Chapter Text
It’s the day after the festival.
I’m still a little worn out from Sayori pulling me by the wrist all over the festival yesterday, but the thought of coming back to the Literature Club and seeing her again is enough to keep me going.
I pull myself out of bed, take a quick shower, shovel a granola bar down my throat and head out my front door. Already, I can see Sayori waiting for me.
“Good morning, MC~” Sayori says, smiling that innocent smile of hers as if she didn’t just call me ‘MC’. Oh christ. Even my newfound girlfriend is in on it
“Oh come on, babe!” I say, beginning to walk towards the school. “I write just one less-than-stellar rap as my poem, and now even you won’t stop calling me MC!”
Despite my protests, Sayori just giggles. I swear, she’s enjoying this little joke just as much as the others. But when she speaks again, she says something I wasn’t ready for.
“Ehehe~ The other girls might be making fun of you, but do you know why I call you ‘MC’?” she asks.
“Because you’re in on the joke?” I say.
Sayori pouts. “Come on sweetie! Give me more credit than that!” And then she was right back to smiling. “I call you ‘MC’ because I’m sure that you could be an awesome rapper someday, if you just put your mind to it!”
“Heh… Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Sayori.” I say. Of course, I’m not all that passionate about becoming a rapper, but I’m not about to shut Sayori down when she’s trying to be supportive.
We keep on walking, arm in arm until we reach the front gates of the school. With a quick smooch and a warm wish, we part ways.
The school day passes, but through the doldrum and monotony, I can tell that something isn’t quite right. When I got to the lunchroom, the guy I usually wind up sitting next to… Daichi was his name, I think. He wasn’t acting like himself at all. Usually, he would talk up a storm with anyone else nearby and treat us to his endless reserve of puns. I don’t really know the guy, but he usually made me smile at least once a day.
But today? He barely responded to anything. All he did was groan a few times, clutch his head and glare at anyone who engaged him for too long. He wolfed down his lunch like a madman, though. As if he’d gone hungry so long that he’d forgotten what chewing felt like. Daichi isn’t the only one acting strange either. A solid half of the student body is worryingly unresponsive. I really hope none of the Literature Club has the bug.
The day carries on, even more dead than usual. History class comes, and I tune out right when the teacher starts to discuss the formation of the United Prefectures of Japamerica. Yes, yes. FDR and Hirohito had a political marriage and our great nation was formed. Just don’t make me think about the honeymoon.
While I’m tuned out, I begin to think of the literature club, of Sayori, of what’s going on in my animes right now, and then it occurs to me. I haven’t heard any kind of government advisory about the bug going around. Nobody’s confirmed if it’s the flu, mad cow disease, a collective panic attack, or anything. I haven't even heard if the government was investigating or not. I ask around, and even the students who are lucid enough to talk are as clueless as I am. It’s like this illness just materialized this morning.
Hell… maybe I have it. Can’t tell if I’m sick or just so bored by the banality of my classes that I’m falling asleep. After what felt like a week of monotony and worrying about catching the bug, it’s finally time to go to the literature club. Thank God.
I walk up in that club, and the usual scene greets me. Natsuki’s off in the corner with her manga, Yuri’s at her desk with her horror novel, and Monika and Sayori are up front with their conversations.
As I enter the club room, Sayori runs over and pulls me into a hug.
“MC!~” She says. I can feel her trying to pick me up and spin me around, but she doesn’t quite have the strength to accomplish it. It occurs to me just how massive of a 180 in attitude from how despondent Sayori was the day before the festival. Maybe our newfound relationship is giving her some kind of contact high…
How long is that going to last?
“Gee, it's like you haven't seen me in months…” I say, not resisting her embrace.
“Yeah, but every minute feels like a month without you!” Sayori says. Yuri moves to hide her smile behind her book, Natsuki just rolls her eyes. I smile too, in spite of myself.
Sayori can be absolutely adorable when she wants to be. Guess that’s part of why I love her so much.
“Alright, alright, I’m here. Now what do we do?” I say.
“We could talk, silly~” Sayori says. And honestly, that’s all we really need to do, isn’t it? Hell, we could just sit down and enjoy one another’s presence and I’d be totally happy with that.
I guess Sayori’s not the only one with a contact high from all this.
We pay little mind to the reactions of the other club members as we take a seat together to talk.
“So, how’ve you been feeling, Sayori?” I ask, swiveling my head around the classroom to confirm that the others weren’t paying us any mind.
“Fantastic!~” She says, tacking on an “I really mean it.” when she sees my incredulous expression.
“Really?” I ask. “This is all such a sudden turnaround from… well… you know.”
Sayori sighs and gives me a wistful smile. “That raincloud is still there, but yesterday was a wind that blew it far, far away.”
As little as I know about depression, there wouldn’t be medical treatments for it if it could be cured by one good day at a school festival. So it makes sense that her change in mood would be a temporary thing.
In the blink of an eye, Sayori plants a kiss on my cheek. “I have you to thank for that.~”
We may officially be an item now, but the sudden smooch is still enough to stun me. It takes a solid 15 seconds for my lips to remember how to form words and say “Don’t mention it.”
Thankfully, that just made Sayori giggle. “Gosh, boyfriend or no you’re still the dork I’ve always known, aren’t you, MC?”
A sly smile creeps up my face. Now’s my chance for payback. “And so are you, Sayori.” I can see in Sayori’s face that she’s about to chastise me for being mean, so I quickly follow up with “And that’s why I love you.”
I hear Natsuki sigh pointedly from behind us. I couldn’t care if I tried.
Instead of scolding me, Sayori giggles. “Gee, what was I so worried about? Things are still just like they were before.” Despite her reddening face, Sayori beams as she finishes that thought. “All we did was start kissing!~”
It’s true. She found plenty of excuses to kiss me yesterday. Usually to thank me for buying her something. And boy did I buy her things yesterday.
I’ll be feeling that expenditure for weeks, but seeing Sayori smile like that was worth every last penny. Especially with how much pain she was in the day before. It may be a temporary band aid, but it’s one that I’m proud to have been able to put there.
“Speaking of kissing, Sayori…” I say, a conspiratorial grin on my face. “I never did get payback for you pulling me into that kiss in front of-”
Monika cuts in with a pointed “Okay, everyone! It’s time to share p-”
[SLAM]
Someone throws the door to the classroom open, and everyone stops dead in their tracks when they hear the noise.
We all see a male student standing in the doorway, his posture limp. His glazed over, grey eyes stare into nothing. It looks like he tried to rip his collar off, but forgot what buttons were and just clawed it off with his fingernails. For a few heavy seconds, he just stands there, muttering gibberish to himself.
Monika is the first to break the silence. “Ahaha… Can we help you?” she says, glancing over to us with a highly uncomfortable smile.
My first instinct is to look towards Sayori and try to read her expression. She looks to me just as I do so. She’s obviously scared. We’re all a little scared, but something about the look in her eyes makes me think she’s looking for something from me. I think it’s reassurance she’s after.
I nod to Sayori “Yes, I’ll protect you.”
Sayori shakes her head. “I know you will. It’s not that…”
I raise an eyebrow, what else could it possibly be?
Despite my silence, Sayori can read me without the need for words. “I saw this guy earlier today…”
“Did he give you a hard time?” I ask. I swear if he did anything to my Sayori…
“No. That’s the thing, he didn’t do much of anything at all…” Sayori says. I feel my heart sink like a rock as I get what Sayori was trying to say.
“He’s one of the people who had the bug, isn’t he?”
Sayori nods again. If she’s right, this weird little flu going around might be something far worse than any one of us could have predicted.
“We’ll see how the other sick people are acting before we freak out, okay?” I say, trying to keep both of us calm. “For now, let’s just see how this turns out.”
As this goes on, the strange student seems more and more agitated. His quiet mumbling turning into a throaty moan of anger. Kind of like someone trying to gargle while doing a death metal growl.
Natsuki gets about halfway through asking “What the hell is your problem?” before the student lunges at Monika. Whatever’s wrong with him, I just know in the pit of my stomach that he’s going to try and kill her.