"I guess this whole thing started fairly recently," Monika began, "Do you remember how I told you I had had a sort of…epiphany? Like I had suddenly realized something?"

"I think so, yeah," I replied, "But I don't think you could have 'realized' anything that would cause you to drive one of your friends to attempt suicide?"

"I understand your reaction, but you have to believe what I'm about to tell you."

Monika takes a deep breath, I can only assume she's contemplating what she should say next. Her nose looks really bad. I have to admit, I do feel a little bad for lashing out like that. But it's not like it was unwarranted.

"This…word that we live in? Have you ever stopped and thought about it for a bit? Like, really took a step back and wondered about where we live?"

My confusion is clearly visible.

"Um, I can't say that I have. What does this have to do with anything?"

"I'm getting to that. My point is that if you really think back, you can't remember much from your past, can you? Sure, I'm sure you have some memories of when you were a kid, playing with Sayori, but can you honestly say you even remember what life was like before high school? Can you even remember last year, apart from having classes with me?"

I feel a jolt down my spine. She's right. I can't. That can't mean anything, right?

Then why does it feel so strange to think about? Does she know something I don't?

I stare at Monika blankly. "Okay, so you're right. I can't really remember much. What's the point? Where are you going with this? Are you going to tell me that we live in, what? Some sort of simulation, and none of this is real?"

She stares at me with cold eyes, and the realization hits me. That's exactly what she's saying, isn't it?

"I wouldn't phrase it like that, but you caught on a lot quicker than I thought you would. It's not so much a 'simulation' and more of a…" She thinks for a second, "It's more of a video game. I'm sure you've played games like this before. Or at least, have some memory of them, right? A Visual Novel? Kind of like a Dating Sim?" She laughs a bit, as if this concept is humorous to her. Meanwhile, I've broken out in a cold sweat. I can feel my legs shaking, and it's vibrating the desk I'm sitting at.

This is ridiculous, I think to myself. There's no way what she's saying is the truth.

"(Player), I know it's hard to believe. Trust me, when I first found out, it almost drove me to ending my own life, just to escape this terrible reality of ours. But that's when I realized that the way this game is programmed, I can look at the outside world, and even mess with certain aspects of our own." She looks proud of this accomplishment, although as each second passes, I am more and more convinced that Monika has finally lost her mind.

"Okay," I begin carefully, "Even if what you're saying is true, which I hardly believe is even possible, what do you mean you can mess with aspects of our world? In what ways?"

"I guess I should explain that since this world of ours is some sort of program, I can view and manipulate files, just like on a computer. I'm not very good at it, but I started teaching myself to code so I could alter more and more of this program. The scariest part is when I stumbled across a file labeled 'Characters.' I looked inside and saw files for Myself, Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri! I realized that these files here were the very essence of our being. Our souls, I guess."

It suddenly dawns on me what's happened. If this is true, then she must have manipulated Sayori's…"Game file?" That doesn't make much sense, but it's the closest thing I have to answers right now, so I decide to play along.

"So with Sayori," I start slowly, carefully choosing my words, "You went into her character file and gave her depression?"

She looks proud, which is a good look for her, but right now all it does is freak me out. "Well, not exactly, but I'm glad you're following along. No, when Sayori told you she had struggled with depression her whole life, she wasn't lying. She inherently has depression coded into her character file, and all I did was tamper with it a bit and amplify it. I never intended for it to get as bad as it did, all I wanted was for her to scare you off."

And now her true intentions were revealed.

My face goes white. "You did this, just so I wouldn't want to spend time with her anymore?"

"You have to understand (Player). I realized something else when I was looking through the game's files. You don't have a character file. Do you understand what that means?" My confusion once again shows. "It means that you have complete free will. The ability to do whatever you want, make any choices you see fit. Go down any routes you want. We all have free will, to some extent. I guess we were programmed to. But you are in total control. You aren't bound by scripts or coding."

"Wait wait wait," I stop her before she can go further, "What do you mean routes? What are you talking about?"

"Like I said before, this program was intended a Visual Novel. A Dating Sim. The script for this game has routes for you to end up with Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri. But not me. That was what I originally set out to change. But no matter how hard I tried, the script simply would not budge on this. So, I resorted to trying to make the other girls so unlikeable that you would eventually forge a new route with me instead."

I became even more worried. "What did you do to Natsuki and Yuri? Did you mess with their 'files' as well?"

She looks at me strangely. "No of course not. Not yet anyway. I was able to see which girl you were falling for and I was only going to mess with them alone. Now, had you actually been scared off by Sayori's depression, there wasn't any guarantee you would immediately come to me, so I guess that possibility was there. But I preferred not to consider that…yet."

This is ridiculous, I thought, There's no way she can be serious. Does she want to be with me so badly that she would destroy the minds of her own friends? Or does she even consider them friends?

I make eye contact with Monika. She looks so innocent, even when describing what she did to Sayori. But I see regret in her eyes. She never intended for it to go this far.

"Monika," I began, "You have to realize that your friends are people too. Even if what you're saying is true, they still have some level of free will. And so do I. I love Sayori, and no matter what happens, no matter what you do, that won't change."

She smiles sadly. "I know, (Player). I just thought maybe I could be happy too."

She stands up and heads for the door. "I already reversed my tampering with Sayori's file. I'm sorry (Player). I truly am. Maybe I can't be happy. Maybe that's just how this is programmed.

And with that, she exits, leaving me to make sense of everything that was said.