuri or Natsuki got the chance. Possibly shoving some memories into my head about talking to them about something meaningless after the fact for good measure.

Hmm... is it possible I can literally just write something into the girls' .chr files that makes it so the script can't stop them from hearing me? Would that work? I'm not sure; Monika was never implied to have done anything like that, and her actions are all I have to guide me here. I can make certain logical leaps, but I'd rather not have to, since if I do something I think makes sense, but which turns out to be a bad idea and accidentally end up ruining/corrupting something, that would be... not good.

"So, what do you think?" Sayori asks.

"I think a poetry performance sounds like a great idea." I hear myself reply, smiling widely. "It fits this club perfectly."

"Then it's settled!" Sayori exclaims, smiling back. "I'll start making posters tomorrow."

...ergh, sounds like this conversation is wrapping up; I don't have the time to be indecisive about this too. Perhaps a quick experiment is in order? I don't necessarily know if editing any of the .chr files will even do anything right now, so there's no sense doing anything that could break something, or someone, without even testing out the theory first. I'll start small; try something like what Monika theoretically did to see if anything even happens, and move on from there if it's a success. But what should I change?

My attention shifts back to Sayori's .chr file, which I still have open.

Well, if it was possible to worsen her state of mind...

Working quickly, I make a few alterations to her description.

Description: Vice president of the literature club and the neighbor of [player]. A cheerful girl currently getting over a long-standing depression, and a subsequent lack of motivation in almost all things. Desires for those around her to be happy, and so acts joyful and enthusiastic in front of others. Secretly in love with her childhood friend, [player], and sincerely cheered by his presence, but possesses little belief in her own self-worth.

I'm tempted to do more, like delete her depression outright, or improve her sense of self-worth, or perhaps add a "cannot delete or edit files contained within the Doki Doki Literature Club folder" clause or something, but I need to see if this works at all first before attempting anything more radical. Plus, since evidence seems to suggest Sayori IS real and sapient to some extent, I'd prefer to avoid changing all that much about her anyways. I mean, I can't really see her objecting to suddenly being on the road to recovery, but this paragraph is likely what ultimately defines her — if I make things too different, there won't be any Sayori left.

Taking a deep breath, I save and exit the file. Please work...

"I promise I'll-"

Sayori suddenly freezes and cuts off midway through the sentence she was saying, much like Natsuki did when I tried to move the execution cursor to the end of the file earlier. Oh no, please don't tell me I did it aga-

The world stutters.

"You know Sayori, I didn't just bring you out here to talk about festival preparations." I suddenly find myself saying, to my great relief. "I had something else to ask you too."

"Huh?" Sayori asks, looking surprised. "R-really? What's that, Monika?"

"I just couldn't help but notice you've seemed happier than usual as of late." I continue. "I mean, not that you don't seem pretty happy most of the time, but recently it's just seemed more... genuine, I suppose. Did something happen?"

…well, this is a much more immediate effect than I'd expected. Let's see where this ends up going.

"Oh." Sayori blinks in response to my question, seeming slightly confused. "Um… maybe? I'm not really sure..."

"It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Elano joining the Literature Club yesterday, would it?" I ask teasingly.

A bright red blush breaks out across Sayori's face. "N-no! Not- at least, I don't think so, but… I..."

Her stammering protest trails off as she looks down at the floor, the cheer in her expression draining away.

"It's just… for the longest time, it's felt as though there's been this huge, invisible weight pressing down on me. Every minute of every day, as far back as I can even remember, it's been there, threatening to crush me. I've tried not to let it show, but doing anything... even wanting to do anything with it around is just so hard, that I… I…"

"Sayori?" I ask as the other girl pauses, concern trickling into my voice. "Are you okay?"

Sayori looks away and takes in a long, deep breath. When she turns back to me, she's smiling again.

"Yes, I'm okay." Sayori says reassuringly, seeming calmer now. "I don't think I'm as happy as you think I am, Monika. Truthfully, I don't think I ever have been. But right now, the weight feels lighter than I can ever remember it being... I think I'm more okay than I've been in a really, really long time."

Wow. Test successful, I guess? And aside from that weird pause, nothing seems to have broken, so... good! Great!

I smile internally. I guess I should move on to Yuri and Natsuki's files in that case? Or- wait, no, I'm getting ahead of myself. It's good to know that editing the .chr files is possible, but I already decided that Sayori should take priority for now, since there's significant evidence that she's the most likely one here to "go mad from the revelation". She's also the character I probably feel most comfortable talking to at this point in time, and since half the point of even continuing with this idea is getting someone to confer with so I don't make dumb mistakes, I should really try to bring her into the fold before doing anything else.

"That's… good to hear, Sayori." My mouth replies for me as I ruminate on this, tone only slightly less concerned than before. "I won't pry, but... do you remember that offer you made me yesterday, when you found me?"

Sayori nods. "Of course I do. I wouldn't forget something like that."

"I'd like to extend a similar one to you, if you're okay with it." I tell her, sincerity suffusing through my voice. "If you're hurting, you shouldn't have to bear it on your own. I'm here for you, if you need me."

Sayori doesn't look like she knows how to respond to that. After a moment, she sniffles, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes, before smiling again and unexpectedly hugging me. The script has me return it, unintentionally derailing my thought process.

"Thank you, Monika..."

Er… this is very touching and all, but awkwardness is currently trumping sentimentality. Sayori's chest is kind of squished up against mine right now, and the sensation is kind of… not uncomfortable exactly, but… just, could this hug please end soon, so I don't have to focus on this? Please?

Just as I'm about to force my way past the script to do it regardless, Sayori breaks the embrace, and my hands both blessedly return to my sides.

Thank you… er, anyways, if tonight is anything like the last, I should be able to teleport to Sayori's house freely. As long as I avoid accidentally moving to the next day again, I should have theoretically infinite time to plan out my approach, which is good, because right now my mind is zooming back and forth between like 50 different things, so being able to leave the specifics until later is a blessing. Also, if telling Sayori ends up going badly, and she starts freaking out…

I quickly check the .chr file again, hoping this works the way I think it does. To my satisfaction, a new line reading "Admitted her depression to Monika, and accepted her offer to talk with her about it if needed." seems to have been appended to the most recent event while I wasn't looking, just as hoped. Perfect — if editing the events works the same way editing the description does, then if I screw things up with Sayori, I should be able to erase her memory of it the instant it shows up in her file, letting me try again until I get it right. That's...

Huh, that's essentially the ultimate insurance policy. Seems like there's nothing but pros to this plan besides it taking a bit of waiting to implement, so I guess I'll pick this line of thought back up after club is over.

"Well, I think we've been out here long enough." I'm prompted to say aloud, breaking the silence that's fallen between us. "We should get back inside. We've all got poems to share, after all."

I turn around and reach for the clubroom doorknob.

"…hey, Monika?"

"Hmm?" I twist my neck around to look at Sayori over my shoulder.

"That question you asked earlier… you said it was important, so I'd like to give you my answer." she says quietly. "That is, I'd like to, but… I'm not quite as certain of it now as I was before. Do you mind if I think about it a little longer, and tell you tomorrow instead?"

…what.

"Not at all, Sayori." the script has me patiently reply. "It's a hard question. Take all the time you need."

With that, I reopen the clubroom door and stroll back inside.

…I give up. I don't get what the script is doing at all.