Script

As soon as classes ended that afternoon, Monika made her way over to the clubroom. She navigated the familiar steps through the halls of the old building pensively as she listened to the echo of her own footsteps.

It would have been so much easier to bring up the console commands and render herself into the clubroom, Monika thought. However, both she and Sayori promised each other to only use the commands when they absolutely had to. The two of them were trying to restore their daily lives, after all - and walking to the clubroom was a part of it.

That sense of normalcy she sought was why Monika decided to come back in the first place.

Monika reached the clubroom doors before long and she saw that it was already open. The Vice President stepped inside and saw Sayori going around the classroom to tidy up. All the while, she was humming the tune of 'Your Reality'.

Sayori noticed the Vice President poking her head into the classroom and then turned to her with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Monika!"

As soon as she said this, the .ogg file for Sayori's version of 'Okay, Everyone!' started to play. Monika returned the smile and greeted,

"Good afternoon too, Sayori. I see you've been practicing with the sound files. That transition just now was good!"

Sayori shyly joined her pointer fingers together and asked,

"Ahehe, you think so? Thank goodness!"

"Practice makes perfect, Sayori! At this rate, I think you'll be able to run Chapter 2 - and the rest of the chapters without a hitch!"

"I sure hope so! This is the first time we're exchanging poems with the rest of the Club, so I'm a little nervous. Who knows what'll happen when we start sharing with the others."

That was right, Monika thought.

They restored the poem game as best as they could and then used that to generate themes for their poems. The Player was already long gone, after all, and someone had to play the game and move the story forward. Monika and Sayori were going to be those people, but neither of them knew for sure if it was going to be a success.

Despite that, Monika shored up her courage and gently patted Sayori on the shoulder and said,

"It'll be a learning experience for the both of us, Sayori. I'll be here to help you out too so don't worry!"

Sayori brightened up and managed to put on a confident smile as she said,

"Thanks Monika. I'll be in your care again today~!"

As they were speaking, the petite, pink-haired figure of Natsuki eagerly marched into the clubroom and started rummaging through the closet. Not long afterwards, the tall, beautiful figure of Yuri entered the classroom and she quietly found a seat at the far corner of the room where she began to read.

Natsuki and Yuri were doing their own thing again as usual, Monika hummed. The two of them were still following the original script by the letter. Monika and Sayori, on the other hand, have already long since broken off from the original script.

Sayori then thought out loud,

"I wonder if the Chapter 2 events will still trigger. The story normally would have progressed depending on the words in Protagonist's poem, but the Player isn't here anymore to choose for him anymore."

Monika thoughtfully hummed. Then, a crafty smile grew on her lips as she said,

"Why don't we try this, then? Let me help you with your blazer."

The Vice President then reached over to Sayori's open blazer and then started trying to button it down.

"H-hey, Monika!"

"Come on, Sayori. It's worth a try~!"

As Monika buttoned up Sayori's blazer, Sayori's Chapter 2 CG came into view. The Vice President then triumphantly beamed,

"Ahaha~ it triggered!"

Sayori was flustered at first, but she noticed the CG as well and said,

"I-it actually worked. We can trigger events like this too, huh?"

"Looks like it!"

"B-but we don't have to worry about my events, Monika. I'm already sentient!"

"I know, I know. But..."

"But what?"

"The Player had a really good view of you in this CG, Sayori. You look really cute in this angle - i'm kinda jealous!"

Sayori's face flushed red as she groaned,

"M-Monikaaa~! You're having too much fun with this!"

Monika promptly let go of Sayori's blazer and the CG faded back to the classroom scene. The Vice President quickly apologized,

"Ahahaha~ sorry about that!"

Sayori raised up her clenched fists and pouted as she said,

"You meanie~!"

Moments later, the soundtrack changed to 'Ohayou, Sayori!' and the President beamed at Monika. All was forgiven, it seemed.

Just as the President and Vice President made amends, Natsuki stiffly approached Sayori. The pink-haired girl had her copy of Parfait Girls Volume 1 in her hands.

Natsuki's face was flushed and she kept her eyes away from Sayori as she said,

"T-thanks for letting me keep my manga in the clubroom, Sayori. Here's the manga I promised to lend you."

"Oh my! T-thanks for this, Natsuki."

Monika put a hand on her hip and hummed. It seems that Sayori triggered Natsuki's event when she wrote her poem, Monika thought.

However, as Natsuki and Sayori were talking, Yuri joined in on the conversation as well. The tall beauty also had a book of her own with her - The Portrait of Markov.

Yuri sheepishly fidgeted around for a moment before she finally spoke,

"Uhm… Sayori. I… also wanted to thank you… for talking to the teacher about my tea set. To show my appreciation, I wanted to lend you a book too."

No way, Monika thought. Sayori triggered Natsuki's and Yuri's events at once!

Monika then chuckled. She recalled how the words that appealed to Sayori in the poem game were words that also appealed to either Natsuki and Yuri. Knowing Sayori, she would have probably chosen her words that Natsuki and Yuri liked equally.

Still, Monika couldn't imagine being in the same situation as Sayori. She would have been rather flustered. Monika wasn't exactly good at dealing with other people after all. Sayori, on the other hand, took the turn of events in stride.

Sayori clapped her hands and happily suggested,

"I know! Why don't the three of us read together? We can have some tea too while we're at it!"

Natsuki cautiously tilted her head and Yuri hid behind her book, but Sayori gently insisted,

"C'mon, it'll be fun~!"

Before long, Natsuki agreed and Yuri followed suit. Sayori cheered and then excused herself from Monika.

"I'll leave the rest to you for now, Monika. Call us to share poems when the Protagonist gets here."

Monika nodded and she watched as Sayori sat together with Yuri and Natsuki at the desks.

Yeah. There was no way that she would have been able to handle that situation that gracefully, Monika thought. Sayori had everything under control - and she didn't even have to use console commands.

Out of everyone else in the Literature Club, Monika always considered Sayori as her biggest rival when it came to reaching through to the Player's heart. Now that the Player was gone, Monika couldn't help but to see the cheerful bundle of sunshine with admiration.

As Monika was lost in her thoughts, a fifth figure approached her from the side and said,

"Sayori's pretty amazing, huh?"

Monika was caught by surprise. She turned around and then saw the nameless Protagonist there. He was still the same placeholder character that he had been in the game and his sprite was just something that Monika and Sayori put together from one of Sayori's CGs. Neither she nor Sayori made any changes to the Protagonist's scripting since they hardly knew anything about the Player that he was supposed to represent.

However, Monika didn't recall seeing the Protagonist's latest comment in the script at all. He wasn't supposed to have snuck up on her either.

Was the Protagonist breaking from the script?

Monika took a quick breath and decided to humor him. She wanted to see where this deviation went, so she replied,

"That's why Sayori's the Club President. The role really suits her."

That was why Monika chose Sayori to be her Vice President too in the first place, but she kept that thought to herself.

The Protagonist took some time to think but he soon nodded in agreement as he continued,

"Sayori has been my childhood friend for a long time. The two of us have been taking care of each other, but I worried about her sometimes. She's an airhead after all - and she thinks of others a bit too much for her own good."

The Protagonist then folded his arms as he turned to Sayori, Natsuki and Yuri and said,

"Seeing Sayori here being happy with everyone, though - I probably shouldn't have worried too much about her. She's changed ever since she made this club, and that's probably a good thing."

Monika nodded and said,

"She's still as happy-go-lucky as I remember her, but she has definitely matured. She's much stronger than she looks now."

"I know, right? Sayori has always been precious to me, but it seems she's precious to everyone else in this club as well."

Monika agreed with the Protagonist's words. However, she was trying to figure out whose words they were. The Protagonist was breaking script and he seemed to be much less dense than he was written out to be.

The Player was long gone, wasn't he? Monika couldn't sense anything anymore though the 'Hole in the Wall'. Sayori didn't seem to notice anything either.

Who was speaking through the Protagonist?

Before Monika could say anything, the motivated expression on the Protagonist's face fizzled away into a blank stare - the same kind of stare that he had during his many inner monologues.

Monika brought out her notepad and checked the game history. The protagonist was going through his Chapter 2 monologues as if nothing had happened.

However, there was no trace of the Protagonist's off-script words at all.

It made Monika wonder. Was there another 'script' that she and Sayori weren't seeing?

She couldn't have been imagining things, could she?

To Be Continued