05

"And... there!" Monika slotted the last of her Sayori pieces into place. "She's coming together quite nicely."

"Yeah, but we're still missing a lot. Speaking of a lot..." Yuri turned to the large piece that had been set aside. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Huh...?" Monika looked over at the piece. "Oh! Right! Yeah, I found the last piece of Natsuki. It had already split in 2, but I was able to put it back together out there before I came back." She sighed and lowered her head. "I'm really going to have to pick up the pace with Sayori..."

"Don't overexert yourself," Yuri warned, "you don't want to end up getting lost out there..."

"Heh, yeah..." Monika did not sound convinced in the slightest. "Anyways, I'm gonna put her back together, but then I've gotta go out."

"But it's only been three weeks..." Yuri sounded concerned, as per usual. "You need your rest."

"I need to get Sayori back," Monika corrected. "Resting can come later."

"Alright, if you say so..." Yuri was not particularly in a position to argue, as much as she knew Monika was in the wrong. After all, it wasn't like she could go out in search of Sayori. If only someone else could...

Monika placed the final piece in Natsuki's character file before placing it in the characters folder like she had done for Yuri. One last command and...

Natsuki landed in the teacher's chair with a small bop, taking a moment to orient herself. "Oh man, did I pass out in class again?"

Yuri looked at Monika quizzically, but the president shrugged at her before answering Natsuki. "No, you fell asleep during club. You looked like you needed it, so I just let you sleep."

Natsuki got out of the chair and walked over to the back windows. "Geez, how long was I out? It's pitch black outside!" She suddenly panicked. "What if Papa—"

"Relax, everything will be fine." Monika spoke with an authority only a club president could muster. "I'll explain it to him myself if I have to."

Yuri was confused, but then she thought about it for a second; yes, Natsuki's dad didn't exist, but that didn't particularly matter to Natsuki at this present moment. She was worried what he would think of her not coming home. Like he was even home. Like her home was even a place that existed. She shook those thoughts away; the clubroom was home now. "Yeah, I'm sure it won't be a problem..."

"Come to think of it," Natsuki asked, "why are we still here? It's gotta be, like, midnight by now."

"Well..." Monika hadn't prepared to answer a question like that, as Yuri could obviously tell.

"The school authorized a sleepover..." Yuri was quick to respond in Monika's stead. "They've authorized a couple things recently..."

"...Yeah!" Monika was quick to grasp the straw Yuri had given her. "They even let me replace the closet with a little addition. It's got a kitchen and everything!"

"They... let you replace the closet? But what about the teacher?"

Monika and Yuri looked at each other. Once again, Yuri's overactive imagination had to come to Monika's rescue. "She retired yesterday. The school decided to let us keep the room for the time being. I think they're planning on making it into a Home Economics room after we graduate."

"...Yeah, she's right." Monika didn't really have anything to add. "I heard the Home Ec rumor too."

"Huh. Strange." Both Monika and Yuri could tell Natsuki wasn't really buying it, but they had at least convinced her enough to where she would stop asking questions.

"Anyways—" Monika interjected before Natsuki could change her mind on the whole not-asking-questions thing. "Let me show you around!"

Monika gave Natsuki the full tour, before getting ready to head out. "I'm gonna pick up some more snacks at the store. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Alright," Natsuki shrugged. "I guess Yuri and I can make cupcakes or something."

"Ah—" Yuri interjected. "I didn't agree to that..."

"I mean, do you not want to?" Natsuki's eyes betrayed a small amount of disappointment. "It's fine if you don't, I guess. I can just make the cupcakes myself..."

"Uuuu...." Yuri was not happy about being put in this situation. She supposed it wouldn't kill her to make cupcakes with Natsuki, even if she hadn't the foggiest idea of how to do it. "I'll help, I guess..."

Natsuki's eyes lit up. "Great! First, we need to get some flour, baking powder, and salt."

"It's all in there; I made sure to get stuff for cupcakes last time I went out." Monika smiled. "You two have fun, I'll be back in a few hours."

Dear Diary,

Natsuki's Sunday exclusive wasn't lying, baking cupcakes is a really messy task. Within a matter of minutes of us starting the process, the kitchen was absolutely covered in dirty dishes and spilled ingredients. (I may have helped with that a little; cracking an egg is more difficult than it looks...)

She watched my every move, coaching me on how to make the perfect cupcake batter and icing. She did her fair share of the work, too, but a lot of the time was spent teaching me how to do things she already understood fully. Had I not gotten myself involved, she probably could have gotten the cupcakes done in a quarter of the time.

Still, I must admit, eating cupcakes that you helped make is a feeling that I can't even begin to think of a match for. Something about "enjoying the fruits of your labors"... We ended up making around 24 cupcakes; Natsuki and I both decided 24 was a good number to stop at, since that would let each of us have 8 cupcakes before we'd have to make more.

"So, Yuri..." Natsuki spoke up. "When do you think Monika will be getting back?"

Yuri looked up from her diary. "Well, she did say a few hours... usually, a trip to the store takes her about 4 hours, and it's been..." She checked the clock. "...about 4 hours. She should be coming back sometime soon."

"Alright..." Natsuki sat for a second before continuing. "So they just... let Monika build an addition where the closet was?"

"...Believe me, I was surprised too..."

"...Wait a minute, I was in the closet yesterday!"

Yuri thought for a second. "...You've been out for a while." It wasn't wrong; Natsuki had been gone for a while, and the addition had been constructed while she was gone.

"Still, a whole hall and kitchen? I know I was passed out, but I'd notice if I was in the middle of a construction zone."

"You were so sound asleep, I doubt you would have woken up to a nuclear bomb..." Again, not a lie, per se, as long as you accepted "unconscious in the void" as "sound asleep". "I had to carry you over to the teacher's chair." Alright, that one was a lie; even if you accepted the exceedingly strenuous twisting of words that Yuri had been engaging in during this conversation, Monika had been the one to respawn Natsuki.

"C'mon, I'm not that heavy of a sleeper..." Natsuki pouted. "How much longer do you think Monika will take?"

As Yuri was about to answer, she heard the telltale thud of Monika collapsing into her bed. "I believe that's her." Natsuki started to get up, but Yuri stopped her. "Let me go talk to her first; she might be a bit tired."

As it stood, Monika had only barely managed to land on her bed. Scattered along the ground were dropped pieces of Sayori, which Yuri quickly gathered and put under the bed. "Is everything alright, Monika?"

Monika groaned. "I feel like I just ran a marathon with no water."

"...So the usual?"

Monika paused for a second before chuckling. "Yeah, I guess, the usual." She rolled over to face Yuri. "So, what do you need?"

"Well..." Yuri fidgeted; how could she phrase this? "Natsuki asks a lot of questions. S-She was already a bit suspicious before we started trying to convince her you put an addition in where the closet was... when her last memory is her in that closet."

"That's... not right, though," Monika reasoned, "her last memory should be in the hallway outside the clubroom when she was... well... y'know..."

"M-Maybe she's blocking that whole day out of her memory?" Yuri took a second to gather her thoughts. "I know if I experienced something as traumatic as what happened that Monday, I certainly wouldn't want to remember it..."

"Still, that would leave her last memory as..." Monika paged through the history, looking for the last non-Monday scene Natsuki was a part of. "...her and I leaving on Friday."

Yuri shook her head resolutely. "I think we're overthinking it. We told her she fell asleep during club, she probably just assumed she fell asleep in the closet since that's usually where she goes during club activities."

"Fair enough." Monika rolled over; spending that long in the void really was a pain. "So she's asking a lot of questions, some of which you don't have answers for..."

Yuri hesitated; she was just going to have to say it. "...so I'd like to... give her the ability to know what she wants to know."

Monika was startled. "You're absolutely sure? Positive?" She thought back to when Yuri was given the admin role. "Because once you do it, you just... can't take it back; it's a one way ticket, becoming self-aware."

"Unless you know of another way to get her to stop asking questions..." Yuri rubbed her hands together, trying desperately to soothe herself. "...Or if you'd want to answer her questions yourself..."

Monika sighed; she knew Natsuki could be inquisitive, and even with Yuri being just as self-aware as herself, Monika knew Yuri didn't have all the answers Natsuki would want. Sure, Yuri's imagination could smooth over some of the cracks in the story, but who knew how long that could hold up to Natsuki's unrelenting questioning? It was only a matter of time before Natsuki figured out something was amiss; still, Monika wasn't sure she wanted to rip the bandage off, considering how poorly Yuri herself had taken it. "...I think we should ask Natsuki before we do something so drastic to her."

"I guess that would be proper... Do you want to talk to her tonight or tomorrow?"

Monika thought it over for a second before responding. "...I guess we should get it over with. Let me get some water first." She opened the console and typed:

A large jug of water spawned and fell into the teacher's chair. Yuri retrieved the jug and gave it to Monika, who drank the whole thing in one go before giving it back to Yuri. "That feels much better." She gestured vaguely in the direction of the fourth wall. "Just toss the jug into the void; it'll get garbage collected eventually."

Yuri did as Monika commanded, tossing the jug into the void from a distance— remembering her own misfortune with getting too close— and was amazed to see the jug almost immediately get torn to shreds, as the stray bits flying around broke it into many tiny pieces until there was no discerning what had been the jug and what had been in the void to begin with. As if she didn't have enough of a reason to be worried for Monika's health... Shaking that thought away, Yuri opened the closet door and turned to Natsuki. "Monika's not feeling too well, but she'd like to talk to you..."

"Alright." Natsuki got up and followed Yuri over to Monika's bed.

Monika chose her words carefully, like someone who didn't want to say too much too quickly. "So... Yuri says you have questions."

Natsuki nodded. "That... might be an understatement, but yes, I have questions."

"And there's a way for you to get answers."

"I'd hope so?" Natsuki looked at Monika quizzically.

"...But—"

Natsuki sighed. "Of course there's a catch."

"Well, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"What's the easy way?"

"...Well, it's complicated."

"And the hard way?"

"You'd probably be asking questions until the heat death of the universe." Monika rolled over onto her stomach, a move she regretted almost immediately. "The way things have gone, each question answered would raise more questions. It'd end, eventually, but I'm not sure how quickly."

"So I either go through whatever you're dancing around with the 'easy way' which is complicated... or I ask questions until the end of time... because things are complicated."

"Pretty much." Monika rolled back onto her side.

"...How is the easy way complicated, exactly?"

"Well..." Monika paused to choose her words correctly. "There's a... procedure."

"...And?"

"Basically, I can give you all of the information at once. Like, all of it."

"All of it?"

"All of it. Everything you could possibly want to know... and even some stuff you might not." It was Monika's turn to fidget. "It's kind of a one-way ticket, but Yuri figured it'd be easier than answering every single question you'd have."

Way to throw me under the bus, Monika, Yuri thought to herself, before speaking up. "I-It'd just be... more efficient."

"I mean... I can't see a reason not to just go the easy way."

"You're absolutely sure?" Monika felt the need to emphasize. "Like I said, it's a—"

"One way ticket, yeah." Natsuki shrugged. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

Monika paused for a solid second. "...Well..."

"...Right. Everything I could possibly want to know, and even some stuff I might not." Natsuki shook her head. "I'm not even sure what you're trying to get at."

"...Let's just say I'm not proud of what happened and leave it at that."

"...Look, Monika, whatever you did, I'm sure it's fine. I just... I can't take not knowing."

"If you're sure..." Monika pulled up the console.

Almost immediately, Natsuki collapsed, sobbing on the floor.

Yuri looked to Monika, concerned. "What... what happened?"

Monika sighed. "Gaining the admin role means you have full access to every bit of knowledge in this world. She just learned what exactly I did and that this world isn't real. I think she deserves some slack."

"Still... that quickly?" Yuri was concerned; sure, she had wanted Natsuki to stop asking questions, but she hadn't expected the cost to be this severe.

"I mean, you didn't fare much better?" Monika vaguely gestured to Yuri with her off-the-bed hand. "You crashed in about the same amount of time."

"I did not," Yuri insisted. "I would remember that."

"You did," Monika stated matter-of-factly. "Check the history."

Yuri checked the history, and sure enough, it had happened more-or-less how Monika had described it. "...Oh..." She turned back to Monika. "...So what do we do now?"

Monika rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Honestly? I was kinda hoping you'd have a better answer..."

"Well, what did you do for me?" Surely, whatever Monika had done for her would be good enough for Natsuki, although Yuri surmised that doing literally anything would be better than leaving Natsuki on the floor.

"I just hugged you until you stopped crying."

For all of the smarts in Yuri's head, she couldn't come up with anything better; "hugs and support" it would have to be. She picked Natsuki up and carried her back into the addition, as Monika went back to sleep. Perhaps, things would be better in the morning.

After all, they couldn't get worse.

...Could they?