I should have seen this coming. I really should have seen this coming. If anyone could have seen how Monika looked at me, it would have had to be Sayori. She's the most socially observant Doki, after all. She couldn't have missed all the interactions we've had in public. Damn it, Monika! No…damn me. I should have seen this confrontation coming, and prevented it. This was my problem and my mistake. Sayori was looking at me with a both sad and intense expression, her entire body facing me much like Monika's sprite in the game. My mind was in overdrive, gears turning.

I closed my eyes and thought. I was entirely unsure how to answer. Mostly because I didn't even know myself how I felt about Monika. That she was a ten out of ten in beauty wasn't in doubt. She was insanely attractive. Her outward personality was amazing too. She cared for her clubmates and tried her best.

And then there were her weaknesses. She got jealous easily, she wasn't that good with dealing with people, and there were her apparent sociopathic tendencies. As I thought about all those weaknesses of hers, I found to my surprise that these were something I could somehow easily overlook. No one was perfect, after all. And I had just placed my trust in Monika, weaknesses and flaws and all.

I tried to imagine what it would be like if, somehow, in some way, I was permanently separated from Meiji and started some kind of relationship with Monika. Instantly I imagined us in a small cozy home with two amazing kids. The other girls and Meiji would stop by regularly and we would go to their houses as well to visit. Life after the Literature Club looked clean and bright.

I stopped myself then. My heart was pounding loudly and my face was definitely hot. I opened my eyes to see Sayori still looking at me. "Are you?" she asked.

I completely snapped back to reality. I could hear the rainfall outside now. I took another deep breath. "Sayori, I don't exactly know myself. I did just meet her." Not entirely true, but for this it was pretty much fact. "I'm not lying. I haven't had the time to think about that seriously before now."

Josiah.

Startled by the sudden serious tone in Meiji's voice, I paused. What is it?

I think it's time we tell her. About how I feel about her. I could feel my heartrate increase in response to Meiji's own nervousness. Mixing with my own, it felt like I was gonna have a serious heart attack.

I swallowed and looked back at Sayori. Reaching over, I pulled her into my arms, slowly caressing her back. "Sayori, you have feelings for Meiji, don't you?" I asked softly. "That's why you're asking me if I love Monika."

She stiffened at that. "I…how could you tell?"

I smiled a bit. "From an outsiders perspective, it's pretty obvious. I've seen the way you looked at Meiji before you knew about me. You're smitten."

Sayori looked away again. Her bottom lip was trembling a bit, but she was trying her best to be strong. After a few seconds she turned back to me. "Answer my question first, please."

"I already have. I don't know if I love her."

"But if you're a part of Meiji, doesn't that mean that there's a part of Meiji that loves Monika?"

A chill ran down my spine. The flimsy lie I'd come up with might not have been found out yet, but I should have seen this coming a while ago. It would come back to bite me in the ass. She was absolutely right, of course. It made sense that she would come to that conclusion. She's not an idiot. I pursed my lips, not sure what to say. How could I do this? What excuse could I come up with if this lie was to be maintained until the festival?

That's when it hit me. Something in my mind snapped, clear realization flowed over me like a thousand waterfalls. I stood and grabbed Sayori's wrist. Startled, she looked up at me. "Josiah? What's wrong?"

"Come with me," I ordered. "There's something I need to show you right now."

She resisted but I held her wrist firmly. "Where? Where are you taking me?"

"A place where you can see Meiji again."

Her eyes widened in confusion. She pulled on her wrist again, but one serious look from me caused her to pause. "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to tell-no, I'm going to show you the whole truth."

Josiah? What are you doing?

You'll see.

Sayori moved up close and stared deeply into my eyes. I looked back without flinching despite my heart racing at the prospect of what I was about to do. Could I really do this? Could I really shatter Sayori's preconceived notions of the world?

YES. I can, because there is no other choice now.

What are you talking about?

Ignoring Meiji, I pulled Sayori towards the front door. "Josiah? What's going on? Where are we going?" She looked scared now.

Turning back to her I held her wrist tighter. "I told you, we're going to show you the entire truth."

Wait a minute, you're not going to show Sayori-

Do you see any other choices for us?!

Silence. Since I couldn't feel Meiji resisting, I assumed he was either in deep thought or had agreed with me completely. I grabbed my shoes from the genkan and began putting them on. Doing so I had to let Sayori go, but to my relief she wasn't moving. Just staring at me as I got ready. I turned back to her, handing her a pair of her shoes. "Well, are you coming or no?"

She looked to the side a bit, a look of uncertainty on her face. "Josiah…what's come over you? What are you gonna show me?"

I put my shoes on and then stood. Thanks to the difference in heights from the genkan and the house's floor level, Sayori and I were on more even height. Walking over I put my hand on her shoulder. "I want to show you something that will put your worries at ease. Please, come with me."

Sayori held her hand up to her chest in a very Yuri-like pose. "I-I don't know…"

Tell her I want her to come too, Meiji suddenly said. I know what you're planning, and while I don't like the idea, I trust your judgement.

I nodded. "Meiji wants you to come too."

There was another flash of lightning and a few seconds later a loud boom of thunder. Sayori didn't move. I watched her as her face went through about a dozen different expressions, uncertainty, fear, longing, back to uncertainty, contemplative and much more. After a while, I started getting worried that she was going around in circles in her head. I reached out to tap her gently, but stopped when a new expression appeared. She turned to me, put her hands on her hips, and spoke again. "Alright. Hand me my shoes."

It wasn't a request. More like an order. I nodded and grabbed her shoes, handing them to her quickly. She sat, put them on, grabbed her umbrella, and stood. "Let's go."

We headed out into the rain once more. It had gotten dark by this time and the rain seemed to be falling even harder. The two of us walked in silence towards Meiji's house.

So Josiah, how are you gonna do this? Meiji asked softly as we walked.

I'm not sure exactly. I'm kinda playing this by ear here.

You think Monika will agree with this?

I sighed softly. Probably not.

"Josiah? You okay?" Sayori asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I doubt she'll agree with you on this, Meiji continued.

You've made your point, I said, starting to get a bit annoyed.

Right, sorry.

I immediately regretted my tone. No, you're fine.

When we approached the house I saw that the light to the living room was on. We headed inside. When we entered the living room I saw Monika, now out of her uniform, lounging on the couch watching something on TV. She looked up and her eyes brightened when she saw me, but she froze when she saw Sayori. "Josiah, what's going on?" she asked.

I didn't say anything for a bit. I walked up to her and held out my hand. "I'm gonna need the key."

Monika's eyes widened in instant realization. She began trembling a bit. "J-Josiah, I'm not sure if that-"

"Please," I said softly. "I'll explain later."

Monika looked deep into my eyes, searching, probing. I was immediately reminded of an old YouTube series about DDLC called the Meta Series. I wondered if I was making a mistake just like the player from that one when he revealed the truth to the MC in the first video. Realizing that I should explain my reasons, I turned to Sayori. "Sayori, give me and Monika a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay…" Sayori said as she sat on the couch.

"We'll be right back," I said as I led Monika into the spare office, shut the door and turned to her. "I have a good feeling as to what you're going to say. Please say it."

"Are you insane?!" she nearly burst out. "Showing Sayori the truth won't help her in the long run at all! Remember what happened at the end of the game we saw? She went crazy faster than the other me did!"

"That was when she had presidential powers," I said calmly.

Monika wasn't having any of it. She shook her head violently. "She'll still break! We can't tell her, Josiah!" Her voice was rising now, not from anger, but from sheer fear and terror. I let her calm down. She was holding my arms and looking down, breathing a bit heavily. Soon she calmed down, then looked up at me. "Why? Why do you want to show her?" I sighed and told Monika about the conversation Sayori and I had just had. When I was done, Monika nodded in understanding. "Now it makes more sense. I don't know if this is a good idea though."

"I know, but in a sense it will alleviate some of her worries," I said.

"And create new ones," Monika said.

"I don't want to keep lying to her," I said. "Besides, this might save her from her Act 1 fate. And it wouldn't hurt to have a third set of eyes. She's smarter than she looks, remember? It's just that she spends a lot of her mental capacity in dealing with the negative feelings."

Monika reached over and wrapped her arms around me, burying her face into my chest. I reached up and tousled her hair gently. We stayed like that for a minute before she released me. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her pen and removed the gap. "Before you show Sayori the room, I'd like to show you something about the room first."

Confused, I followed Monika as she headed out of the room and down the hall. She stuck her key in the door lock and it opened. She stepped inside while I stayed outside. It was dark in the room, but something about the room felt fuller. The view through the windows was the same, but it looked like it was of Earth at night. Monika stepped inside and turned on the light.

My jaw dropped as the lights came on. "When…did you have the time for this?" I asked startled.

She grinned. "You can learn a surprising amount online."

Instead of an empty room with a computer and empty desk with two chairs, I saw before me a slightly more furnished room. I saw basically three items against the opposite wall, a small love seat in front of the left window, a small shelf with various things on it in front of the right window and a large bookshelf in between full of books. On top of said bookshelf was a bonsai tree. In the center of the floor was a circular rug with intricate designs on it. I saw a picture on the wall of a drawing of Monika looking back while holding someone's hand. She had on a white dress in said drawing. It looked a lot like Satchely's handiwork. I tried looking at the other side of the room to see if anything else was there, and I thought I could see the computer desk in another corner but I couldn't be too sure. "Well, it definitely looks more cozy and homey than before," I said.

"I spend study hall in here a lot," Monika said. "I don't want it to be gloomy like this." She smiled then her expression turned serious. "Go grab Sayori. I'm ready for her to see this."

"Okay, I'll be right back. And Monika?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She blushed a bit. "You're welcome."

I smiled back then headed out to the living room. I found Sayori sitting there patiently but with a very distant look in her eyes as she watched the rain splatter against the window and the fence surrounding the house. Another flash illuminated the outside, followed seconds later by a loud clap of thunder. "Sayori?"

She turned to me, eyes refocusing. "Yes?"

"Come with me." I walked over and held out my hand to her again.

She took my hand and I helped her up. I led her down the hallway where Monika stood waiting outside the door. Before she got a good look, I blocked Sayori's view. "Sayori, I'd like you to shut your eyes for a bit."

"What for?" she asked uncertainly.

"I want to show you things in a particular order."

She looked at me again, then nodded and closed her eyes. I led her to the door, then handed her to Monika. Monika gently led her into the Space Classroom, then turned her to face the door. I could see Sayori's scared expression. Monika leaned forward. "Sayori, don't move or open your eyes yet," she whispered.

"You guys are scaring me," Sayori said nervously.

"It will make sense in the end, I promise," I said. "Sayori, turn your head to face me and when you open your eyes, don't look away, understand?"

Sayori did as instructed and soon opened her eyes. And they didn't stop opening as her periphery presumably took in the impossible site of a Sakura Academy classroom around them. Monika gently held her head in place and whispered something to her. Sayori focused on me again. "She's ready, Josiah," Monika said.

I'm not really ready for that pain again, Meiji said.

Same, but here we go! I stepped through the door.

Just like last time, the feeling of being peeled away overcame us and I held back my screams of pain. I heard Sayori shout something in horror and saw Monika trying to restrain her. To my surprise as I fell on my hands and knees, I didn't pass out. Meiji and I slowly separated and found ourselves lying side my side, both of us panting heavily. I was looking up at the ceiling but soon the beautiful but concerned face of Monika hovered closely over me, her long coral brown hair draping over my head. To my right I heard Sayori trying hard not to cry as a weakened Meiji attempted to reassure her that he was okay. I smiled faintly at Monika and reached out to take her hand. She clasped it and held it tightly. "Are you alright?" she whispered.

"I'll be fine. It wasn't as painful as the other two times," I croaked as she helped me to a sitting position against the wall. Sayori was doing the same to Meiji.

"What the hell happened?!" Sayori almost screamed at Monika, causing the three of us to jump in shock. Sayori wasn't the one to swear like that. "And who the hell is that?!"

"Sayori…we'll explain in a bit," Meiji said, smiling softly at his crush. "Give us some time to recover. Whenever we walk through the door it hurts."

"I'll go get some water for everybody," Monika said, standing once she situated me against the wall. She stood and left.

Looking over at Meiji, I was happy to see him hugging a sobbing Sayori who was clinging to him now. He had a sad smile on his face then he turned to me. "You alright, Josiah?"

"Getting there," I said.

Sayori sat up at the mention of my name and looked at me. "Wait…Josiah? But, wasn't Josiah another personality?"

"I'll explain later, I promise," I said. "Hopefully you can forgive me for what I'm about to tell you."

Monika returned with a tray with four glasses. She placed the tray on the ground, handed one glass to Sayori, then sat next to me with another glass. I tried to reach out to grab it, but I was still too weak to grab it. She shook her head. "Let me." Knowing better than to argue, I opened my mouth and let Monika slowly pour the cool liquid down my throat. Glancing over I saw Sayori mirroring Monika's efforts. She held one hand behind Meiji's head and was slowly letting the water flow into Meiji's mouth. I smiled inwardly at the very motherly concerned tone Sayori was displaying.

Looking back at Monika, I saw her concerned expression turn to one of slight relief. "I'm so glad you're alright," she said softly as she surreptitiously kissed my cheek. She sat next to me and leaned her head against mine, placing the water down. "I was so worried."

I nodded. "I was scared too, but it had to be done." I moved my arms and, to my relief, nothing seemed to be hurting anymore. Even the headache that I'd experienced last time wasn't there anymore. I slowly moved to stand. Monika was quick to help me up and supported me as I fought off the waves of dizziness. Beside me, Meiji moved to stand as well and was helped to his feet by Sayori.

"Okay, I imagine you've got a ton of questions," Monika said in a rare sheepish tone.

"Damn right I do," Sayori said.

"Wow Sayori, I've never heard you swearing before," Meiji said, scratching the back of his head and smiling a bit sheepishly. Sayori realized what she'd said and calmed down a bit.

"It would take too long for you to play the game," I said, "so let's get you sitting down. We've got a lot to tell you."

Meiji led Sayori over to the love seat and both sat down. I grabbed a couple chairs that were stacked in a corner and placed them in front of the two childhood friends. Monika brought the water glasses over and handed them to everyone. Meiji, Monika and I shared a brief glance before I took a deep breath. "So…here's the story…"

"…and if you want to play the game again, you need to delete the firstrun file," I concluded to a very shocked and disbelieving Sayori. She was clinging to Meiji who had an arm around her comfortingly. "And that's it. That's the story of Doki Doki Literature Club."

Sayori was speechless after I finished. The three of us gave her all the time she needed. Outside the Earth continued rotating silently. The only noise I could hear was a distant thunderclap out of the still open door. It was clear that Sayori was extremely torn and confused with all the new information. During our explanation on Act 1, Sayori asked plenty of questions which the three of us did our best to answer.

But now she was silent. The revelation of her own suicide in Act 1 had caused her to retreat into quiet, with a few silent questions during our explanation of Acts 2 through 4. I even saw her glance a few times at Monika with a new expression I hadn't seen before on her face: distrust. Not that I could blame her. It would make sense for her to react that way to the news that her supposed friend drove her to suicide.

"Monika, Josiah," Meiji said after a while, "do you mind if Sayori and I talk alone for a bit?"

"Of course," I said. Monika nodded in agreement and stood with me. We headed to the opposite wall where the computer was along with a second two person love seat. We didn't so much sit as collapse onto it.

While we sat there, my mind wandered, and for some reason my thoughts went back to Sayori's initial question that started this. Do I or do I not like Monika? I certainly considered her a friend, that was for sure. We'd gotten close this past week, and surprisingly fast too. I couldn't really tell you why, but it felt right.

What felt more right was the sudden weight against my right shoulder as Monika leaned against me. Looking over I smiled a bit. She had her eyes closed and appeared to be sound asleep. "Guess you were more wiped out than I thought," I said softly.

"Mmhmm," Monika mumbled softly, opening her eyes and looking up at me with a small smile. "You really left me exhausted. You'd better take responsibility for this, you know."

I grinned down at her. "You are such a naughty girl," I chuckled, poking her forehead gently.

She nodded and snuggled up closer. "I'm a teenager still, after all. Don't be surprised."

I felt my cheeks get hot again, but I put an arm around her. She smiled wider for a bit, then her smile faded. "Are you sure this was a good idea? Telling Sayori about all this I mean?"

"I'll be honest, no I'm not." I looked over and saw Sayori clinging to Meiji who was doing his best to comfort her. "But she's in good hands over there. Meiji might even just tell Sayori how he feels about her tonight."

"You saw what happened last time that happened," Monika said, looking worried. "What if she tries to hang herself again? We just shattered her perception of reality. You know that, right?"

"Monika, this reality is not the same as the game," I said firmly.

"How do you know?"

"Remember, I'm from reality," I explained. "I've also played the game before. I saw you as sprites on a screen. Now I'm seeing you as a flesh and blood person." Taking her hand I put two fingers to her wrist for a few seconds. "You have a heartbeat, and it's going pretty fast."

She blushed. "Of course it is. I'm snuggling with you, aren't I?"

I smiled at her. "Exactly. You're reacting like a normal human. And that's another thing. Remember the hair colors on the other girls? And Natsuki and Yuri's eye colors."

Monika nodded. "They're different."

"They are. Sayori's was kind of pink, Natsuki's was full pink and Yuri's was a deep purple. But here, what are they? Sayori's is pretty brown, Natsuki's a blonde and Yuri's got dark black hair. It's like this world is some kind of alternate reality where the game and reality smashed together in the weirdest ways. And then there's the other people I've seen here. Kozue. Sayonika. Yae. Meiji's parents. Sayori's mom. This world is populated, Monika. Heavily." I paused when I realized I was rambling. "Sorry, I let myself go on a bit."

She shook her head. "No, it's alright." She remained silent for a few seconds. "So…if this isn't the game, and it isn't reality, what is it?"

"I wish I knew," I said. "Regardless, events are playing out very similarly to the game." I looked up back at Meiji and Sayori. "Except for that." I pointed.

Monika looked over and gasped softly. Meiji and Sayori had their arms wrapped around each other, kissing each other. "Whoa…"

I didn't want to miss this opportunity, so I brought my hands together and began clapping. The two quickly stopped, their faces flushed. Monika grinned and followed my lead, apparently eager to tease the new couple as much as I did. I stood and helped Monika to her feet, heading over. "So, you finally grew some balls without my help for once," I grinned.

"That wasn't help and you know it, Mr. Hot-shot," Meiji replied, standing and grimacing at me.

"Yeah yeah," I said, grabbing him and ruffling his hair with a wide grin.

"Get off me!" Meiji said in an irritated tone.

I let him go, then looked over at Sayori. She was a ways away now talking to Monika. Both were smiling and Monika appeared to be congratulating her. Turning back to Meiji who was busily fixing his hair, I asked more seriously, "How's she taking this?"

"About as well as I did when you first told me that first day," Meiji said, looking over at the two girls. "I think that view did a lot to convince her, though." He pointed at the rotating Earth outside the window. "She did say a lot of similar things after I confessed to her though. Similar to that confession scene in the game anyway. But," he began before I could interject, "it might be just me, but her choice of wording was a bit more hopeful. So, here's praying that's a good sign."

"No kidding," I said.

Monika and Sayori headed over to the two of us. "So, um, what now?" Sayori asked timidly. "Shouldn't we tell the other two?"

"Not sure that would be a good idea," I said, although as I said it, doubt began to creep into my mind. "I can only guess at how they'll react. Yuri might take it well enough, but Natsuki…" I shuddered at the hypothetical mental breakdown Natsuki might have at this revelation.

"Yeah, I don't wanna know what her reaction will be," Meiji said.

"I don't think it would be that bad," Sayori said, "although, seeing what's out there might make her nervous," she continued, looking out the window at the rotating Earth.

"I bet Yuri would get hypnotized by the scene," Monika said jokingly, and with that, we all laughed a bit, a little of the tension leaving the room.

"But seriously," Meiji said, "Do you think we should tell them?"

"I haven't the faintest idea if telling them is such a good idea, to be honest," I replied, leaning against the wall next to the center bookshelf. "You were probably joking Monika, but I think Yuri would probably take this truth a lot better than Natsuki would. Besides, I took a major risk telling you, Sayori."

She looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry-"

"No, don't be sorry, it was my idea," I said. "Meiji and I couldn't bear to see you so hurt."

"For my part," Monika said, walking up and hugging Sayori, "I think, looking back on it, that we made the right decision to tell you. I wasn't really on board, but I think that it will help save you."

I certainly hope it does, I thought to myself. I cleared my throat. "Monika, I do believe we had a deal."

She looked back at me with a serious nod. "Of course. I've been thinking about that, actually."

"What deal?" Sayori said, the only one out of the loop.

"Sayori," Meiji said, "the only way Josiah and I can be separated is in this room."

"If either of us try to leave, we become one person again," I explained further, then turned back to Monika. "What were you thinking?"

"Well…I'm still stumped," Monika said as she headed over to the repositioned computer and turning on the screen. "I've only been coding for a few days, and with all that's happened I haven't been able to practice as much as, presumably, my game self had."

"So you know less than the game Monika," I said with a frown. Monika nodded sadly.

"Then let's get to work!" Sayori said with a determined tone.

"Huh? Sayori?" Meiji looked over at his presumably new girlfriend.

"We should start working. I wanna help," Sayori said, hands on her hips.

I looked at her with newfound respect. Monika looked a bit surprised, but soon smiled. Her smile was one of relief and gratitude. "Alright then. I'm going to grab Josiah's laptop then we can all get to work." She headed out of the room.

As soon as she was gone, Sayori turned to me. "You know, you still didn't answer my question," she said.

"What question?" I asked, hoping she wasn't going to bring up what I thought she was.

"Do you love Monika?" Unlike before, though, instead of her tone being full of tension, she'd gone full blown teasing tone on me.

Meiji shared her teasing smile while staring at me as well. The two leaned closer, causing me to lean back, stumbling into the computer chair, hands raised in defense. "Yes Josiah, why don't you tell us? Do you or do you not love Monika?"

"Guys…"

"Hmmmm?" Sayori and Meiji both said at the same time, grinning wickedly at me.

Guess there's no getting out of this for me, is there? I lowered my hands and sighed. "I honestly couldn't give you a straight answer. Monika…she's one of the most amazing women I've ever met. She's driven, talented and quite handy with a keyboard among other things," I said as a joke. "She's beautiful, of that there's no doubt."

"Completely out of my league," Meiji said.

"Awww, don't say that Meiji," Sayori said. "She'd be lucky to have you."

Meiji turned to her. "But I don't want her. I want you. You're the only girl for me."

Sayori blushed heavily at this as Meiji took her hand. She then turned to me. "Josiah, for the record, I think you are in love with Monika."

I felt my heart rate increase at the prospect. "H-How do you think so?"

"I've been watching you two for the past week," she said sheepishly, but with a hint of sadness in her voice. "And now that I know the truth, I really think you are in love with her." Before I could interrupt, she held up a hand. "And after what I saw earlier with you and her sitting next to each other, I'm convinced. I know she loves you, but I think you do too."

This wasn't exactly like the Sayori from the game. She was observant, that I had known for a little while, but for her to have been this observant, I must have worried her more than I thought. And I must not have hidden my familiarity with Monika as well as I hoped I had. Still, this was Sayori. She was smarter than she let on. Maybe she saw something that I was too stupid to see. It wasn't as if I'd ever had a relationship before. I'd only ever seen Harv and Jamie's relationship as well as that of my parents. I wasn't even sure what made a good relationship in real life. Am I really worthy of someone as amazing as Monika?

"Josiah," Sayori said in that somehow motherly tone that continued to surprise me, "I can guess what you're thinking. You're wondering if you can be worthy of Monika, right? Believe me, I'm still struggling with the fact that I might not be worthy of Meiji-"

"-But the fact that she loves me despite all my many mistakes means that she's far more worthy than she thinks," Meiji said. He was smiling at me, an arm around Sayori comfortingly.

My heart melted at this sight. I was so greatly relieved to see the two of them finally together. Not that we were out of the woods yet, but I felt a lot better about Sayori's safety than I had before. I couldn't help but smile widely, standing and putting a hand on both their shoulders. "I am so happy for you two."

"Thank you," Meiji said.

"Yes, thanks," Sayori said with a smile of her own.

"You two have given me a lot to think about," I said gratefully. "Thanks." I released them.

At that moment Monika came back in with my backpack. "Here's your laptop," she said as she handed the bag to me.

"Thanks," I replied as I opened it and booted it up. I sat on the couch and waited. Meiji took a seat next to me. Soon after logging in I searched for the game files, found them and began opening multiple .rpa files in Visual Studio Code.

"Are you ready, Josiah?" Monika asked from where she and Sayori were both sitting at the computer.

"No," I admitted.

"Then let's begin," Monika said, turning to focus on the screen.

Hours passed and what little progress we made was pitiful to say the least. Having very little experience in coding, the four of us were completely and utterly lost on even where to begin in our attempts to permanently separate myself and Meiji. Some of the experiments we attempted were much more painful than others. We tried seeing what would happen if Meiji went through the door first, but even then I retained control. What was a comfort, though, was that every time we passed through the door the pain of the separation diminished each time we went through. While Meiji and I were fused, Monika tried opening our character files but even that revealed next to nothing. We even contemplated creating a new file that could execute a separation program of some sort, but we couldn't come to an agreement on where to even begin.

However, we did discover something very useful. While Sayori was in the Space Classroom, Monika was able to permanently edit her depression to a more diminished state. Despite offering to end her depression, Sayori told Monika that she didn't want that. "I want to work on my depression my own way, not with the click of a button. Put it to what it was before."

Monika did so then locked Sayori's character file and, presumably to try and earn back Sayori's trust, let Sayori enter the password she wanted. "This way," Monika said, "hopefully the game won't be able to influence your depression."

"But in case it does, don't hesitate to call us," Meiji said. "Me or Monika."

Sayori nodded in understanding. "I promise."

Meiji looked at his phone. "Crap, it's getting late. We should get ready for tomorrow."

"Whoa, you're right!" Sayori said, jumping up from the chair and giving Meiji a deep kiss. "See you all tomorrow!" Before anyone could say anything, Sayori dashed out of the room.

"We should go too," I said, preparing to shut down the computer.

"Yeah, good idea," Meiji said as he stood and stretched.

Monika said nothing as she turned off the computer screen. She stood and cracked her knuckles. "I'm so tired," she said sleepily.

"Me too. Ready Meiji?" I asked as I looked towards the open door.

"Not really," he admitted. "Although my injuries being healed does certainly help." He looked at the small pile of bandages on the floor nearby. During our experiments Monika discovered a means to use the code to speed up the body's healing process so, while Meiji and I were in the hallway, she used that to heal the injuries from my fight with Yae's goons. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"Of course," Monika said with a smile as we all approached the door.

"Here we go," I said. I stepped forward and felt Meiji's body pressing into my back. The sound of glitching could be heard as I finally stepped forward, now completely in Meiji's body once again. To my relief, the pain had subsided more this current time.

At least it didn't hurt this time, the familiar voice of Meiji said from my mind.

No kidding, I replied.

Welp, night! And just like that, Meiji was out like a light.

"How in the hell does he fall asleep so fast?" I said irritated.

"He's asleep?" Monika asked, turning away from the door as she locked it.

"Yeah, he is."

"Perfect," Monika said. "Josiah, can I talk to you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure, that's fine with me."

We headed out to the living room and sat on the couch. Outside it was still raining hard and. It seemed that there was something weighing heavily on Monika's mind. Finally, she spoke. "Josiah, I overheard your conversation with Meiji and Sayori earlier."

I gulped a bit nervously. "I see…" I couldn't think of anything else to say because in all honesty there wasn't anything to say.

"Do you really think…do you think you're not good enough?" Monika asked me, sounding hurt.

"Monika, I-"

"If anything, I'm not good enough for you," Monika said, looking away. "I'm prone to insane jealousy, shouldn't that be a red flag?"

I reached over and put a comforting arm on her shoulder. "Normally yes, but I know you better than that. I know you're trying to overcome that."

She looked down at her lap, but I saw a small smile on her face. "I am, but it isn't easy. My mind keeps telling me I don't deserve you, but I still…" she turned to me and suddenly pounced on me. We both tumbled back, me landing on my back and she landing on top of me. "I still want you," she said softly and sincerely. "I can't stop loving you, no matter what stupid things you do."

Normally I would have been flustered at being in this position with such a beautiful woman, but something told me she wasn't going to try anything. I merely looked back up at her for a while. "I care about you too," I said, trying to choose my words carefully. "I don't want to see you hurting like this, it makes me sad, and it also makes me want to protect you."

She giggled to my surprise and sat back up, still sitting on my lap. "Protect me, huh?"

"Is that a problem?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, just never pictured myself as the damsel-in-distress type," she said in a teasing voice.

"Never said you were," I said, sitting up. "You're plenty strong and I'm sure you have some form of fighting experience."

She nodded. "I've taken a few martial arts classes. I'm sure I could beat your ass in a fight."

"No doubt in my mind," I chuckled.

"Aww, you're no fun. You're supposed to say that's a lie and that you can take me down," Monika said, pouting at me. We both looked at each other for a bit, then smirked, and both broke out in a loud laugh. More of the tension from before broke and we both laughed harder and harder.

"What's so funny in here?" a deep male voice said from the front door.

Monika and I both looked over and saw Meiji's father standing there, eyebrow raised. Meiji's mother soon joined him, peaking out from behind him. "Everything alright, you two?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry Mom," I said, "just talking about what happened today."

"What happened?" Meiji's mom asked.

"Today was pretty busy," I said. "The club all went over to Sayori's place for a little bit to work on the festival. Oh, that reminds me, the next couple of days the club is gonna meet to work on some things. Is it okay if they meet here?"

Meiji's mom frowned a bit. "Four girls in the house alone with you? Meiji…"

"Minako," Meiji's dad said softly, "don't worry about it. We'll be home tomorrow at least, remember?"

"I know, Tatsuo," Meiji's mom, who now I knew to be called Minako, sighed.

"Wait, I thought you'd be out tomorrow?" I said confused.

"No, we're actually gonna drive over there on Sunday," Tatsuo said. "We took Sunday off in exchange for working today."

"Oooh, okay," I said, remembering what Meiji said about his sister's birthday being on Sunday.

"Still though, I don't know if I like the idea of you being alone with the girls on Sunday," Minako said. "Maybe I should ask Sayako to watch you guys."

"Sweetie, no need for Sayori's mom to come over," Tatsuo said. "Meiji's not a kid anymore."

"Chizu-san," Monika spoke up, getting the attention of everyone else, "I swear that nothing untoward will happen on Sunday. All we're going to be doing is baking cupcakes that day, and that's it."

"Sayori will be here too," I added.

Minako appeared to relax a bit at that. "Good, if anyone can keep watch over you, it's her."

Monika snickered a bit and I frowned, trying to act like any teen would. "Mooom, I'm not a kid anymore."

"He really isn't dear," Tatsuo said. "That being said, don't do anything untoward towards these women, okay?"

"I would never do anything like that, Dad," I said.

He smiled a bit. "I know you wouldn't. Now, your mom and I are going to get to bed. It's been a long day and judging from how tired you two look I imagine you're both exhausted too. By the way, when are these club members coming by tomorrow?"

"Around ten," I said.

"Good," Minako said. "I'm looking forward to meeting them all." She smiled at me before she and Tatsuo headed up to bed.

"That…went a lot better than I expected," I said, releasing my breath.

"No shit," Monika said with a relieved sigh. "But she's right. We should get to bed."

"Yeah, we should," I said, yawning a bit. "Today has been…exhausting to say the least."

"Yes, yes it has," Monika said with a yawn of her own. "Goodnight, Josiah. I love you." And with that, she headed up the stairs, making no effort to hide the sway of her hips as she disappeared up the stairs.

That woman…I thought to myself. Foxy as hell. I shook my head a bit and followed Monika up the stairs. I headed into Meiji's room, changed into pajamas and collapsed into bed. And this time, much like Meiji, I passed out moments before I hit the pillow.

Bleh, I feel like this isn't my best work. Enjoy anyway!

Oh! And for the person who posted my 47th review, congrats on guessing my plot twist so effectively!

morbiusgreen