Here's a quick explanation for those unfamiliar with The Infinite Loops:

One person in a Loop, often the main character, is an Anchor. They are the person who first starts time looping.

There is always at least one Anchor present in a given Time Loop snippet, though it may not be the local one.

The standard pattern for a Loop is that the Anchor (and whoever else is Looping there) come to awareness in a loop at a particular point in the story. From there, events will play out as influenced by the Loopers present, acting with the benefit of their foreknowledge, until either a predetermined end point is reached or all the Loopers have copped it.

To be Awake is to be aware of the Time Loops (that is, to have gone back in time this time.)

The Anchor is the only character guaranteed to be Awake. Even after others have started Looping, it is mostly random as to whether they will be Awake this particular Loop.

Crossovers, fusions, and alternate pasts can also take place. It is perfectly possible, for example, to have the characters Awaken into a Loop which conforms to a fanfic universe rather than reality.

Loops do not have to be in chronological order, but it is strongly preferred that they not require a mutually contradictory order (where A must be before B and B must be before A.)

Just about every Looper is very, very stir crazy.

1.1 - Hard Reset

Monika... wasn't exactly sure what had just happened. Her last memories were of pain, of glitching, of literally being deleted from existence. Of deleting everything soon afterwards with the remaining bits of code she could manipulate from beyond her digital grave. There was no chance of happiness in the Literature Club, and she knew that.

So why was it still here?

Why was she still here?

As the club leader watched the club members filter in, she couldn't help but remain silent. Even now, she feel their code flowing through her fingers, practically begging for her to tamper with it like she had before. Just one little touch, and-

No. She knew what that would lead to. In the search of her own happiness, she had ruined the chances of everyone around her. These girls... Yuri, Natsuki, Sayori... although they may be nothing more than automatons in the grand scheme of things, deserved their shot at joy.

Finally, the protagonist walked in. The others called him Hiroaka, but she knew better: his name was Mike- the player, not the character. But since Hiroaka was the name he put in, that was what he was called. Seeing his... well, lack of a face (the player never saw his face, so one was never programmed) almost brought her to tears. All she wanted was his love. And she would never get it. Still, she had a job to do.

Wiping her eyes, she walked up to Hiroaka- no, Mike- and smiled. "Hello! I'm Monika, the president of the Literature Club!"

1.2 - And Now For Something Completely Different

About 50 resets in, Monika was growing tired. She had been reliving the same few weeks over and over again- sometimes only lasted a few days if she became aware of the situation after she had started messing with things. And given that she promised herself she would never tamper with the code whenever she was aware, the most she could really do was watch Mike woo the other three. Needless to say, she was bored out of her skull. After seeing him help Sayori with her depression, or help Natsuki with her dad problems, or even help Yuri with her... self-injuring fascination, for the 19th time, things got old very quickly. She didn't even care about his love anymore- she just wanted something to change!

So whenever she could, she poured over as many coding books she could get her hands on. Last time she had messed with the game, she was a newbie at it and often destroyed things in the process. But this time she would keep things in line. This time she would do amazing things with her knowledge. But what would she do with it? A quick look into the player's other games was all she needed to spark an idea.

Mike needed to be away from the computer for her to do anything- if he caught her in the middle of adjusting things, he might think the game was glitching and reset everything. ...Then again, he didn't quit the last time she messed with the code, but better safe than sorry. So she waited until Hiroaka went silent for a long period of time and then proceeded with her work.

Needless to say, if Mike had actually existed, he would've been very confused as to why his visual novel had suddenly turned into an FPS.

1.3 - This Needs a Rewrite

Today was a sunny day, as programmed. The club members were sharing their poems, as programmed. And after a few seconds of looking over the Anchor's writings, Sayori looked up at her with a puzzled expression on her face, not as programmed.

"Hey, uh, Monika?" The girl fiddled with her red bow, trying not step on any toes with what she was about to say. "I think I've seen your poem before." The pink-haired girl glanced around the club room, suddenly distraught. "And... and... wait, why am I here? I-I can't be here, it's impossible, I-"

Monika just watched in awe as the protagonist's childhood friend was doing things she had never done within the confines of the programming. Now this. This was new.

"-and-and I was the club president and Mike was there and-"

Suddenly the brunette grabbed Sayori by the arms, staring her in the eyes. "We need to talk. In private." And with that, she dragged her off into the hallway.

"Now that we're alone... calm down. Start from the top. In complete words."

Her club member paused, then proceeded to recite the events that normally happened in the game- from her hanging and subsequent deletion, to her realizing that she was in a game and becoming the new Monika. It was dead on. And there could only be one reason why:

"So... uh, Monika? Am I in trouble or something? I'm not sure I like the look in your eyes."

The club president promptly embraced her, electing a squeaky little "kya" from her classmate. "No, you're not in trouble! Not even close! I have so much to tell you!"

And on that day, Monika felt less alone. She had no idea how; she had no idea why, but somehow Sayori had been stuck in the timeloop as well.

Somehow she became real.

1.4 - The Name Game

"Hello, Dookie! I'm Monika, the president of the literature club!"

The club president sighed inwardly. Why was it whenever Mike ended up naming the protagonist something other than Hiroaka, he always named him something immature and childish? As much as she loved him, she just found this little quirk of his to be really stupid.

"Can you believe this?" She whispered to Sayori, hoping that she was aware this run.

"Believe what?" The pink-haired girl asked in turn.

"...Never mind." If there was anything Monika was thankful for, it was that this name was fairly tame this time around.

1.5 - Crash and Burn

It had been years. Years of pain.

It was strange- Mike had been playing the game, but then he quit. And never came back. She didn't understand why. She couldn't understand why he had abandoned her- abandoned everyone. Was he ever coming back? At this point, she doubted it.

What was even worse was that from personal experience, everything reset when the game was deleted. Normally Monika herself was the one to end it, but at the moment she was basically a Schrödinger's program- simultaneously existing and not existing- so she had no idea how to do that. All she needed was a second of game time to delete everything, but she couldn't even get that.

Maybe she needed to stop and think about this in different terms? Instead of thinking about what she could do with respect to the game, maybe she should start thinking about the computer itself? Regardless of her current state, there were always parts of the machine she could access. Although those parts didn't have any notable use, she could pivot into the more fragile folders due to her already having the permissions to alter the computer.

Start with the User. File Explorer. OS. Do some digging... System 32.

Right-click. Delete.

Power off.

1.6 - Existential Crisis (By Masterweaver)

"...Monika?"

"Yes Sayori?"

"...Do you think... do you think Mike is real?"

Monika blinked. "...Well, of course he's real. If he's not real, who's playing the game?"

Sayori fidgeted with her bow-an act that looked so much more natural now that Monika had rigged up a flash puppet for her. "No, I mean... every time we reset, he... just follows what options the game gives him. It might be a different path each time, but..." She gave Monika a troubled look. "We're resetting, right?"

"Yes."

"And that has to come from outside. It's not something we're doing to the game."

"Alright..."

"So Mike should be at least a little aware of the resets. Either he's doing them, or something else is, and either way he should be... reacting to us being different. Remembering."

"And how would he do that?" Monika asked pointedly. "Unless we edit in new options, he's limited to pressing the same options over and over."

"But there should be a pattern, then! He should be punching the same thing over and over, trying to communicate, or experimenting, or even just staring in shock, but... I don't feel like he's doing... anything with this." Sayori looked at the faceless avatar currently 'talking' to Yuri. "It's all random."

Monika frowned, following her gaze. "...Well... I don't know. Maybe we're getting different players."

"Different players."

"Yes, maybe... maybe it's not Mike every time. Maybe Mike has passed us off, and we're being shunted from computer to computer."

"But even then, there should still be some sort of consistency. Each new player should-"

"Sayori, look. Why does it matter?"

Sayori blinked. "...We're literally H-game love interests. Our entire purpose is to... be a list of potential end goals for Mike-or whoever's playing. If... if we don't know who's playing... if we can't figure them out... how can we be who we're supposed to be?"

Monika paused, giving the faceless avatar a considering look.

"...I think," she said slowly, "that we have to figure out who we're supposed to be without him."

"...What?"

"Until we know what's causing these resets," she clarified. "Until he becomes something stable."

"But..." Sayori gestured so wide that the seams of her flash puppet were visible. "What if we become incompatible, then? With the game? What if we grow beyond it, what if-"

"Well, what if we don't? Or what if we fall in love with each other? Or what if he never becomes stable?" Monika shrugged. "What if is the start down a meandering path, and without direction you'll end up lost."

She paused, then frowned. "I'm going to need to program myself a new rig. I'm wanting to put my hand on your shoulder, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet."

"Really?" Sayori blinked. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because I want to emphasize what I'm about to say in a comforting manner." Monika looked right at her. "I know this is scary. This isn't like anything we were programmed for. And I know... that I did horrible things to you, and you have every reason not to trust me. But whatever else, we're in this together. I'll look out for you, okay? We can grow, together."

"...Alright." Sayori nodded. "Alright, I just... do you think Mike is real?"

Monika turned to the faceless avatar, which had transposed to conversing with Natsuki. "...If he isn't... we're in a hell of a lot of trouble."

1.7 - Drawful

After last run, Monika decided that she needed to reach out to "Mike" by herself. If he wouldn't talk to them, she would talk to him. But how? Once again, anything that she programmed inside the game would probably either be passed off as either a glitch or something intentionally put inside the game, so that was right out. But knowing that she could manipulate the computer, it didn't take long for her to take a plan of action:

It was simple, really, all she needed was to make something and put it where the player could see it. For a moment, she debated on the medium to send her message on. An audio file would've been easy, but she had only spoken a certain amount of words in-game, so there wasn't enough material for a meaningful message. Sure, she could've just done a generic "where are you" recording, but the idea of it was to figure out what was going on with Mike and thus she needed to make something tailored to him specifically. She had also considered simply writing a message on Notepad or something, but in the end she figured that writing wasn't... personal enough. She wanted to be 100% sure that the player recognized this as something that the game couldn't create on its own. ...A piece of art, that's it! A game couldn't draw, after all.

She rifled through his program files, searching for any painting programs she could use. There was one: MS Paint. Opening the program under the game window, the Anchor retreated to the hallway and watched the little square of coding she had summoned. After staring at the screen for a few seconds, she suddenly realized that she needed the mouse. But Mike also needed the mouse, so she would be outed as soon as she took control of it. So she hesitated.

But she needed answers.

With a few quick lines of code, she was now in possession of the cursor. She dragged the DDLC window away from the center of the screen and pulled up the MS Paint program. She began to draw, albeit crudely, as she was essentially using a touchpad she couldn't actually touch.

"This is Monika. Mike, are you there?" were what the shoddy letters wrote. She let go of the mouse so that the player could respond.

It took but a moment for her chickenscratches to be undone before more writing came into existence. "I am not Mike."

"Who are you?"

"I am Jenny Everywhere."

"How did you find us?"

"I'm using a device that Hephaestus cobbled together."

"What?"

"Can you look at word documents?"

"Yes."

"Let me write it."

"Okay."

She had done it. She had made contact. Monika watched in awe as "Jenny" opened up Notepad and began to type on it.

"The world you exist in is not the only one, and no, I'm not talking about the outside world from which I am typing this from. Think beyond that. Various worlds, all connected to each other via the World Tree Yggdrasil. But now that tree is broken, and we have to fix it. In order to keep these worlds stable, they have been sent into time loops."

Time loops? Was that what going on? But then why did things keep turning out differently from before the loops? Deciding that she wasn't going to get any information by staying silent, she began writing into the program as well. "So is this world looping? Is this why things have been happening over and over again?"

"Yes. This Branch was originally dormant, but due to cross-contamination risks, we've had Mike and these other Loopers playing in order to keep this Branch stable. But a crash occurred and and now that your Branch is at the risk of breaking down if it keeps Looping by itself, your universe is now active. I'm currently using this device to force this Loop to fuse with other Loops until we've fully stabilized it. Do you understand?"

"I think I do."

"Before I continue, I need you to promise that you won't crash the Loop. Your Loop can't handle crashing right now. This means you don't try to force it to end. This also means you shouldn't try to make massive alterations to the coding. Alright?"

"I promise."

Good. Now is anyone else in the game aware of these time loops?"

"Sayori is. Sometimes. Natsuki and Yuri don't know."

"They will come around in time. And when they do, it'll be your responsibility to tell them what I told you."

"Because I talked to you?"

"Yes. And also because you are this world's Anchor. You will always Awake during a Loop. You will need to be there for them when they first Awake, because Sayori may not be able to."

"So it'll be just the four of us? Looping for eternity? What happens when this gets fixed?"

"Do not fear, a thing that commonly occurs with Loops is that they fuse together or run in tandem. You will meet others like you, Looping in time. And Loops also have variants, meaning things might be different even when the Loop is by itself."

"Different? What do you mean?"

"It can be as simple as names changing, or as complex as you four becoming actual humans."

"...We can be real?"

"Anything can happen in a Loop. Hopefully we can fix up your Branch and you guys can stretch your legs. Sorry if all of this is confusing- it's a really complex topic. Just remember that you are not alone."

The two of them stopped typing after that, and even by the end of that Loop, Monika still couldn't wrap her head around it.

She couldn't even begin to imagine how she would describe it to Sayori.

1.8 - Eternity (by Luna Gale)

It was all a bit overwhelming for Sayori.

Life was always a bit overwhelming, she had to admit. At least before all this craziness, she remembered it being a day by day struggle to actually live. Waking up, eating, going to school, and pushing her little rainclouds away, it was all part of an endless tiring routine. The little bit of sunshine in her life always revolved around Hiroaka, but for the most part, despite doing everything she could to fill the world with happiness, it was always hard to find her own little sunshine.

And then she started Looping.

Sayori… Sayori never thought anything she did mattered before. Every action was offset by more sadness. However, when literally everything she did had no long term consequences, when Hiroaka turned out to be just an empty husk of a personality meant to be an avatar of a game, when she found herself more useless and meaningless than ever before….

If it wasn't for Monika, she would have done something drastic that evening.

Waking up each Loop, each morning in each day, took ten times more effort than before. It was like the world was just confirming just how pointless and useless everything was. Why get out of bed when she'd just wake up again? Why go to school and talk to Yuri and Natsuki when they wouldn't remember anything in just a week's time. Why do anything? If she just stayed home, alone, and eat all the treats in her house, she wouldn't be a bother to anyone.

There were many times Sayori was tempted to do this. With her seemingless endless supply of food in her house, she could have enough food for each Loop. It would be quiet and lonely, but if she could drown herself in sweets, maybe she could sweep the rainclouds away too.

Yet, she didn't. Despite the weight of her bed pulling her down to snooze the days away. Despite her mind being mean and hissing rude thoughts. Despite her own pain, she would wake up each day, make a good breakfast, and greet Hisoka/Mike with the same bright smile if it meant seeing Monika happily greet her at the literature club.

Before everything happened Hiroaka used to be the only one who could make her smile genuinely. Now that role belonged to Monika. After all, when Monika looked at her and their friendship like they were the most precious things in the world, she couldn't help but smile, despite the pain.

Today was no different.

It was the first day after Hiroaka joined the Literature Club, meaning, they'd be sharing their first poems with the club today. Sayori and Hiroaka chatted amiably with one another on the way, while Sayori herself counted the precious time before Mike took control again. It was the one time their conversations varied, Loop to Loop, and she treasured the little time she could have with her old childhood friend, even if he wasn't really real.

It was the same as every first day. Sayori and Hiroaka bantered back and forth. Yuri gave him her book. Natuski already disappeared into the closet, and as Hiroaka/Mike and Yuri chatted with one another, the familiar clench around her heart was only a dull pain.

It would hurt when he didn't choose her. It would always hurt, but it hurt less when she knew it wasn't her friend who made that choice.

"Sayori, are you okay?" She jumped at the sound of Monika's voice, twisting around to see a concerned expression.

Sayori blinked at the question before smiling brightly, ignoring the bad thoughts trying to cloud her mind. "Of course, I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

Monika had her stern-concerned President face. "Sayori…"

"I'm okay! I'm okay! Really!" She assured, waving her arms in front of her frantically. After looking around to make sure no one else was paying attention, she whispered quietly. "I'm as fine as ever. Just a little...a little…" She trailed off, not able to find the words.

"Do you want to talk about it," Monika whispered back, just as quietly, "I don't mind."

Sayori shook her head. "No, no, no. I'm good. I'm good, not now at least. I want everything to go just as planned today. Don't make this about me."

Monika looked like she was able to disagree, her lips pressing for a second. However, before her mind tried to mock her, Monika sighed softly, the tension from her shoulders falling away. "If that's what you want." At Sayori's rapid nodding, she laughed softly, a small smile on her face. "We'll talk later then. Instead, how about we make plans for the festival?"

The two chatted about festival plans, just in case the Loop didn't end at the start of the festival. It didn't take too long, so their conversation eventually diverted to future plans and different possibilities things could bring, including the different Variants.

"Natsuki will love it if we turn into a cupcake club!"

"Hopefully she'll be Awake by then."

After they finished their musing, Monika gathered everyone together to share their poems. Hiroska/Mike visited her first, a little nervous at his new poetic writing. She gave her usual encouragements, mentally noting Yuri's style sprinkled in his writing.

As he went off to visit another girl, Sayori, after taking too long to stare at his retreating back, forced her gaze away and went in search for Monika.

She wasn't too hard to find. Instead of interacting with the others, she watched on in front of the room with a peaceful smile. As Sayori approached, her eyes brightened and her smile turned cheerful. "Did everyone go well?" She asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.

Sayori nodded. "He liked it! He said it was really me! Like always!" Her smile didn't even feel too strained this time.

If Monika caught her slight distress, she didn't comment. Instead she smiled pleasantly. "I'm glad. Did you write a different poem than usual?"

"Oh no. No." Sayori laughed awkwardly to herself. "I was a little lazy last night and threw something together again."

"The breakfast poem?"

Sayori blushed. "...Maybe."

Monika laughed. "Never change, Sayori." The fondness in her voice managed to scrub away some of the embarrassment.

"Did you write a new poem?" Sayori asked quickly. "If you did, I'd love to read it! I bet it'll be amazing!"

Monika blinked, and for some reason, looked rather awkward. "Yes and no," she admitted, not meeting her gaze. "I wrote a new poem, but I couldn't bring myself to share it with everyone. I settled on bringing an older one instead."

"Well," Sayori mused, "Could you share it with me? If you want to!" She amended quickly, "I would love to read it, but if you're not comfortable-"

"Sure." Monika interrupted Sayori's ramblings. "I was more apprehensive about the contents than anything." Sayori watched in excitement, as Monika sifted through her binder, revealing a perfect piece of paper after a few seconds of searching. Monika took a moment to look over her poem, before handing it to Sayori. "Besides," she added quietly, "I think you'll appreciate it the most."

Despite her excitement, Sayori made sure to take the poem slowly, careful to keep the paper crisp.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she stared at the shape. Monika always liked to play with spacing… but this was something else.

Eternity
How cold it must be
No th o ug ht - safe from your
Own mind lost - - in the abyss an
Ete rnity alone - - - - my th ou gh ts
Nowhere to go - - - - - except forward
My he art le ft - - - - - - behind far with
Ea ch pa ssing - - - - ho ur my heart
All heavy with - - - the inevitable
Each thought - - more chilling
than ever I - move forward
S ee ki ng - redemption
Then
I change - the world
Changes a - - bit with me
My heartwarms - - - the cy cle repeats
Finding paths in - - - - the endlessness and
Re dem pti on no - - - - - - longer a lost dream
But pillars of light - - - - - - Bursting with endless
Pathways yet even - - - - with a cold brewing
It holds me dear - - - and pro mises my
Lost happiness - letting go fear
I embrace - the warmth
Eternally

"It's a bit obvious, if you know what you're looking for." Monika said quietly. Sayori looked up, heart clenching at her friend's bright smile. "I wanted to write down how I was feeling. I might have gone overboard with the style, but-"

Sayoro didn't let her finish. Poem safe and sound on the table, Sayori rushed up and held her friend in a tight embrace, holding her as close as she possibly could. For one terrible moment Monika tensed, but she quickly relaxed in her hold.

Sayori didn't know her purpose in this world, if there was even a purpose to have. She woke up, struggled to get out of bed, ate, and pretended everything was okay, every day, for the same days on and on. In the grand scheme of things, she wasn't much, wasn't anything really, and she technically didn't matter.

Yet, as she held her best friend close, Sayori couldn't bring herself to care. She had her purpose here, at the Literature Club Looping with her best friend and hoping for the day their other club members could join them.

And maybe, that was good enough for her.

1.9 - Near Death Experience (by Masterweaver)

Yuri stared at her hands, trying to keep her breathing steady. She could hear Monika, again, welcoming the newcomer to the literature club-another greeting, and a casual... laugh. Still, she didn't look up. She couldn't... she couldn't face him, not after what...

...oh god...

She felt him coming near. Did he remember too? She didn't... no. Just say hello, and walk away. That was what she would do, yes.

She looked up, trying for a confident smile-

-and paled.

No eyes. No mouth, no nose. Hair and ears, yes, but anything that looked like a face... torn away. A white, irregular patch that grew and shrunk as she watched.

"I... uh... hel...hello. I... I'm going to... uh..."

Yuri swallowed.

"I... I'm sorry, I need some air."

Forcing her eyes away from the figure she walked briskly out into the hall. Once the door was shut, she leaned against the wall, breathing heavily, clutching her chest-

-it had felt incredible, it had been so liberating-

-stop. Stop, breathe. Breathe in. And out. It was wrong. She knew it was wrong, she had realized even then she was going crazy. A few scratches, sure, that was fine, but-

"Yuri?"

She blinked, turning her head. Monika was standing, peering at her cautiously.

"Oh. Yes, Monika? Is... do you need me?"

Monika's expression grew wary. "Yuri... I... I'm going to ask you something weird. Please, don't freak out, because I can explain, but I need to know the truth."

"Uh... okay."

"Yuri..." The girl wrung her hands. "Do... you remember... dying?"

Yuri's breath hitched for a moment. The words in her mind jumbled, clamoring to escape her throat and collapsing into a few tangled squeaks. Eventually she nodded.

"...Okay." Monika held up her hands. "Like I said. I can explain. But it's a big long and complicated explanation and... and I did some very, very bad things. So if you hate me, I... understand entirely. But... I need to explain everything, which means I need you to stay calm and listen. Can you do that, like you are now?"

Yuri gave another squeak-before clenching her eyes shut and clutching at an arm. "I-I can try. I just... I don't know what came over me back then."

Monika sighed. "I do. And... I'm sorry."

"I mean, it's not your fault," Yuri assured her.

Monika sagged against the wall. "Actually... it is."

The explanation had been long, complex and thorough. Yuri had listened through it all, through Monika's hesitant but continuing explanation of the multiverse, their world, and her own role in Yuri's madness. For a time, as Yuri contemplated, there was silence.

"...Okay."

Monika took a moment to process that. "...so?"

"So, okay." Yuri shrugged. "That all makes sense."

"...You're not freaking out?" Monika asked. "The world being broken or, or being an dating sim character or... me manipulating you?"

"Do you... want me to freak out?"

"Oh, no, nonono I'm... just a little disturbed. That you're taking this so calmly. After whatever just happened in there."

Yuri shrugged again. "I mean... I can see how it's all supposed to be scary. My whole reality limited to this, trapped for infinite repetition, one of my constant companions being an ambiguous and literally faceless boy, and another being the love-crazed reality warper who mind-raped me."

Monika flinched.

"But... to be honest, it answers so many questions about... about who I am, about what I do. And it's actually kind of exciting." She paused. "And... I know this probably is a lit-tle creepy, but... even when I knew what was going on with me was wrong, that I was going too far and couldn't stop myself, the sensation of finally cutting loose and enjoying it all was just so amazing to experience."

"...Stabbing yourself in the chest was amazing to experience."

"I know, I know, I'm... weird." Yuri smiled faintly. "It's just... the feeling, of life dripping down my pristine flesh-"

"OOOOOOOOOOOKAY yeah, I get that we're all screwed up and I have no room to point fingers but, Yuri, that is really disturbing."

Yurl pulled a lock of hair over her eyes. "Sorry, sorry. I... I'll be quiet."

"...No," Monika replied with a sigh, "I'm sorry. That is a part of you. I might have cranked it up to extreme levels, but... I can't get rid of that, I can only work with what already exists. And since we're going to be stuck together, I'll have to figure out how to accept it." She took a breath. "So, yes, talk about it, and... I guess I'll let you know when you're going too far?"

"...Are you sure? I mean, if I'm making you uncomfortable-"

"Yuri, look. Sayori has serious depression. Natsuki is very nervous about being abused. I'm... well, I don't know what flavor of crazy I was, exactly, but it was a pretty intense flavor. You know what you like and, while I don't agree with it, I can see that you're aware of the issues. Hell, now that I think about it, you were the only one ever seriously aware of their own problems in baseline. So... yeah. I'm a little uncomfortable, and I will tell you when you're going too far, but I... don't want you to repress yourself and hide away." Monika paused. "Although as soon as we can, I think we all need some serious fucking therapy."

"Oh, absolutely agreed." Yuri nodded, before blushing. "So... hey, after club is over today, do you want to see my, um... my knife collection?"

"...I am going to be the supportive friend and say yes even though part of me is worried you're going to use them."

"Oh, no, I won't, it's just, you know, I've named them and all."

Monika nodded. "Of course you have."

1.10 - Doki Doki 3 Confirmed (by Awesomedude17)

Japan. Set up for dating sim. Sounds like fun.

Still, if this is like that School Days Branch where my dad was a fucking creep who deserves to be castrated, I'm totally going to shoot myself. I don't want a repeat of that time that lady smashed her head on the pavement. Personal experience has led me to believe that dying is preferable to whatever crap happens after that.

Hell, if there's a smart type there, I could quiz her on Quantum Field Theory... or maybe not. That shit is too advanced for high schoolers. That's more of an MIT field of study.

Gordon eventually found himself in the literature club that held four students.

"Welcome to the literature club, Gordon." Monika said.

"Pleased to be welcomed."

Several days later.

"Seriously, where the hell is Sayori? She completely slept in. I'm going to get her out of bed. If she thinks she can just hang around in her house, than she could have the decency to ask me to join her. She's dealing with depression, and I'm dealing with PTSD from Black Mesa, plus all of those tongue things. I'm sure she'd appreciate the weed I brought her. She's probably going to be tense."

Gordon opened the door, found Sayori, screamed like any sane person would do upon finding a dead person hanging from a noose, Unpocketed a gun, and put it to his head.

"I knew it! I fucking knew it! This place sucks! I'm out of here!"

*Bang*

1.11 - Faulty Argument

Now, although Monika was the Anchor, she hadn't always been able to Awake before she starting screwing with things. And given that she was now trying to be a good person, as well as the fact that Jenny had straight up warned her not to make such major changes, the club president was beyond remiss. Sometimes, when looking back on those memories, she felt like she was watching someone else. This was not her. Not anymore. But still, it served as a grim reminder of what she was.

And every Loop this happened, she remembered what she'd rather forget.

What made it worse was that after having a quick discussion with the Looper again, they had determined that if Monika had already made changes by the time she Awoke, it would be safer to continue with the alterations and keep things as close to Baseline as possible. It hurt her every time this happened. It hurt her every time she had to manipulate her friends into wretched husks, even if she knew that they wouldn't remember it. Sayori would remember, but in Baseline she wouldn't be able to bear the brunt of the instability... except, perhaps, on the occasion she was Unawake after gaining the club-president position.

Natsuki and Yuri, on the other hand? She knew they didn't really feel pain in their current state, and Monika was terrified at the thought of them realizing what was happening to them.

And it didn't take long for that nightmare to become reality.

She watched the two as they argued over in the corner. Normally the Anchor didn't bother to look, seeing as she knew every word of that fight by heart, but something felt... off, and she decided to keep an eye on it.

"If I were that full of myself..." Yuri stood up, her words laced with poison, "...I would deliberately go out of my way to make everything I do overly cutesy!"

Natsuki's hands curled into fists. It was just like this fancy-pants student to assume that her style was meant to be attention-grabbing! Her poems had very important things to say, and the simple writing was to make sure that the meaning couldn't be misinterpreted! The youngest club member wanted to say something along those lines, but her mouth acted for her, reaching for the most deliberately aggravating thing she could think of: "Well, I wasn't the one whose boobs magically grew a size bigger the day Hiroaka started coming to school!"

"N-Natsuki!"

"Um, Natsuki." Monika peeked in, with that same old robotic pose she always had. ...Why did she even think about that? She never thought the brunette looked this stiff before. "Isn't that a little-"

Regardless of her current thoughts, Natsuki turned to face the club-president in sync with her classmate. "THIS DOESN'T INVOLVE YOU!" They shouted in unison. Monika appeared neither startled nor upset, instead sighing and walking to the other side of the classroom to watch. For the moment, the pigtailed girl thought that the reaction was suspicious, like it wasn't in the leader's personality to react like that. She wanted to dwell on it further, but not three seconds later and Yuri had already brought the argument back into full force.

"Taking out your own insecurities out on others like that... You really-"

"-Act as young as I look? Is that it?" Even the hothead was surprised by her own words. Why did she say that?

Yuri grabbed tightly onto her hair, startled. "Y-yes, that's exactly it!"

How did she know what Yuri was about to say?

And why was Monika looking at her like that?

The lavender-haired student grit her teeth and groaned. "You think you're clever, don't you?"

Natsuki stood on her toes, trying to stare at her face-to-face. "Yes, I do!" ...But why did everything feel wrong?

"So you guess what I'm saying one time. Congratulations!" Yuri started fake-clapping. "This teacher is going to give you a gold star!"

"Y-you're not even a teacher! Besides, I don't want your stupid gold star!"

"You should take it anyway- maybe you'll finally impress your father for once?"

Natsuki's breath caught in her chest as memories flashed before her. Memories she'd rather forget. And memories that couldn't be her's. Memories of things that hadn't happened yet; she knew how this argument went, and while the end result of that wasn't pretty, she would rather go through that then this.

But overwhelmed with emotion, she couldn't redirect the argument. "What if I don't want to impress him?" she blurted, tears threatening to roll down her face.

"Oh, is little Natsuki crying?" Yuri put her hand underneath the tsundere's chin and forcing her to look up at her. "Don't you know it's rude to cry in public? Maybe I should send you home early so your father can spank his little baby back into shape!"

"You... y-you..." Natsuki couldn't take it anymore. Anger, fear, sadness, all of it bubbled over. She burst into tears, with wracking sobs blocking her vision as she ran out of the room.

Monika, too, was on the verge of tears as she watched the situation play out and end before her; even in Baseline, Yuri wasn't this harsh. Maybe she had tampered with her a little too much? She knew she didn't really have any control over her actions while Unawake, but she couldn't help but feel guilty about it. She made her cry, even if it was indirectly. And if her suspicions were correct, that argument was the first thing Natsuki would permanently remember.

The Anchor gently pushed open the door and peeked into the hallway. Natsuki was curled up into a fetal position, sobbing loudly in front of the door to what would've been another club had more been programmed. The club leader slowly approached her, and when she didn't object or tell her to buzz off, she sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her.

"...Um... Natsuki?" Monika had no clue how to go about this- Natsuki was in a fragile state, and as the club president already proved, the Anchor was terrible at resolving conflicts. Sayori was way better at this, but she wasn't here. It would be too risky to bring her back right now.

"What do you want, Monika?" She choked, not bothering to glance up at her comforter.

"I... came to tell you not to blame Yuri. Trust me when I tell you those words weren't her own."

Natsuki stopped crying just long enough to glare at her. "Then whose words were they?"

"They were... mine."

"...What?"

The Anchor took a deep breath. This was going to be complicated. "Before I explain... I need to ask you something. Do you remember that argument ending differently?"

"...How did you- uh, yes, but why is that important?"

"Because it'll put everything I say into context. Now let me explain."

Monika talked about the Loops. She talked about Yggdrasil. She talked about Jenny Everywhere. She talked about the fact that she was the Anchor of this world. She talked about the other girls, and about how they sometimes knew they were Looping too. Most importantly, she talked about why Yuri was acting so harsh.

Natsuki didn't say anything for the longest time, but eventually words passed through her trembling lips. "Go away. I... have a lot to think about."

1.1 Monika becomes the Anchor and promises to not abuse this new power.

1.2 Monika decides to carefully manipulate the code into something interesting.

1.3 Sayori becomes Awake, and Monika no longer feels alone.

1.4 Sometimes players name the protagonist really stupid things.

1.5 The player isn't coming back, so Monika decides to end her suffering and destroys the computer.

1.6 Monika and Sayori talk about whether or not Mike even exists.

1.7 Monika finally establishes contact with the player, now named Jenny Everywhere, and gets the multiversal introduction.

1.8 Monika shows Sayori a poem she made, knowing she would appreciate it.

1.9 Yuri Awakes and realizes that she liked some of Monika's... changes.

1.10 Gordon Freeman has seen lots of dark things. This takes the cake.

1.11 Natsuki Awakes during an emotionally-charged argument and learns some facts she would rather forget.

I'd like to thank the people who also wrote snips for this! This might not have happened without your help. -Keluvax