Mic check, one two… anyone hear us?
Saki: "Lemme give it a shot… YO! CAN Y'ALL HEAR US?!"
Bede: "Ack! My ears are ringing, you moron!"
Grgh, it works, okay… Thank you, Saki. Ahem, I am the Renegade Braveheart and joining me today is…
Sayori: "Sayori! Second Protagonist of Fictional Epicenter and Ultimate Poet, hello everyone!"
Saki: "Saki Nikaido, Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, glad to be here!"
Bede: "Tch, they know who I am already, so tell them why we're here."
Hmph, fine! It's the return of the Q&A, the reveal of who I chose to be the first free time of Chapter 4 (who we'll be spending time with in this chapter), and the announcement of the next Free Time Event Poll!
Saki: "Ha ha, we'll be taking any and all questions, no matter how many or little you got for us! As well as those votes for who you want Sayo to hang out with in this chapter!"
Bede: "Choose wisely, since both the winner and runner up will be the ones hung out with in this chapter. The decision is yours, yet the author would want the chance to give some characters more spotlight."
Indeed, I would like that. However, it is up to you, plus these free times are Sayori's instead of Hachiken's. She may have different interactions with these 10 students than he has.
Sayori: "I'd love to spend time with all of them, but I'll only have enough free time in this chapter to talk to three of them. And our first person, as decided by last chapter's poll as one of three runner ups… is Minori! I just know we'll have a lot to talk about when it comes to literature!"
Bede: "Ah yes, thank you to our very unbiased author for making that decision…"
Come on… we haven't spent time with her at all and it was a three-way tie last time between Ray and Kale!
Saki: "That just means we gotta get more votes! So vote for who ya want for the two other students you wanna see Sayori hang out with in Chapter 4! And give us questions too for the Q&A so our author doesn't feel so lonely, heh heh…"
Why are you bullying me?!
Sayori: "Ehehehe~, see you all when the poll ends! We'll be waiting on your questions and your votes, the link will be at the end of this part. Bye bye!"
Chapter 4: An Azure Uproar Part 2 (Daily Life)
Remaining Students: 11
Sayori (Doki Doki Literature Club): Ultimate Poet
Bede (Pokémon): Ultimate Gym Leader
Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Fire Emblem: Three Houses): Ultimate Prince
Saki Nikaido (Zombie Land Saga): Ultimate Biker Gang Leader
Reyn (Xenoblade Chronicles): Ultimate Tank
Minori Ichinose (Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure): Ultimate Bookworm
Konata Izumi (Lucky Star): Ultimate Otaku
Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic The Hedgehog): Ultimate Pilot
Kale (Dragon Ball Super): Ultimate Berserker
Satou Kazuma (Konosuba) Ultimate Thief
Ray (The Promised Neverland): Ultimate Strategist
Sayori's POV
Insert Song: Daijoubu! (Doki Doki Literature Club!)
Tails led Ray, Dimitri, and I over to the library's computer lab. The last time we were here was before that crazy hurricane motive, I wonder if things have changed for Yu and ki on their end. Hopefully the computer still works, if Monokuma finds out what we're doing it could be bad news for us and for them…
Tails flew into the air, checking out the security cameras stealthily by hiding behind the bookshelves.
"Whew, it seems like these cameras can't spot us from here. "
Dimitri crossed his arms as we headed over to the specific computer, "Are you sure, Tails? Those camera devices won't be able to track our movements at all?"
"Uh-huh, their positioning is only by the entrance and the restrooms, and they can't turn or extend themselves any farther! We're all set."
Tails powered on the computer and began typing away like the smarty-pants he is… well except for the fact that he doesn't wear pants. We hear the computer power on and we see the chatroom from before, the purple & pink text and all. Looking over at the way they both wrote their words, I really can't help but feel like I know them… but it looks like I have to find that out myself. Tails typed out his first message.
Tails: It's been a while, are you two here?
ki: Obviously, where the hell do you think we'd go? -_-
Yu: Charming as always, isn't she? Good day, Tails.
Tails's eyes lit up after seeing their messages, "Alrighty! Things are running smoothly and we can converse now. Time to see what's changed for them…"
Tails: Has anything changed for you two? Anything at all?
Yu: Unfortunately not much worth mentioning. Only a few things have managed to happen since the last time we have spoken.
ki: I'll give you the deets first, since if she does it then you'll be left with a wall of text. I ain't gonna read all that, so I know you won't either.
Yu: Be sure not to leave any important details out, ki…
ki: Yeah, yeah… :/
The purple text, Yu, speaking so formally… the pink text, ki, speaking so casually… I fight the urge to ask Tails if I could talk to them for now. I shouldn't try to be so rude to interrupt, even if they are who I think they are. Just let them explain, Sayori, then ask politely…
"Sayori? Are you feeling well?" Dimitri asked me and snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Ah, sorry. I was just off in La-La Land right now, no need to worry! Ehehe~..." I laughed it off..
ki: Soooooo… we've been hearing some weird voices from all over the place. All the ones and zeros all around us? They begin to form into some weird glitchy faces… I don't know who they are, but they were all panicky. _
Faces? Like those numbers bundle together to form a person? It sounds like someone making clay figures or those street artists who draw big-headed portraits of customers… weird, very weird… ki continued while I began to imagine how these things look from their end.
Ray put his thumb and index finger on his chin as he leaned over Tails's shoulder.
"Ask them what these faces look like."
Tails raised an eyebrow at that, "Um… okay?"
Tails: What did those faces look like?
Yu: Well there were six of them, four of them were girls while two were boys. Their faces were too hard to make out, but the numbers and letters all over them formed into some kind of code. Here, allow me to type out what each of them said.
After about a minute we got a bunch of codes that I can't seem to wrap my head around. I know I'm not the sharpest pencil in the case, but it's just making me go…
"EHHH?!"
ULT-CODE: 3
ULT-CODE: YAMAMAYAA
ULT-CODE: FN-2187
ULT-CODE: G()D3$$
ULT-CODE: CR0aK
ULT-CODE: PQrK
ki: Can you understand any of this crap, Tails?
"Um… I might need to write all of these down." The fox said while whipping out a notebook.
Dimitri ponders as he looks at the screen, "These strange codes forming into silhouettes of people's faces… What could it possibly mean? Ugh, I wish I could manage to understand even a quarter of it, but these otherworldly machines and terms are just too… "
"You're not the only one, Dimitri. I'm a strategic genius back in my world, but here it's overwhelming by how advanced things are around here. It would take me a month or two for me to decipher those codes and figure out what they mean." Ray sighed.
I nodded in agreement. I could never think of solving anything like this, so it makes me all the more grateful we have someone like Tails here.
Tails: Okay, all written down! :)
ki: Thx ^^
Yu: Why are you using so many emoticons?
ki: It's a chatroom, might as well! :(
Yu: We are trapped in a location such as this and you are treating this communication outlet as a texting app? Can you get more childish?
ki: ;p
Yu: Why you little…
Oh no! They're starting to fight again, I see their messages going a mile a minute as they keep on insulting each other. I can't just sit back and watch this happen… I have to stop this… I went over and typed into the computer without another thought.
"S-Sayori, what are you—"
I leaned over Tails shoulder and typed out:
"YURI, NATSUKI! STOP FIGHTING NOW!"
At that moment, the two of them paused. Only the little dot-dot-dots that mean messages are loading. I gulped, and the boys in the room looked at me with confused faces.
ki: How… do you know our names?
Yu: Agreed, just who are you…?
I took a deep breath in… before answering them.
"It's me… Sayori."
…
…
…
The two of them didn't answer, they weren't even typing either. Everyone in the room was all tense, I clenched my fists and my eyes didn't break from the screen for a second. Were they shocked to hear it was me?
"Sayori, you know the names of these people? How? Dimitri questioned me and I nodded.
"Yeah, they're my fellow members of my Literature Club back home. Yuri, the soft spoken, but super smart tall girl… and Natsuki, the small, tsundere-like sweets maker of our group."
"Tsundere?" Ray tilted his head in confusion at that word, and so did Dimitri.
Maybe we can watch some anime with Konata to get them up to speed… oh! They're answering back.
ki: Sayori, is that really you? :/
Sayori: Yup! Unless you know other people named Sayori… do you? :O
Yu: Hm… why don't you tell us something that only Sayori would know…
Something only I would know, hm? I can think of two things that I want to say to both of them, and recalling the memories that they originated from… I smiled at the nostalgic feeling surging through me.
Sayori: Yuri, when we first met you and I read together. Even though I wasn't used to reading, it was fun just to see and learn what you liked about it. And after that, I helped you with poetry!
Yu: Oh my… that's…
ki: Okay wisegirl, what happened *we* met, huh? :/
Ehehe~, Natsuki's the same as ever…
Sayori: Okay Natsuki, around the time we first met you gave me a poem…
As soon as I typed that out, she interrupted me. I could tell she was blushing on the other end, hee hee.
ki: STOP! OKAY, OKAY, I KNOW IT'S YOU! D: Jeez… don't just say that kind of stuff when Yuri's here…
Yu: What kind of stuff?
ki: The kind of stuff that's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. :O
Tails softly chuckled, "Wow, they really are your friends! But if they're in there, why are you out here?"
"I can't answer something like that! I've got the attention span of a donut…" I shook my head.
I then looked up to see one more message being typed out.
ki: Wait, if you're out here… then where the hell is Mon—
*BZZZZZZZRRRRTTT!*
ERROR
"Huh? W-W-What the…"
The… screen just made a buzzing sound and displayed an error message before it shut off. What just happened?!
"Tails, can you get it working again?" Ray asked as Tails tried pressing the power button.
"N-No! It's not turning on anymore… come on, come on… we can't lose contact as soon as we get new info…"
"Tch… work you infernal piece of—"
*SMASH!*
"Ack…"
Insert Song: A Lonely Figure (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
All of our eyes were wide as Dimitri's fist caused the entire computer to fall apart. It didn't even look like a hard hit, more like when a snack you want gets stuck in the vending machine… I looked into his eyes and it was full of regret.
Ray yelled out, "What did you do?! You completely wrecked the damn thing!"
"... I didn't mean for this to happen… I only meant to tap it and… by the goddess, I'm so sorry…" The prince's head lowered as Ray began to walk away.
"Sorry isn't gonna cut it. We've lost so many lives now, and this could have been a way for us to at least move a little forward in our escape. You better start to think before you act on impulse like this, or else you won't be much of a leader."
Dimitri's fists clenched and unclenched constantly as I put my hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him.
"He doesn't mean that… and you were just as panicked as the rest of us. I'm sure that once you two talk things out you'll…"
Before I could finish he left the computer lab too. Tails and I both let out sighs as we slumped back into our chairs. I was so happy to properly talk to Yuri and Natsuki again, but then that error just had to happen. Just what was Natsuki about to say before she got cut off? I thought I saw some kind of name in that message, but I blinked and missed it.
Tails then gathered a bunch of parts in his arms and got up from his seat.
"Well… I'm glad I checked the cameras beforehand, if they saw Dimitri breaking school property like that then… it would have been bad, ha ha..."
I awkwardly laughed along with him, "Understatement of the year, ehehe~... um, so… What are you planning to do with those?"
Tails showed me the computer chip he got from the wreckage.
"I think using all these parts I can implement the communication feature into my new Miles Electric! That way we can communicate with Yu-ki—I mean Yuri and Natsuki without having to sneak in here… if we can get things working at least. I don't want to give up on seeing them again so soon after just learning their names!"
After hearing his explanation, my smile returned to my face. I believe that Tails can easily fix this, and knowing him he'll make the communication even better! I really just want to see my friends again, and who knows? Maybe MC is somewhere too… I miss him so much.
"Do your best, Tails! I know you'll fix it! After seeing that generator and those umbrellas you made, a little communicator gizmo should be a piece of cake!"
Tails blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his head, "Heh heh… I'm just doing my best for you all. Anyways, I gotta get to work on this pronto! See you later, Sayori, thanks for coming and figuring out who Yu and ki were!"
I waved goodbye to him as I walked him out the door to the library.
Hm… I still feel bad that things didn't go so well between Ray and Dimitri. His Princeliness in particular seems a bit more off recently, really can't help but worry… I'd hate to go and talk to either of them after that, but I still have some time left to myself. Not feeling tired just yet, maybe I can check out some of the books here!
Free Time Start
The campus library's just so huge that I'd be an old lady by the time I finished reading all of these books. Each shelf is filled to the brim with horror novels that Yuri would like, cute manga that Natsuki would love, and there's even some nice ones like this collection of classic fairy tale stories! I think I'll check this one out, don't mind if I do…
"Huh?"
I pull on the book, but it's just stuck in place. I tried pulling it again and it's like there's something pulling it back onto the shelf. Maybe one more time…?
"Come on, you… ahh!"
*Bonk!*
"Ow!"
My forehead collided with the shelf above the book and I fell on my butt, rubbing the bump I had.
"Ah, Sayori! I'm so sorry, are you hurt?" Minori peeked out from behind the shelf, while also holding the fairytale book.
"Ugh.. I'm good, no need to—agh… owie…"
Minori quickly walked up to me and looked it over, adjusting her glasses before heading off to grab something. A minute or so later she returned with a bottle of apple juice and handed it to me.
"Here, use this…"
*Gulp, gulp, gulp!*
I began to drink some of it before she placed her hand down on the bottle and repositioned it towards my forehead.
"Ehehe~... sorry."
I held up the cold bottle to my wound to slowly ease the pain while finally standing back up.
"Ahh, thanks Minori…"
"Be sure to put actual ice on it when you get back to your dorm, or in the diner if you feel like going somewhere closer."
The two of us sat down at the same table as she flipped open the book and began searching through the table of contents.
"So… you like fairy tales, hm? What are you searching for in there?"
"Well, I was looking for… this story right here."
She pointed to the page with The Little Mermaid on it and my eyes instantly lit up.
"I love this story! Ahh, I'd love to get the chance to reread it with you. You don't mind, don't you?"
Upon hearing that she cracked a smile and nodded, wow that's probably the first time I've seen her smile like this… or at all! Together we spent about almost an hour reading through it twice, just to see all the ins and outs of it. Minori explained some details that didn't make sense to me, and she even looked pretty happy to do it! It was so much fun to finally get the chance to read something nice, instead of those Monokuma Files…
"So Sayori, are you a big fan of reading as well? I haven't seen too many people go to the library that often, so it's usually just me in here."
I nodded very quickly at her question, "Heck yes! I'm the president of a literature club after all, I enjoy reading a bunch of fun stories that also have some bittersweet parts to them."
Her eyes slightly widened at that, "You're in a literature club? How… interesting."
Her voice started to slightly falter at that and I tilted my head a bit. I think I'll ask her a question next.
"I think you'd be a perfect fit for one! You like reading too so… hey, do you want to join my club? You could be an honorary member, since you're not in high school yet but we—"
She held her hand up in front of me before I could continue, "I'm… already in a club of my own, sorry…"
My shoulders slumped and I frowned disappointedly after hearing her answer.
"Ah, no, that's okay. I just thought that since you were so into reading it would be fun to have you around. But I guess it couldn't even happen anyways, since we're both from different worlds, ha…"
"Sayori…"
We were silent for a little, aside from me letting out a sigh or two, until she suddenly spoke up.
"... I was also in a literature club, but I left it for some personal reasons. I guess I'm still not ready to join another one so soon after starting to recover from leaving it, and I would prefer to only handle one club at a time anyways."
I lifted my head up from the table and leaned in closer to listen.
"I understand. There'd be too many responsibilities and you're probably having a lot of fun in the club you're in right now, aren't you?"
She softly smiles, "Definitely… the most I've had since I left. I owe it to the friends I made there for helping me."
That sounds wonderful, I'm glad that she had friends of her own to help her through her struggles. While I can't really ask about the reasons she had for leaving, I think I can ask her about something else I'm interested in.
"So what kind of club did you join?"
She hesitated to answer, "It's the… Tropical Club."
"Tropical Club?"
"We participate in a variety of tropical activities, like sand sculptures on a beach for example. It's hard to explain…"
I raised an eyebrow before asking another thing.
"Does it also include stuff like that shiny outfit you were wearing and fighting evil guys?"
She looked off to the side and awkwardly nodded, "That's a long story too…"
I softly giggled at her reactions, she's starting to be more emotive now! I think I'm really gonna get along with her more and more as time goes on.
"I'd love to hear more about it when you feel like sharing, you looked so cool out there! With your big kiwi lasers going pew pew! And those kicks you did like hi yah!"
Minori began to laugh at the sound effects I was making before nodding her head.
"It would be enjoyable to reminisce on how it all happened, for now maybe we should keep reading. There's still some time left in the day."
My eyes sparkled at her suggestion, "Yeah! Let's keep on reading!"
"Shh, we're in a library."
I quickly covered my mouth before we went back to exploring the bookshelves. After finding a few more books, reading a few chapters, and checking them out to read on our own time, we waved goodbye as we went back to our dorms. I finished the rest of the apple juice in that bottle and tossed it into the recycling bin before grabbing a small bag of ice from the fridge.
After nursing my head for a few minutes I made my way back to my room, it's nap time for me!
*BZZZZZZZ!*
Mm?
"Good afternoon, my wonderful students! I got your next motive in the oven and ready to serve, so come get it while it's hot and fresh! I'll be waiting for you all in the I.T. Zone! It's a real treat, puhuhuhuhu!"
Of course we can't wait at least a day without hearing from him… who was the one who let him cook anyways? Even if he's wearing that kinda cute chef's hat and apron, which is immediately made not cute because he's Mr. Big Dumb Meanie Murder Bear. I need to see what other adjectives I can add on because he deserves all that!
Oh well, I got up from my bed and put my shoes on before heading outside. Please let him actually be serving tasty stuff alongside the motive…
Like we said earlier, the link for the Free Time Poll is right here, peeps! (Poll only available on AO3 and Wattpad) the poll ends on July 31st, maybe earlier if we get a clear cut winner! And be sure to leave any questions you have for the Q&A, I will be taking any and all questions… NOT because I'm lonely, but because I'd love to see what you all are curious about. Even if you don't have any questions, leave a comment telling me what you liked if you want to! For now I'm gonna be working on the next RenAi chapter. I'll see you next time peeps, farewell!