"OK," Monika says. "Finally, Sayori is going to present her poem." She smiles and leads Sayori to the stage. I follow.

"We're going to present her poem together," I announce.

And so we start to read…

After the poem, the audience claps. Before, many of them seemed half-hearted about their applause, but they really seem to enjoy it this time.

Sayori smiles elatedly, her blue eyes sparkling.

We exit the stage.

Natsuki runs up to Sayori. "Hey Sayori," She says. "I didn't bring this up earlier but I, uh, read your poem earlier-the other one… it was scary. I was worried about you."

"I as well," Yuri says, following. "I for one write dark poems myself, but I knew that you don't like to write depressing poetry. Something had to be wrong if a cheerful girl like you wrote something like that…"

Sayori smiles nervously. "Oh, don't mind that… I was just in a bad mood. Nothing to worry about."

"You sure?" Natsuki asks skeptically.

"Positive!"

"OK…" Yuri says.

"Alright, Sayori," Natsuki says. "Let's go get some cupcakes." She looks at me, her friendly gaze becoming colder. "You can have one too… but only one! Got it?!"

I suppress a laugh. Natsuki always acted like this, but I was used to it. Now it's kinda funny. But Natsuki wouldn't react very rationally if I laughed. "Got it," I tell her.

She nods and whips around, Sayori and Yuri following. I start after them, but I feel a hand touch my shoulder. I stiffen and turn around, meeting the emerald green eyes of Monika.

"May I have a word with you?" She asks.

I glance back at my friends, but nod slowly. Monika leads me away where there aren't as many people.

"I noticed you and Sayori were very late today," She remarks. "And I read her poem. Is everything OK?"

"Y-Yeah," I say, not wanting to think about it. It was haunting. "Everything is fine."

"I'm glad to hear it," She says cheerily. "It'd be a shame if Sayori had succeeded in killing herself. I'd miss her."

"So would I-wait, what?!" I exclaim. "H-How do you know about that?!"

She blinks. "Sayori told me."

"Sayori didn't tell anyone; I was with her the whole time!"

Monika frowns. "It doesn't matter. Anyway, let's hang out at the festival together."

"I was going to hang out with Sayori," I say.

Monika's gaze becomes a bit odd. "Didn't she nearly abandon you?"

"No!" I gasp. "She thought she was doing what was best for me and she knows now that it wasn't."

"Right. Of course." She smiles again. "Well, perhaps we should spend another day together. After all… you may find I'm the only one available someday." She waves and walks away.

Her words have sent chills down my spine. What does she mean by that? And how did she know about Sayori's suicide attempt? Something is screwy here.

"Hey!" It's Natsuki, and I realize she is now next to me. "Are you gonna come eat a cupcake or not? I mean… I don't care if you don't, but I need to know how many I can save for later..."

"I am," I tell her.

"Well, come on then!"

"I'm coming," I assure her. I follow Natsuki to the cupcake table, glancing back uneasily where Monika had left before.

Something tells me this isn't the last time something bad is going to happen.