Chapter Text
*Beep*
*Beep*
*Beep*
It’s only been two days, and I’m already sick of this alarm… I sit up with a groan, and slap my hand on top of the alarm shutting it off.
[Sunny’s Bedroom: Friday, September 29th, 6:27AM]
Wow I actually woke up later this time… that doesn’t bode well. Well, no time to waste. I go through my usual routine. Breakfast, Shower, change into uniform, meds, say good morning to Basil and Aubrey (the latter of which was annoyed by my messages at five in the morning), say hello to mom who’s also here since she has the day off, and head to school.
Walking into the cold breeze I scan my surroundings for the best way through the crowd… wait- isn’t that? I spot a familiar bed of brown hair, now tied up with a white bow… it is, huh. She doesn’t really seem to be paying attention since she’s just staring down at her phone with a blank expression, might as well go say hi?
I walk over to Monika and tap her shoulder, she pauses and looks up from her phone, noticing me. “Oh! Hey there Sunny!” Her expression warms immediately as she turns to me, now wearing a warm smile. I can’t really muster one of my own, but I do give her a small wave.
“Guess we were lucky enough to catch each other leaving huh?” She comments, to which I nod in agreement. All things considered, I kind of expected her to be off earlier than me. A nice surprise that’s for sure- ow.
Did somebody just run into me? I glance behind me, and spot the culprit giving me an apologetic look. Blind spot... Monika glances at the person as well, and sighs. “Does that happen often?” I give a nod. It doesn’t really bother me, but happens a lot more often then I’d like.
She hums in thought before snapping her fingers, her expression brightening. “Hey, how about this? Since we’re both headed to the same place anyway, I could guide you to the school, so you don’t run into any sign posts or anything.”
That’s… not a bad idea actually. Especially since that sort of thing only really happens whenever I’m exhausted, so… yeah, why not? I give her another nod, and she offers me her hand. I take it. “Let’s get going then!” With that she begins guiding me through the busy streets of the city, being sure to avoid larger groups of people whenever she could.
At some point she glances back at me, and asks “Do you mind if we take a quick detour? I would rather get a coffee so I don’t pass out during class.” I could use a pick me up as well honestly, so sure. Another nod, and she leads us towards a cafe I haven’t seen before called First Steps Brew.
As we step inside the person working at the counter waves towards Monika. “Hey there Moni! You here for your usual?” Oh, so she’s a regular here then, that makes sense. I glance up at the selection, as Monika converses with them. “That would be great Jen, thank you.”
“And for your friend?” Jen turns towards me, waiting for me to order. Well, probably shouldn’t waste too much time looking over everything so instead, I just point to Monika. It takes them a moment to realize what I’m saying, but eventually they nod. “Same thing she’s having eh? Alright!” They clasp their hands together. “Two Moni specials comin’ up! Take a seat in the meantime you two!”
We take a seat at one of the side tables near the counter, and Monika gives me an apologetic smile. “Sorry… totally forgot you’re new to this place… should’ve told you the menu beforehand.” I wave her off, it doesn’t bother me that much, besides anything will be good to get me awake at this point.
I take out my phone. Do you come here often? Jen seemed to know you. She takes on quite the blush, is she embarrassed? Didn’t mean to do that. I can’t really judge Monika, I used to go to a pizza place everyday after school with my friends, this is basically the same thing. Hopefully that’s reassuring enough.
She seems to regain her composure, and says. “I usually come around every morning, usually just to get a quick coffee…” She tugs on the sleeve of her uniform. “It’s a lot faster than going to say… a Starbucks, ya know? It’s livelier, and makes me feel welcome.” I haven’t personally been to one of those? But I’ll take her word for it.
“If you’re asking if Jen and I are friends, I think it’s more professional? If that’s the right word?” She pauses for a moment, before deciding on. “I’m a regular, not a friend.” I guess that makes sense, it would be pretty weird if you started treating somebody who’s just doing their job like a long time friend, despite not actually knowing them that well.
“Here ya go Bosses! Two hot and ready coffees!” Jen hands us our order. “Thank you again!” Monika hands over- wait. Let me pay for half. Monika waves me off. “It’s fine, I dragged you here anyway, so it’s the least I can do!” I give her a glare, but relent with a silent sigh. I’ll pay you back. “Sunny you really don’t have to, it’s only five bucks.” She giggles.
The two of us take our leave with our drinks in hand, as I continue to type. I refuse to be like Kel. She’s completely confused now, oops. He’s an old friend of mine who used to borrow money a lot. “Ooooh. Ok. Well if you’re so adamant about it, I’m sure you can figure out some other way to pay me back~!” How…? Well, I’m sure I can figure it out. I give her a firm nod.
The rest of the walk is pretty uneventful, which is good! I didn’t actually walk into anybody else, so there’s that! Also this coffee… is horrible. I’m not sure what it is, but it does not taste very good. Maybe I’m just not a coffee person? That’s probably it. Anyway, the two of us eventually reach the frontgates to the school.
“Well, here we are! What’s-” “Sunny!” Monika pauses her gaze snapping towards the courtyard, as Sayori’s voice echoes throughout it and she begins running towards me. Wow, this really is a normal occurrence I guess? She stops right in front of me, out of breath. “I- PHEW -I completely forgot to give you our club sche… du… le?” Her eyes widened as she looked up at Monika in recognition, her expression completely unreadable.
I glance over at Monika as… this is happening? Her expression is completely blank, no that’s not true, she seems almost solemn? As she stares back at Sayori, before she puts on a smile, which doesn’t really reach her eyes. “Hey Sayori.” Wait… they know each other? I guess that explains the look of recognition, what’s with this weird tension though?
“Uh- which!” She glances nervously around the courtyard, completely avoiding eye contact with the two of us. “I’ll get Natsuki to tell you during lunch!” She takes a few steps back, looking up at me now, with a shaky smile. Her gaze pointedly avoided Monika “Because I’ve got to run! Important… uh- club president stuff! Yep, so- see you later!” And with that she’s gone again.
…
Ok no, that was weird. I look over at Monika. “Do you know her?” Monika… asks me. That feels like something I should be asking honestly, but ok. I nod. Only recently. I joined her club yesterday. Monika hums thoughtfully, her usual warm smile returning. “I didn’t realize you were into writing!”
I’m not even sure if I am, and also she apparently knows it’s a literature club? Noted. I only joined so the club wouldn’t get shut down, it matters a lot to her and her friends. I’m not really sure if I’ll enjoy it or not. I tell her honestly… her expression becomes unreadable again, but then quickly changes to her usual warm smile. “That makes sense I suppose!” I- alright? I don’t really know what to gather from that.
“Anyway, I should head to class…” She turns on her heel towards the main building, but pauses after a few steps, and turns back to me with a nervous grin. “If you want we can meet up after school, and we can walk back home together?” She offers, which… I don’t really know how to respond to this?
I mean on one hand whatever is going on between Sayori and Monika, is absolutely none of my business, after all I did just meet the two of them yesterday (pretty much). But on the other hand, I don’t know what could’ve caused that sort of reaction out of Sayori. She seemed so… uncomfortable? Nervous? It was hard to tell, but it wasn’t good.
But Monika’s been incredibly nice as well… and as out of touch with social queues as I have been for the past couple years, I like to think I can tell when somebody is lying about how they’re feeling, and Monika seemed to genuinely enjoy our chat last night (at least from my hazy memories of it, I was very tired) and I certainly enjoyed her company this morning as well.
Maybe… once I get to know the two of them a bit more I can ask? It doesn’t seem like my business at the moment, and the two of them (despite Sayori’s boundless energy) are nice to hang out with.
Though one last thing. You’d probably have to stay a bit after school to wait for me to do that, since I’m in a club and all. Monika shrugs her shoulders. “That’s fine! I usually stay after classes are over anyway, find me in the music room after you’re done in the club alright?” Oh well, that makes it easier. I give her another nod.
With that we go our separate ways, she is a few grades higher than me after all, so it only makes sense. Heading to my locker, I quickly check my phone for any messages from Aubrey or Basil. Usual good mornings, and Aubrey complaining about the messages at five in the morning. So the usual. Grabbing my sketchbook, I head to my art class.
Oh right… the girl with pink hair… Suki? No wait, Natsuki! That’s right. Natsuki is in this class… and now I feel bad that I didn’t remember her name. Well there’s one way to fix that! I take a seat next to her, and she doesn’t seem to notice until I tap her shoulder.
She immediately recoils from the touch, whipping her head towards me with wide eyes, only to immediately blush in embarrassment? Was… not expecting that reaction. “God, I forgot you were in this class…” She crosses her arms, and glares at me. “You better not tell anyone that I’m taking this class, got it?!” O… k? Is she embarrassed to be taking art?
I give her a nod to reassure her- “ALSO, stop sitting next to me. Just because we’re in the same club doesn’t make us friends, you weirdo.” Ok, a bit of a rude way to say that but fair. Unfortunately for her… I’m not giving up that easily. I want to be your friend though, and since we both share a class I figured I’d get to know you more?
Her eyes twitch, and another blush creeps onto her cheeks. She really does get embarrassed easily… and honestly I’m not even sure what I said to cause that reaction. “D-Don’t put it like that you idiot! People will get the wrong idea!” She says in a hushed whisper as she glances around the classroom nervously.
Again, I do not know what that means??? It’s just how I feel, and besides like you said, we’re in the same club, so we’ll need to get along anyway, and you don’t seem to like me for some reason, so getting to know each other seems like a good way to break the tension. Her blush only increases as she reads more and more of the note.
“I-I never said I didn’t like you! Just that you’re weird!” There’s… a difference? Isn’t usually being called weird a bad thing? At least from her tone that’s what I was gathering… “W-Why are you even here anyway?! Aren’t you older than me??” I bite back a smile, I usually get accused of the opposite.
I haven’t gone to school in four years, so I was held back. I answer honestly.
“This school does that?” She tilts her head to the side slightly, raising an eyebrow. Which I answer with a nod, before adding I think it’s a special case for me, because I used to do pretty well in school before I stopped going. At least I think that’s what the principal was implying?
“Why’d you stop going to school then?” Dangerous question, and absolutely one I don’t want to talk about right now. Personal stuff with my family. That’s vague but gets the point across… her expression weirdly softens at it? “That… must’ve been rough.”
“It was.” Oh- I just said that out loud. Oops.
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Jeez, your voice is deeper than I thought it would be.” She notes, with a teasing grin. Thank you? She scoffs, and rolls her eyes. “Please, it’s just another weird thing about you.”
But in a good way. I think I’m starting to get her now.
“I never said that!” She says indignantly, with another blush. Bingo. “Also why isn’t that a question???” She glares at me again.
I give her the best teasing grin I can manage. Don’t worry about it. She mutters something under her breath which I can’t really make out.
“Oh yeah, I should tell you the club schedule huh?” She asks rhetorically I assume, because I absolutely do need to know about it if I’m going to participate. “It’s pretty easy to remember, it’s literally every school day after school, and lasts till 3:10 to 4:30, unless Sayo decides to end it early, or doesn’t show up ‘cause she’s- sick.” She stumbled on her words a bit at the end there.
I raise a questioning eyebrow at her. “Don’t look at me like that!” She glares back at me, and continues. “It’s just how it works!” Alright then, guess it was nothing?
The Teacher finally enters the class, and begins their lecture, much to Natsuki’s chagrin, since she was able to convince me to move before classes started. Just as planned. Though the two of us don’t really talk much else during the class, with both of us focused on our respective work.
The class eventually ends, and again the rest of the day isn’t too interesting, studying in Mr Vio’s office, lunch, mentally preparing for gym classes, nearly passing out from said gym classes, and finally onwards to the literature club.
…
I feel like I forgot something? Eh it’s probably not important. I open the door to the club, and Sayori immediately locks eyes with me, her odd expression from this morning nowhere to be seen, and instead replaced by her usual peppy grin.
“You really came back!” “Wow, you actually came back.” Both Sayori and MC speak at the same time, though in completely opposite tones from each other. The latter of which glances up at me from the book he and Yuri are reading for a moment.
Sayori gives a small glare to MC, who just shrugs in response, returning his focus back to the book. “Can you blame me for being skeptical?” He takes on a teasing smirk. “Any other time you kidnapped some random kid they usually ran off.”
“It wasn’t kidnapping!” She shouts in offence, which… it kind of was kidnapping, but better not to voice that. “They accepted the invitation!” Sayori pouts indignantly.
“After you grabbed their wrists and refused to let go.” She did do that.
“That- they could’ve left if they wanted!” She taps her fingers nervously, sparing a few glances towards me. I could not leave the woes of being physically incapable of many things...
MC looks up from his book again, and glances at me snickering under his breath. “I dunno, judgin’ by Sunny’s expression I think he agrees with me.” Oh shoot, was it that obvious? I return to a neutral expression, though it’s already too late as Sayori physically slouches, looking incredibly down-cresten.
Natsuki squinted her eyes, staring me down for a moment, before looking back at MC with a confused expression. “How could you even tell… he looked the same?” Natsuki points out, which… yeah actually how did he know that?
The entire clubroom (except Sayori for some reason?) looks at him expectantly. “Years of practice from Sayori.” He explains as if that makes perfect sense. Sayori just nods in agreement, still looking down-cresten.
“Sayori’s like the most expressive out of all of us???” I nod in agreement with Natsuki.
“You’re looking at her face, I’m looking at her soul.” What… does that even mean MC?
“That is just not true!” Natsuki shouts in annoyance.
MC raises an eyebrow, still not looking up from the book. “Sure it is, how would you know?” He softly nudges Yuri’s shoulder, Yuri gives a small nod, and flips the page of their book.
Natsuki rolls her eyes, still very annoyed by his vagueness. “Just shut up MC.”
He gives another shrug. “Alright then. Shutting up.” He mimics a zipper over his mouth, and him locking it with a key, before throwing said key away… and flipping Natsuki off.
She returns the favor, which gets a giggle from Sayori, who luckily seems to be feeling better from being called out. “Anyway! We’re glad to have you back Sunny!” Her grin brightens… somehow?
“Which actually brings me to the first piece of news today, and why it was super duper important we all showed up today!” She announces, headed to the teachers desk at the front of the room. “So! A student council representative is showing up today, to confirm we have five members, and weren’t lying about it-” “Like last time.” MC quips interrupting Sayori.
“Isn’t your mouth locked shut? Stay quiet.” Natsuki glowered at him in annoyance. What does he mean by “Last time”?
“Ehehe… we might’ve sort of… forged some paperwork last time?” Sayori admits sheepishly. Kind of hardcore for a literature club.
“Fuck you mean ‘we’? Are you speaking French??” MC quips again, pointing an accusatory finger at Sayori. “You did that on your own!”
Sayori pouts, and puts her hands on her hips. “It was a desperate time! And technically Forgery is a form of literature! So… it’s within our club's metrics!” Is it though? I’m not sure if that’s true… then again she is the leader of the club so she would know.
“S-Sayori forged a club submission form?” Yuri questions looking shocked at the implication that Sayori would commit any sort of crime. MC just nods in disappointment. Ok so maybe it isn’t if that’s the vice president's reaction.
“Kind of badass Sayori, didn’t know you had it in you.” Natsuki being the incredible influence she is apparently, gives Sayori a proud thumbs up. Sayori gives her a lopsided toothy grin in return.
MC rolls his eyes, glaring at Natsuki suspiciously. “I’m like 70% sure you’re an accomplice Nat.” She gives him a cocky grin in return. “Can’t prove that though.”
“ANYWAY-” Sayori clasps her hands together, making a loud slapping sound which gets all of our attention. “-that doesn’t matter! What does matter is that we make a good impression on the student council, because none of us want to be shut down, right?” Yuri gives a small nod, as Natsuki and MC mutter their agreement.
I feel myself nodding as well, which gets a bright grin out of Sayori. “Good! Then everyone on their best behaviour, they should be here any moment-”
*Knock Knock Knock*
The entire room goes silent, before Sayori skips towards the door, giving all of us one more pointed look. Talk about perfect timing. She gently opens the door, and politely greets the councilmen with a “Oh hi! Come on in!”
The councilman enters with a curt nod. “Thank you Miss Hirosei.” He takes a glance around the room, his eyes landing on me. “And I see you didn’t mix the paperwork for a poor attempt at forgery this time?” Sayori begins to sweat, but gives a proud nod. “Yeah, I’m still so sorry about that by the way, I made sure to give MC a stern talking to!”
MC’s eyes twitch in annoyance, but he says nothing and just stares at the back of Sayori’s head with a glare that could drill through the back of her skull if he tried hard enough. Natsuki is fighting to hold back her laughter, I’m pretty sure I am as well.
“Sunny Suzuki I presume?” I give a nod, he eyes me suspiciously. “Just a simple question, where did you transfer from?” I simply write. Faraway Elementary. That seems to be enough to convince him (of what I have no idea) as he turns back to Sayori. “Well, congratulations Miss Hirosei, it appears the literature club will remain open.”
She lets out a sigh of relief, and nods, taking the councilman's hand and shaking it. “Thank you very much!” He returns the gesture. “Of course, be sure to keep your grade average up and we will have no problems, and please… make sure none of your clubmates commit forgery again.”
She gives a sure nod. “I’ll be sure of it!” with that he takes his leave.
…
MC calmly hands the book over to Yuri, still staring Sayori down, who’s looking a lot more nervous all of a sudden.
Everything is quiet for a moment, and then-
“You framed ME for forgery?!” MC suddenly shouts angrily, shooting up to his feet.
“EEK-!” Sayori rushes behind Natsuki, as MC charges towards her. “Suki save me!”
“The heck you want me to do?! He’s like, twice my size!” Natsuki complains, though still spreads her arms out protectively in front of Sayori as MC tries to grab her.
The two of them circle around Natsuki for a few minutes, who at some point gives up on defending Sayori, and just lets her arms fall limp to her sides, until eventually MC grabs hold of Sayori’s ear, pulling on it. “Ow ow ow-! Let go, you meanie!” She whines, punching MC lightly against his chest.
He grabs hold of her arms, and shoves them to the side. “I’M the meanie?!” He then lets go of them and squishes Sayori’s cheeks, with a piercing glare. “I was wondering why the council was giving me shit for the past week, and I find out it’s because of you?!” He squishes her face even harder, which gets a pained squeal out of Sayori.
“I’m sowwy!!! Wet goww!!!” Sayori pleads through her squished state (and sounding very silly in the process), and with a resigned sigh MC obliges, letting her go but not without lightly booping her on the head with his fist first, which prompts another ‘ow’ from Sayori who rubs her cheeks in pain.
“Don’t do that again.” He threatens with a pointed look, and an accusatory finger. Sayori simply nods, looking incredibly apologetic… sort of like a sad wet dog kind of way now that I think about it. I can almost hear the whines… well apart from the ones she was doing earlier.
Yuri giggles into her hand at their small spat, I feel pretty similarly honestly. I wonder if stuff like this happens a lot? Considering how close the two of them seem to be it wouldn’t be very surprising, especially with how used to it every other member seems to be.
Natsuki rolls her eyes at the scene. “You two done with your couples squabble?” Natsuki teases breaking the tension, this comment also earns her two looks of disgust from both Sayori and MC of varying degrees of intensity and whiplash.
“Ew!” “Gross.” Sayori and MC reply at the same time.
MC does a double-take, and snaps his head to Sayori. “Fuck you mean ‘ew’?? That’s kind of hurtful??” Sayori points back at him and sticks her tongue out. “You called me gross! So we’re even!”
MC’s eyes twitch. “Even huh-?” Sayori giggles nervously. “Anyway! T-Thank you again, for joining Sunny!” Ah subject change, smart play. “You saved the club!!” She gave me a bright albeit slightly nervous grin, as she would still be side-eyeing MC occasionally, who still looks somewhat annoyed with her.
Might as well back her up with this. Like I said before, it’s no problem. I write with a shrug, before continuing. Besides, I figure I might as well give this club a shot since I’m a member and all.
MC walks up and pats me on the back, which lurches me forward a bit from the force. “Well if you’re going to be sticking around then we’re glad to have ya.” He gives a pointed look to Natsuki, who pouts and mutters. “Yeah, we are or whatever…”
Sayori walks back to the teachers desk with her usual bright grin. “Well! Now that that’s taken care of, we can move on to our next topic!” She once again writes ‘Short Stories’ on the blackboard, before quickly adding a small ‘ideas!!!’ underneath it before putting down the chalk and staring back at the rest of the club.
“We’ll just go around and toss ideas, to get the brainwaves flowing, ya know?” She taps her forehead as she says this, to illustrate her point.
MC breaks into a sly grin. “So you don’t have any ideas yourself huh?” He accuses which makes Sayori flush in embarrassment. “T-That-! Maybe… but that’s unrelated!”
The rest of the club gathers around the front desk, and Natsuki raises her hand. Sayori giggles. “Suki, you don’t need to raise your hand just let the ideas flow~” She repeats in a sing-song tone.
“That's gonna get out of hand real quick.” Natsuki and MC speak at the same time, which gets a retch of disgust from Natsuki. “See? If me and that perv are on the same wavelength that can’t be good.”
MC holds a hand to his chest, clenching it in pain. “You wound me Nat… and here I thought we were friends.” He sniffles. She just rolls her eyes in response. “We’re clubmates at most you moron, definitely not friends.” Now it’s Sayori’s time to sniffle… though this one's a bit more real then MC’s I think. “We’re not..?”
Natsuki immediately retracts her statement… something tells me this is going to go on for a while. Ah well, could spend it in worse company I guess. But since they’re distracted I might as well think of some actual ideas for the assignment.
Of course I could always just wing it, after all that tends to go well in my favor more so then not nowadays, but something tells me Sayori wouldn’t appreciate it… and would probably see through it. Same with Yuri. So I should probably at least try to try on this… if that makes sense?
…
I’ve decided it does.
Ok so, ideas then? There was that drawing with Aubrey batting me out the window yesterday, maybe it could be based around that? I mean having an illustration with the story would be a nice twist right?
But again, I spent at most thirty minutes on that picture, so maybe something with a bit more nuance? So none of my doodles, maybe my dream folder?
…
I don’t know how I feel about that. I mean SURE the characters in those stories (bar myself and the dream versions of my friends, which I don’t even want to BEGIN thinking of how I explain them) but Headspace itself is just… very weird.
Like am I just supposed to explain, “Oh yeah this whole world with weird eldritch ideas and lore? Yeah, I made it up in my head in the last four years trying to forget the grief of losing my sister and the guilt of leaving all my friends to deal with the aftermath, ya know normal twelve year old things!” Something tells me they wouldn’t take that very well…
Ok well, maybe Sayori would sort of kind of get it. But BESIDES HER, the others wouldn’t appreciate that at least… probably. Maybe.
Hmmm.
“What’cha thinkin’ about Sunny?” Oh crap. Was I talking out loud? I glanced over at MC in surprise. No… immediate reaction, so no. Thank god. I shrug my shoulders, and gesture to Natsuki and Sayori. “Got no ideas as well huh?” I mean… yes and no? I nod. “Think that goes for most of the club, so don’t sweat it too much. Got all week to figure it out anyway.”
How do you usually do this? “Admittedly I usually just write down the first thing that comes to my head, usually it comes out pretty good… apparently it’s similar to Yuri’s writing, but I never see it.” He confesses, which… right, so they don’t care as much as I thought they would.
He pats my shoulder. “See? Relax. Whatever you write they’ll enjoy no matter how… uh-” He pauses, and opens and closes his mouth a couple times to try and rephrase before giving up and settling on. “Anyway yeah, it’ll be fine.” Incredibly reassuring, thank you.
“I’m usually better at this, I swear.” MC sheepishly says.
“No you aren’t.” Natsuki quips with a sly grin, and a sharp glance.
“Are you?” Yuri asks with a raised eyebrow glancing up from her book for a moment.
“In your dreams maybe.” Sayori teases with an innocent smile, still focused on the blackboard, which is now filled with many ideas(?) from Sayori and Natsuki.
I just stood there holding back a laugh, because they were SO fast with that, it was honestly incredible. MC gives me a pointed look… whoops, couldn’t help it. He sighs and laughs it off, I guess he’s used to the three of them ganging up on him.
“Thanks you three, always have my back.” He mutters sarcastically just loud enough for me to hear, which gets another quiet snort from me. Which in turn gets a laugh out of him. The rest of the club goes in a similar fashion to that. Though I don’t really pay attention for most of it as I’m trying to come up with an idea that I actually like…
But eventually before I know it Sayori calls out… “Alright everyone! Club time is over! Time to head home!” Signifying the end of… well club. That was a lot faster it feels like, but that’s fine. There’s always tomorrow… I pack up my things and wave to whoever is left in the clubroom… so Sayori and Yuri.
The former of which gives me an enthusiastic “Bye Sunny! And thank you again!” As I leave. Walking the halls… I have a vague memory of this morning. Which… is odd, usually my memory isn’t that fuzzy, but… it was about somebody? Right? Who?
I freeze in place, as I hear the familiar sounds of a Piano echoing down the hall.
…
Oh- fuck. THAT’S what I forgot during lunch. I turn on my heel and… there’s nothing there. Just complete darkness. Of course, yep- yepyepyep. GOOD. Great. Mhm…
I guess we’re doing this then.
I take a deep breath and CALM DOWN, and turn back towards the music room. Let’s get this over with. I take cautious, and quiet steps towards the music room, being sure not to alert whoever or… whatever in this case might be waiting for me in there, and gently open the door, making sure it doesn’t squeak as I enter.
I’m met with a familiar bed of black hair. Yeah… that makes sense. Though the song is… different? Not in a bad way, it just isn’t one I made in headspace or one she used to practice all those years ago… which is odd.
Another odd thing is that she doesn’t speak when I approach her, which she usually would, something about the truth usually… which I guess she wouldn’t anymore considering… well, that cat's out of the bag at this point… but instead she sits there silently in concentration, her eyes completely focused on the keys in front of her.
I… don’t want to be here. But I feel like… Am I forgetting something? I’m supposed to be here for a reason, what was it again-? There’s a sudden ‘plink’ from the piano which doesn’t go with the song, oh a wrong note “From the top little Brother!” Oh that’s- no. Don’t like that. I scratch at my neck, as my breathing starts to get uneven.
No no. You have to. You need to. You can’t run away. You can’t- “Sunny?” That’s… not her voice, what-? Who was that? I take another deep breath and CALM DOWN, and FOCUS on that voice, looking up at…
Monika.
That’s her name.
Her hands land on my shoulders, as if she’s trying to shake me out of a daze… which, yeah that makes sense I kind of was in one. “Sunny?! Are you alright?!” She raises her voice a bit, purely out of concern. She has a terrified expression on her face, like she doesn’t understand what’s happening, which again… makes sense. God I’m really out of it.
I manage a small nod. “ ‘m fine…” Hopefully that’s enough to reassure her. I don’t think I could write with how much I feel like I’m shaking right now.
Her expression deepens into a bit of a scowl. “Sunny, that… you don’t look fine. You’re barely standing straight.” She points out, releasing a hand from my shoulder to gesture at me… in general.
Now that she mentions it, I do feel a bit dizzy.
I feel myself waver a bit, but she plants her hands on my shoulders more firmly, holding me up. “Ok, let’s sit you down. You can’t stand straight. Try to breathe ok?” Oh right, I need to do that. I take a couple more deep breaths. In and out… in and out.
Monika leads me to the stool by the piano, and makes me sit down. I just focus on my breathing as she told me to do, and eventually she hands me a water bottle. I graciously accepted it and took a long sip from it.
The two of us sit there for a little while, the only sounds being our breaths, before she asks. “Feeling a bit better?” I nod, and point to my bag. She seems confused for a moment but concedes, grabbing it and handing it to me.
After a moment I take out my medicine and pop them in my mouth, washing it down with some water. I give her an apologetic look as I write. I forgot to take those during lunch. Sorry if I scared you. She eyes the container for a moment, before giving me a small smile. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
We both sit there for a moment in complete silence as I brace myself for an onslaught of questions which I’m not entirely sure how to answer and…
Nothing happens?
She isn’t going to question it more?? Ok… I didn’t really feel like talking about it anyway so that’s… that’s fine. I give her a thankful nod, and place the container back in my bag. Do you still want to walk home together? I understand if you don’t.
“If you’re still up for it, sure! I think I’d feel better knowing you got home alright anyway.” She admits with a sweet smile. Oh, well that’s nice of her. Getting back to my feet, backpack secured on my back, I give her a nod. She nods back. “Right, let’s get going then.”
We exit the school in silence, though I glance at the occasional noise of some of the students scurrying out of the building, and once we make it through the gates Monika speaks up once again. “So… how do you enjoy the literature club?”
The members are nice, and it’s better than just heading home and doing nothing. Which is how I choose to answer… which sounds kind of mean? Let me reiterate. Sorry, I mean I enjoy it, and I want to get to know the rest of the members better because of how nice they are.
“Did Natsuki give you trouble?” She asks with a raised eyebrow. She didn’t like the idea of ‘another boy’ joining the club but other than that she was ok. How do you know her?
“We share a class, and we’re sort of friends? I overheard her chatting about a ‘weird boy with an eyepatch’ with some of her more gossipy friends. So I put two and two together.” Ah, that explains that… makes sense that there’s some gossip about me, not everyday some random kid shows up with an eyepatch.
Moniks giggles. “It was funny, because she was actually defending you.” Wait what? That seems… weird for her. “Well… ‘defending’ in her own Natsuki sort of way.” Ah, that makes more sense. So something along the lines of “that’s my clubmate you’re talking about, so keep your mouth shut.”?
“Ehhh, not nearly as aggressive. But yeah, essentially.” She answers with a shrug. “Honestly it was sweet of her, considering you weren’t even there, but that’s Natsuki for you! Always caring for those she considers friends, even if she hates showing it.”
Now that’s more surprising, she considers me a friend? Not really sure if I buy that. But she probably has a better idea of that sort of thing than I do, so I’ll take her word for it. “Don’t look so surprised!” Oh- it was obvious I guess? I didn’t think it was. “Then again it might not be as obvious if you haven’t known her for a long time.”
How long have you known her? She pauses for a second considering the question. “I want to say… almost four years at this point? We were friends before she joined the literature club a year and uh… yeah! Four years, definitely.” That… alright. She definitely would know better than me then.
Were you in the literature club before? “Nope.” That- was quick. “Honestly I’ve only heard about it from Natsuki.” She adds quickly. Which is weird to me? For some reason? That feels significant in some way but I can’t pinpoint why.
Wait no- I do know why. Sayori when she saw Monika this morning… completely froze up, and yet here Monika is saying that she hasn’t talked to her before? Weird. Definitely weird. But… again probably not my business? Whatever happened between the two of them Monika clearly wants to keep it between the two of them-
“Sunny, you alright?” Monika suddenly asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. Ah, I was quiet for too long. Whoops. Sorry just thinking. Not the best excuse but it’ll have to work- “Penny for your thoughts?” Curse you Monika and your thoughtfulness and worry for my well-being.
Ok, something plausible and truthful then. Talking about the club got me thinking about the assignment Sayori gave us yesterday. She tilts her head slightly, ushering me to continue.
I go on to explain the assignment and how I’ve been struggling about coming up with something to write for it. Which isn’t… entirely true, as I have many ideas for it. But still, I'm not sure if I want to use any of those or talk about Headspace beyond my friends in Faraway… ever.
“Well… it doesn’t have to be perfect. I’m sure whatever you write they’ll all enjoy it, the best thing to do is to get something down on paper no matter how rough it might look, after all you can always edit it later.” That’s… good advice, huh. Much better than what MC gave me earlier anyway. (Again, almost like she’s done this before… weird weird weird.)
I give her a thankful nod. I’ll remember that. She gives me a small smile with a nod. The rest of the walk is pretty peaceful as I ask Monika about how her day went, and she proceeds to go on a tangent about some guy named Todd hitting on her during science class. (Something about a pickup line involving chemicals which wasn’t clever at all?)
Besides a few close calls with some trees and the several angry rants about them through several notes, we eventually arrive at our apartment complex, and make our way up to my floor first. (Hers is a few floors down apparently. Noted.)
I unlock the door, and find mom sitting at the kitchen counter tapping away on her laptop. She’s always so busy… I clear my throat to let her know I’m home, and she immediately perks up to look at the doorway.
“Oh hello my little Sunshine!” Oh no. It suddenly occurred to me that… I just brought a girl back to my apartment in front of my mother. I glance back at Monika worriedly- “Oh? Who’s this?” Welp, caution to the wind then. I quickly signed to mom. “This is a friend from school, her name is…” (I don’t have signs for Monika yet so uh… spell it out??) “Monika. She’s here because she wanted to help me get home and not run into several trees-”
“Woah woah, slow down honey. I’m a bit rusty on my ASL… something about being a friend and… Monika right?” She glances up at Monika as she asks that, who returns with a stiff nod. Oh good, she’s also nervous. “That’s right. A pleasure to meet you ma’am.” Mom stifles a laugh. “No need to be so nervous dear, and please call me Sanuko.”
“R-Right. Nice to meet you Ms. Sanuko.” Monika sheepishly says. Mom pouts a bit at the ‘miss’ but just sighs in acceptance. “Now… What were you saying, Sunny?” Oh she does know mercy, thank you mom. I take a deep breath and sign a bit slowly this time.
“She helped me get home without running into anything, she lives a few floors down from us.” Mom nods in understanding. “I see… well!” She takes Monika’s hand, and smiles down at her warmly. “Thank you for helping Monika, I’m sure he appreciates it even if it’s a bit hard to tell.” I think I’ll go find a shovel and dig myself a grave.
Monika laughs nervously. “It wasn’t a problem at all! I was happy to help…” She then glances back at me with a knowing smile. “And trust me I can tell he appreciated the help, he’s been… well not vocal, but very opinionated about his struggles with trees.” They’re the bane of my existence… trees AND doors. Seriously, where do they keep coming from?
“Well… can I at least offer to let you stay for dinner? I was planning on making a yummy steak, and I’m sure Sunny wouldn’t mind sharing a bit with you.” I would mind actually. That’s mine. Monika backs away from the doorway, and smiles sheepishly. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to decline.” She glances away nervously. “I have plans tonight.” Ok, that was such a bold face lie.
But… “Oh, well it can’t be helped then.” Yep. Figures. “Perhaps some other time?” Mom offers, which Monika gives a slow and unsure nod to. “Yeah… I’ll think about it.” Mom smiles warmly at her. “That’s all I ask, well! I shouldn’t keep you, have a good night Monika.” I wave goodbye to her as well. “I will! See you tomorrow Sunny.” With that she walks off, as I shut the door.
I’m then immediately wrapped in a tight hug. “Oh! My little Sunshine is out there making friends?! I’m so proud of you right now!”
…
Didn’t I tell her I was in a club??? Wait- did I? I could’ve sworn I did…
Wait. No… I did not. She wasn’t here this morning, well I should probably tell her about that then. Mom prepares dinner, and during it I tell her about the literature club I had joined (leaving out that I was technically begged into joining, mostly for Sayori’s sake). She was incredibly surprised to hear that but supported me just as much.
“Oh, so was that Monika girl from that club?” I shake my head. “I met her on the roof last night.” I- why did I just admit that. Mom predictably pauses at that. “You snuck out again hm?” Wha- she knew? “Sunny, you forget that mommy’s a light sleeper, I hear every door that opens in this apartment.” Oh. “So… you know about?” She just nods.
“Not a habit you should be keeping… especially if you’re going to be sneaking off meeting girls-” Annnd, tuning her out as she continues to lecture me about… that. As soon as she finishes I sign with a pointed glare. “You do realize it was chance we met up there, right? I didn’t go looking for her…”
Mom stifles a laugh. “I know I know! I’m just teasing you!” She pokes my arm. The rest of dinner is pretty uneventful, because I choose to ignore all the blatant teasing remarks Mom keeps throwing at me, and just focus on my beautiful beautiful steak. Which is super duper yummy, and much better than anything related to… that.
Mom really did do a good job on it, probably because she actually cooked it and you know… didn’t microwave it in an unplugged and unpowered microwave. (Not my best move, I will admit). Eventually I finish up, wash my plate and head to my room… but not without one more “I love you!” from mom… with an added teasing quip.
This is going to be a new thing isn’t it? Not… the worst thing to be teased to death about, but still… definitely is something.
I get changed out of my uniform, and take a quick shower before… my phone rumbles with a familiar pinging noise. Wonder who it is this time?
Oh, it’s Aubrey again.
[Pink_Boss]: Basil is about to call in a few minutes
[Pink_Boss]: He’s busy with plant stuff, ya know how it is
you cant call? :[Universally_Loved]
[Pink_Boss]: Mav bet me fifty dollars I couldn’t toss my phone into the air and catch it.
[Pink_Boss]: And me being the dumbass I am, took that bet. Cause ya know, reputation.
+5 street cred :[Universally_Loved]
[Pink_Boss]: Would’ve been if I caught it and it didn’t immediately land in the lake
[Pink_Boss]: Mother fucker, why did you stop typing?
[Pink_Boss]: Stop fucking laughing at me and get your ass back here.
mom called :[Universally_Loved]
[Pink_Boss]: You’re so full of shit.
[Pink_Boss]: Anyway this is all a roundabout way of telling you that Basil and I are coming to the city to pick up a replacement for me.
[Pink_Boss]: Because apparently Faraway doesn’t have any???
imagine living in the middle of nowhere :[Universally_Loved]
[Pink_Boss]: Imagine not shutting up.
[Pink_Boss]: How can one person who talks as much as you do, be such a little shit?
genetics :[Universally_Loved]
[Pink_Boss]: ANYWAY
[Pink_Boss]: Tell your mom that we’ll probably come over during the weekend.
b :[Universally_Loved]
[Pink_Boss]: Cool, talk to you in a few minutes.
Setting my phone aside on my bedside table for now, I head back into the living room, quickly telling mom about Aubrey and Basil coming over during the weekend… She seems a bit nervous about Basil, but says she’ll be fine with it as long as Aubrey is there. Can’t really complain about that I suppose.
I head back to my room, and once again my phone begins to ring… and I hear on the other end… “Hello?” I give Basil a small grunt of affirmation. “Hey Sunny!” I can practically see the beaming smile from here. A small smile tugs at my lips as well at just hearing his voice, as usual whenever I hear from my friends in Faraway.
The two of us chat a little bit, where Basil confirms that yes Aubrey did do all of that, for whatever reason and that they’ll most likely be coming over either friday or saturday. So that’s something to look forward to. Aubrey returns from having been helping Polly with something really quick, and Basil sets the phone to speaker mode so I’m able to hear both of them.
They talk about their days at school, and a bit after the fact, most notably what led up to The Maverick asking Aubrey to potentially destroy her phone. (While hearing it from that perspective didn’t make it any less dumber in my opinion, it was still funny.) Basil apparently was ‘adopted’ into the Hooligang (Aubrey’s words not mine) and she keeps threatening to make a hooligan out of him, much to his dismay.
“Oh! And Charlie and I started a small little daffodil garden in her room. We even got The Maverick to help.” Basil continues to ramble, only to be interrupted by a snort courtesy of Aubrey.
Biting back a laugh Aubrey says “There’s no way Mav helped without an ulterior motive, as much as we all love Charlie he wouldn’t stick around that long to grow flowers unless I ordered him to.”
“Well… he seemed eager to help?” Basil says in a confused tone.
“Wait…” Aubrey pauses, I can’t see her but I have to assume something just dawned on her, as I hear shuffling in the background as if she got up… and then a door slam just as quickly.
“U-Um?” Basil stammers, seeming just as confused as I am right now. “I’m sure she’ll be back in a few minutes.” I wonder where she ran off to? Maybe to question The Maverick about something?
“Well, how are you Sunny? Anything interesting happen today?” Basil asks. Hm, might as well get my thoughts out about Monika and her connection to the literature club out there. I tell Basil over text in the groupchat about Monika and everything related to her that I found weird today…
He silently reads over what I said before letting out a disgruntled hum. “That is strange…” He pauses for a moment before sighing. “But it probably isn’t our business?” I let out a frustrated sigh. That was basically my thoughts on it.
“M-Maybe once you get to know them a little bit more, you can ask? If it’s that important to you…” He nervously adds, and… is it that important? I mean, it’s weird, sure but it’s not like any harm came from it, they’re just weird around each other, and clearly Monika is hiding something she doesn’t want to talk about.
Which makes sense considering she’s known me about a day, heck not even, twelve hours at most at this point. So really, why am I getting so worked up about this?
The expression she had when Sayori interrupted us flashes through my mind. I think maybe that’s why… that blank, stonefaced expression seemed… familiar almost, and just as quickly as it appeared it was gone again.
…
Oh.
So it’s because she reminds me of… well me a couple months ago when I first went outside. At least during that one exchange. Cliff-faced, unreadable, lifeless eyes with a hundred yard stare. The same expression that now that I can remember it a bit more clearly, she also had the night we met before I interrupted her.
Why… was she sitting near the edge-? “Sunny?” Basil’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts… probably a good thing considering where that train of thought was going.
“Are you still there?” His voice is further away from the phone now, probably checking to see if I’m still in the call.
“I am.” I say aloud, my voice straining a bit just from that. I still have to do my voice exercises today… “Oh good, you just didn’t text anything back, I got worried.” I text him was just thinking sorry and quickly follow it up with everything surrounding her is weird but ill ask once i get to know her more.
“Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about… tell us if something happens alright?” Still worried then. i will promise “Thank you.” He sounds relieved, good. “Well besides that, how was-” There’s a loud BANG noise from Basil’s side which he lets out a frightened yelp at, and it’s quickly followed up by Aubrey yelling “I FUCKING KNEW IT!” Oh boy. That’s probably not good.
The other end of the receiver goes quiet, though I do hear the occasional apology from Aubrey. I guess Polly must not have liked her suddenly barging into the house like that, there’s some shuffling and after a while Basil speaks up again. “Sorry about that… What else happened for you today, Sunny?”
I told them about what had happened during the club, from the forgery Sayori committed. “That might be fun… think you can get me her number?” Aubrey interrupts.
why? “To screw with Miss Candice, what else?” She answers immediately and honestly. i dont have her number so not at the moment. “Damn. Next time then.” Probably not, she probably wouldn’t do anything like that anyway.
I also bring up the short story assignment Sayori gave us, and my worries about it. “Don’t you have like an entire sketchbook of things to write a story off of?” Aubrey asks rhetorically. We both know the answer already. “Just use that.”
thats personal stuff. Same reasoning I used before. “It’s also not real, wouldn’t this be a good way of getting it out there? I mean you share it with us, this is just that but with different people.” Aubrey counters which… is a good point honestly. It still feels weird.
“Maybe… it doesn’t need to be a very important adventure to start? It could just be the encounter with Boss at the beginning!” Basil suggests, which… isn’t a bad idea but- that includes WHITESPACE and Mari is also there i don’t know if I feel comfortable writing for her that definitely would be weird.
“T-That’s fair… hm.” Basil hums in thought, before Aubrey interrupts again. “It doesn’t necessarily have to include her?” She suggests before adding. “I mean stories are rewritten all the time right, so it would be something like that?” Huh, maybe… I could try that.
I just removed WHITESPACE as a part of Headspace altogether and instead of Mari it could be… Omori instead? After all, he would know headspace the most, so he would work well as a guide. I could even update my friends' “characters” so they match more to their real life counterparts.
This… could work. Yeah. “Thanks.” I say sincerely. “No problem Sunny! Happy to help.” Basil beams, or at least I assume he is. “Yeah, what he said.” Aubrey says with a snicker.
The rest of our conversation is just about anything and everything, small things like the upcoming Spaceboy movie. (Which apparently Kel invited Aubrey to go see? That’s progress I think?)
Sweetheart is also getting a resurgence much to my displeasure. “You just don’t get it Sunny.” Aubrey says in a knowing tone, she absolutely knows how much I hate Sweetheart. Ok Aubrey, I get that she’s annoying and a tyrant and tends to do more harm than good.
Eventually after a heated debate between the two of us about Sweetheart, we end the call, and I get started on writing the new version of the Boss Encounter for the literature club.