I don't recall inviting, like, at least half of these people. Where do they get off showing up uninvited? Eating my food? Drinking my alcohol?!? These presumptuous louts!

I guess if you show decent human politeness to anyone who perceives you as 'popular' they take that as a ticket to crash your graduation party for some kind of social status. Do they even realize this 'clout' is all gonna be useless in a couple months when everyone scatters to different cities, jobs, and universities? I thought this crap would finally be over now that we graduated.

My internal ranting is interrupted when a new group arrives, this time containing actual friends. All my literature club members, present and former, arrive together. Natsuki and Sayori are definitely pumped to be here. MC and Kay (our only new first-year member) seem a bit unsure amidst the bustling crowd, while Yuri looks like she just shat herself.

These are about the reactions I expected, to be honest. There are probably sixty or seventy people here already. It would've been easier for the shy ones if they could have come early and helped set up, then left once it started to get crowded, but Nat, Yuri and MC all had shifts until pretty late, and they wanted to carpool.

"Hey guys, welcome to the shit show! And I said no presents, y'know, what's all this?" Each of them is carrying some kind of parcel or envelope.

"Don't worry, they aren't graduation presents!" Sayori announces. "They're thank-you gifts for our club president!"

Ugh I should have known they would pull something like this. God dammit. I look around to make sure nobody's paying too much attention.

"Alright, come upstairs for a minute."

I lead them upstairs and move the dog gate so they can pass. I really hope nobody sees us coming up here and thinks it's okay to follow. My parents will kill me if anyone goes in their room while they're gone.

The second they're through, Sayori and Kay are all over the dogs, who happily soak up the pets and belly rubs. I replace the gate and lead everyone to my room, which gets cramped pretty fast with six people loading in.

"Alright, I should have known you weenies would have made some excuse to buy me presents. Let's get this over with."

"Me first!" Sayori yells.

She hands me one of those bubble-wrap-lined yellow shipping envelopes, decorated with dozens of adorable ladybug doodles. I guess I can't fault her for not wrapping it if she put in this much effort . I carefully tear it open in a way that avoids ruining any of the drawings.

"Sayori, did you ever open that to take the receipt out?" MC asks before I can reach inside.

Sayori's expression tells me she did not.

"Don't worry, I won't look," I assure. Plucking the packing slip from the package, I hand it to her without reading it. Then, reaching inside, I pull out her gift. It's a high quality mouse pad, custom printed with an array of photographs from the literature club. There are some candid snapshots from random meetings and time spent together outside of school, as well as group photos from our festival events.

"I figured you'd be spending even more time than the average college student on your laptop, since you're majoring in computer science, so…"

"That's really sweet, Sayori. Thanks!" I give her one of those quick half-hug things.

Natsuki wears a sour expression. "Way to make the rest of us look bad! Now I wish I'd gone first," she grumps. "I guess you can open mine now."

She hands me a small gift bag, its contents obscured by tissue paper. It's quite heavy though. Digging inside, I find a candle. And the scent is… Columbian roast coffee? Ooh that's neat.

"It's nice!" I say, taking a sniff of the fragrant wax. It might not be as personalized as Sayori's gift but I appreciate that she took time to think of what I enjoy when she picked the scent. "I've never seen this flavor before. Did you have to special order it?"

"Yeah, I found it on the website where Yuri orders all her aromatherapy junk."

"So you went out of your way to order something special for me? Why would you be ashamed of that? It shows you put a lot of thought into the gift!"

Lately I've realized the best way to make Natsuki squirm is to take some kind of genuine praise or gratitude I have for her, and lean into it super hard, going into explicit detail and leaving nothing implied. The flush creeping up her face tells me it's working. "Whatever. I didn't put that much thought into it."

I roll my eyes. Continuing the pattern by the order they're standing in, MC should be next. I look at him expectantly, before he hesitantly hands me an envelope.

"Uh... that's just a card," he says, scratching the back of his head. "Yuri and I kinda went in together on something so…"

"Oh yeah," Natsuki adds, "you missed the card I got you too! Check under the tissue paper.

"Oh, alright. Do you guys mind if I save cards for later? I put on mascara tonight, and if they're all mushy sentimental I might ruin it…"

It would be a little awkward to sit here reading through everything too...

"Yeah, that's fine with me," MC says with a warm smile. Natsuki reluctantly nods along.

Yuri, next in line, hands me an overstuffed envelope. "Uh, Y-you can ignore the letter for now but the gift is also in there."

I smile and nod as I carefully tear the envelope open along the seam. Inside, in front of what must be at least five sheets of paper full of writing, I find what looks like a ticket of some kind. I gasp when I realize it's for a sold out Sneezer concert in three months. They're one of my favorite musicians, but they've been around since the 90s so their tickets are pretty expensive.

"Jeez, guys, thank you so much!"

"We have tickets of our own, so the three of us can all go together," MC explains. "Unless you want to ditch us nerds, that's fine too."

I roll my eyes at him. Before either of us can say anything else, Kay interrupts, holding her gift towards me with perfectly straight arms and looking at the floor. She looks like a shoujo manga character giving a confession letter.

"Eager, aren't we?" I joke as I accept the package. It definitely feels like a book of some kind. Methodically removing the brown paper wrapping, I find a journal bound with leather stamped with my name. It looks so professional and classy.

"Wow, look at this thing. I almost don't want to, like, tarnish it by writing inside."

She looks up at me. "No, don't let it just become shelf clutter! Please actually use it!"

"Hey, I said almost. Don't worry. It's really nice, Kay, thank you."

She blushes. I really hope her and Nat can find enough members to keep the club going next year.

I sigh. "You guys are so cheesy. I can't believe you."

It takes conscious effort to hold back a tear as I give them all hugs.

And I didn't even read their letters and cards yet.

"Okay everyone," I call out (it's become an inside joke in the club at this point) "let's head back down and enjoy the festivities!"

As we begin to filter out, I feel a tap on my shoulder from behind. "Oh, hi, Yuri, what's up?" I lag behind to listen to her.

"I… uh… "

I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it kinda hot— the way she's standing with such a shy, guarded posture, alone with me in my room… I need to stop thinking like that about her, though. I honestly don't trust myself to be in a relationship with someone so submissive without becoming abusive. I recognize that I have some pretty… predatory and manipulative impulses, so I've been dating more assertive partners while I work on my self control.

Yuri gulps and continues, oblivious to my less than wholesome thoughts, "D-do you think it would be okay for me to come back up here when my anxiety gets the better of me? I-I know you didn't want people coming up here, b-but I won't touch anything or-"

"Yuri, of course you can come up here. I don't want drunk idiots I barely know going through my house, but you're one of my best friends, so it's fine." I can see her flush at the statement, with a bashful half smile. "Just make sure you give it your best shot. The anxiety's only gonna get worse if you never expose yourself to triggers."

God I'm being so preachy. I should say something else…

"Y'know," I offer, "I'm not saying it's the healthiest thing, but sometimes drinking can help me numb my anxiety when it's especially bad. I have plenty of alcohol downstairs."

The shy girl shifts uncomfortably. "I'm… very hesitant to get into that habit."

"Really?" I ask, surprised. "Based on that whole wine incident at the club I thought you drank occasionally."

Yuri looks down at her feet. "Right, I'm sure it seems hypocritical of me. B-but at the time, I honestly just thought that drinking was what normal people our age did for fun, and that providing alcohol was the only way to get any of you to like me." She takes a deep breath. "The truth is… I'm scared to do it enough to get used to it. A-as you know, I don't have the best impulse control…" she runs her hands over the long sleeves that hide her countless scars. "I-I'm not sure if I'm capable of moderation if I were to start getting into it."

So she's afraid to become an alcoholic?

"I guess I see where you're coming from. You're so responsible, Yuri!" I can tell she doesn't believe that part. "Just let me know if you need anything okay?"

She smiles and nods back at me.

"Alright, let's head back down."

The two of us make our way downstairs into the party. It's taking up the whole first floor and spilling out both the front and back doors. Yuri quickly disappears, presumably retreating to some more sparsely populated corner. Meanwhile, I do my best to mingle with the guests and avoid my ex-boyfriend who is here for some reason what the fuck whyIsThisAThingThatIsHappeningFuck?!?!?

After about half an hour, I spot Sayori and Nat dancing together near the stereo. It's a little worrying that they both already seem half in the bag. I suppose they both have pain to dull, but…

A crash from the kitchen pulls my attention away. I rush over and find that my parents' toaster oven has been knocked off the counter somehow, and now has a crack in the glass door. "Really?!? C'mon people don't break shit!" I shout to no one in particular.

I should've put all this shit away before anyone got here.

I shove the potentially-still-usable (???) toaster oven into the cabinet, along with the coffee maker and the kettle.

Once they're all stored safely, I decide to see what's going on out back. Slipping through the door, I find several groups of people standing around in circles and chatting while drinking and/or smoking. Amidst the eerie, long shadows from the single light on the back of my house, I notice MC sharing a joint with two other people who I only vaguely recognize.

"Mind if I have some?" I ask as I approach. "I'm about ready to rip my fucking hair out so I could use something to soothe my nerves."

I'm only half joking. Or like, 25% joking.

"Hey, Monika," he says, "sure thing! Oh, and just a minute ago I was telling Yoshino and Suichi here about that podcast you recommended to me last month!" I take a long drag. It's not the best pot I've had, but it'll do.

"I'm already like, thirty episodes deep," he comments, with an enthusiastic smile. I nod, unable to respond since I'm still holding the smoke in.

"The idea of a podcast with a fictional narrative instead of just… like, regular people talking about things does sound interesting," adds...uh... one of the other guests?— I'm not sure which name belongs to which of them.

I continue to participate in the small talk for several minutes. I'm not particularly enjoying it, but it's letting me procrastinate going back inside and dealing with whatever mess (figurative or literal) pops up next.

"But hey," MC breaks an awkward silence, turning towards me, "are you okay? You don't seem to be having too much fun, which is like, the point of throwing a party…"

"Well… I consider myself a relatively extroverted person, but this is a bit much even for me. Like, no offense to you two," I say, looking towards MC's acquaintances, "but like, only half the people here were actually invited."

The pair awkwardly apologizes. I'm sure they were invited by someone they thought was legit. "And it's really stressful having so many people in my house."

"Yeah, it is pretty crowded," he comments, "That's kind of why I'm out here on the fringes of everything. I hope Yuri and Kay are doing alright. Have you seen them around?"

"Not for a while. I'll keep an eye out for them though."

Now that I think of it, Yuri did say something about using my room when , not if she would have serious anxiety. If she was already feeling unwell at that point… maybe I should check on her… fuck what if she has a relapse here? Oh jeez.

"Actually, I better go find them now. I'll see you around!"

I take one more hit and break off from the small group with a wave.

As I navigate my way through the sea of people, I'm struck by how insane it is that my parents encouraged me to throw this kind of party, and even left the house for it. It's like something out of a movie. I guess they think it's some kind of right of passage, but Jesus. I want to disinfect every millimeter of this place.

As I make the rounds, scanning the first floor for Yuri and/or Kay, I notice two heads matching their hair colors together in the corner of the dining room. They've only met a couple times, since Kay joined the club after Yuri graduated, but I suppose they're desperately clinging to any shred of familiarity here, however small.

Getting closer, I see that they're not alone. There are a couple pushy-looking guys talking to them, and both girls look very uncomfortable.

"C'mon, you look like you need some fresh air! We'll just go to the convenience store then stop by my apartment on the way back so I can change out of my work clothes. Won't it be a nice break from the noise?"

I can hear the creeps' pitch as I approach. Wedging myself between them to create an opening, I address my two friends, refusing to acknowledge the existence of the boys on either side of me. "Hey, you two— just who I was looking for! I need your help with something upstairs, if you don't mind." I refrain from using their names, not wanting to give them away to these guys.

"Okay," they say in chorus as I step aside, allowing them to shoot through the opening.

In the most sickeningly-sweet customer-service-esque voice I can muster, I address the two goons.

"Sorry, guys, looks like they can't help. You can head to the convenience store now though. And how about you just stay at your apartment when you're done changing? !"

Leaving them behind, I go upstairs to check on Yuri and Kay. The latter is making over the dogs again, while the former is nowhere to be seen.

"Is Yuri…"

"She's in the bathroom."

Nodding, I shuffle over and knock on the door. "Yuri? You okay in there?"

I hear some kind of muffled response through the door. It's difficult to make out words over the droning of the fan.

"Is it okay for me to come in?" I ask, listening closely.

"O-okay."

Entering the room I find her sitting upon the closed toilet lid, leaning on her knees and massaging her temples with her thumbs. "I-I don't think I can go back down there. Is it okay for me to s-stay up here until Nat and everyone else is ready to leave?"

I guess she made it a whole hour down there. And she looks pretty frazzled… I shouldn't push her too hard.

"Yeah that's fine. I've got plenty of books in my room that you can borrow if you want. And there's a TV in there too, so make yourself at home."

She makes her best attempt at flashing me a smile and nods gratefully. I can tell she wants nothing more than to go back to her apartment, but doesn't want to ruin the fun for Natsuki and the others she carpooled with.

"So," I ask, "about the ticket you got me… do you think you're going to be able to handle the crowd at the concert okay? There'll be a lot more people there than at this party."

She twiddles a lock of hair as she ponders her response. "Hmm… I've been to concerts before without much issue. I haven't really thought about it, but I suppose it has to do with having an objective , if that makes sense. At shows I'm trying to see or… experience the performance, where here I just feel lost and directionless . W-with concerts, I suppose it also helps that everyone's attention is pointed at the stage. A-and it's not really a situation where someone could try to make smalltalk with me, since it's so loud."

"Those are some good points. I really hope the three of us can have a lot of fun together at the show."

Yuri smiles bashfully.

"Y'know, I think I need to de-stress for a couple minutes too. Do you want to stay in here or come to my room?"

She considers for a moment. "I-I'll join you in a few minutes, b-but I want to do some breathing exercises alone first, if that's okay."

"Sure!" I smile back at her.

"You're welcome to stay up here as long as you want, too, Kay," I mention as I pass by in the hallway. I enter my room, leaving the door open, and lie down on the bed. I know I should probably take my flats off first, but I'm too drained to even care. Maybe I should take a page from Yuri's book…

I close my eyes and take long, measured breaths, paying careful attention to the sensations in my lungs and diaphragm as I do so. Before I know it, my throat is dry and scratchy and I'm groggily opening my eyes. Did I fall asleep?

I roll my head to the side and see Yuri laying on the floor, reading. I sit up and look around. Looks like Kay went back down at some point. Yuri notices me stirring.

"M-Monika! Are you feeling okay?"

I rub at my eyes.

"Uh… I guess. Just a little disoriented. How long was I asleep?"

"A little over an hour," she says flatly.

Ah jeez. I just ghosted my own party for an hour. Well it's not like I was having fun anyway, so whatever.

I stand up and stretch, trying to put on a peppy face before I go back downstairs, but my expression changes to concern as the sound of angry shouting suddenly flares up.

Son of a bitch.

I rush down the stairs to the hallway, where I can tell that the commotion is coming from the living room. Rounding the corner I see a literal fucking fistfight happening in my house. Jan, an exchange student from Europe whom I'm actually quite fond of, and some chunky guy I don't recognize are rolling around on the floor, drunkenly bashing and screaming at each other. Everyone watches in awe as some of Jan's friends from the track team attempt to break up the fight, the dance music blasting from the stereo now completely forgotten.

As the boys start to pull the pair apart I notice a small figure curled up on the ground. Her face is as pale as white marble, in stark contrast to her vivid pink hair, as she hyperventilates. Natsuki! She must be having a flashback. All this screaming and hitting… Shit!

Where is Sayori?!? They were together!

I bulldoze through the mob and hoist her up. She's still completely out of it, so she's not holding onto me at all, and carrying her is pretty tough. Nat's put on some healthy weight since she moved out of her father's place, and it becomes especially difficult when she yelps and starts to flail. God, her face… the poor girl is petrified . Yuri, apparently listening to the commotion from the top of the stairs, rushes down when she sees me.

"Put her down! Carrying her like that will make it worse! Y-you can't touch her when it's this bad!" Yuri immediately recognizes what's happening, and apparently knows how to deal with it. They are flatmates after all. This must happen sometimes.

"Let's get her away from all these people first," I insist.

A crowd of onlookers is forming in the hall. Frustration evident, Yuri nods, taking the panicking girl under the arms while I support her legs. We quickly carry the violently struggling Natsuki up the stairs and over the dog gate, placing her against the wall. Yuri immediately backs away from her, guiding me back as well.

"Natsuki… Hi Nat. It's okay. You're safe right now."

Her voice is gentle and carefully metered. With this intense concentration she's even able to overcome her stutter.

"We're upstairs at Monika's house. Nobody is going to hurt you, okay? I promise. Your father isn't here."

Natsuki's darting eyes begin to focus intermittently on her roommate as Yuri tries to hold back my dogs without breaking eye contact. (The excitement has stirred them up, and they're trying to lick Natsuki's face. After a moment of stunned silence, I realize that I should help restrain them.)

Yuri continues coaching her best friend through the ordeal.

"Take slow deep breaths, okay? What are five things you could touch?"

"I… uhh… th-the carpet, uuh… d-d-dogs… m-my knees… you, and ah… th-the wall."

"Good. What are four things you can see?"

The sheer terror is starting to fade from Natsuki's face. "I see M-Monika, the ceiling light… uh… I see your hair, a-and the door over there."

"Perfect. Is it okay if I touch your hand?"

Natsuki nods, so Yuri takes her hand and sandwiches it between her own. "Three things you can hear."

"I hear music. A-and my heartbeat. And I hear your voice." Nat, while still frightened, seems to have recovered her bearings for the most part. Yuri nods approvingly.

"Two things you can smell?"

"I… uh… my deodorant, and… ugh this one's always the hardest. I smell Monika's stupid dogs I guess." She's starting to sound like herself again. "And I can taste my lip balm so you don't need to ask that one."

Yuri nods and releases her hand. Nat stands up, leaning against the wall at first, then walks into the bathroom. I can't tell how much of the unsteadiness in her steps is from the panic attack and how much is from how drunk she is. "G-gimme a minute."

The door slams behind her and I look at Yuri in astonishment.

"Yuri, that was amazing!" I whisper.

"Well…" the tall girl fidgets, "I do have some experience. Th-though, more often than not, probably, the roles are reversed. N-Nat's had to talk me down from too many panic attacks to count. Even though she's the one with real problems…"

That last part, quietly muttered, seems like a thought she didn't mean to verbalize. "C'mon, Yuri, your struggle is perfectly valid. You've been in therapy for a year— you should know this by now." She looks away guiltily. I definitely could have come up with a better way to phrase that.

"It seems like you've got this under control, right?" I ask Yuri. "I think I might find the others and tell them what happened."

My shy friend nods back at me. Hopefully she doesn't let Natsuki go back down right away.

I go back into my room to see if I can spy any of my other club members out the window. Luckily I spot them right away, all together. MC is still at the same spot in the backyard, now fussing over Sayori along with Kay.

I trudge back down the stairs and weave my way through the throngs of humans that have infected my home. Squirting out the back door, I jog over to Sayori and company. It only takes me a second to realize she's absolutely trashed right now. MC seems to be panicking about it.

"We can talk about that later, okay? Focus. Please try to remember, Sayori, how many did you have?!? And when's the last time you ate something?!?"

"Pfft you're being such a warty wo- uh… worry wo- wart Emmy. I'm fine."

Sayori's assertions don't seem to convince him.

"Monika?" Kay is the first to notice me. "Are you alright?" She seems genuinely concerned. It must be obvious from my outward appearance that I'm at my wit's end here. I'd hoped to keep it inside but apparently I failed.

"There was a fist fight," I respond indirectly. "I don't even know what happened to the guys who were fighting but… It happened right in front of Natsuki, and all the screaming and the violence triggered a… flashback, or panic attack, or… I don't know. An episode, whatever you wanna call it. Yuri's taking care of her upstairs."

I sound like an idiot trying to explain this. I think the shock is starting to wear off, and I'm more shaken than I thought I would be. I've heard of what Natsuki's life used to be like, but seeing her like that… trying to keep hold of her while she flailed in terror…

"What?!?" Sayori looks mortified. "I shouldn't have- *hic*- left her alone! I needagoseerrightnow!"

Before anyone can stop her, Sayori blasts off on her wobbly legs, smacking into the doorframe and ricocheting into a group of guests as she enters the house.

"Shit!" MC Chase's after her.

I just stand there, dumbfounded for a moment, before Kay breaks me out of my trance. "We should probably follow them, right?"

"I, uh… yeah. R-right."

I want to walk, but I'm stuck. It's like whatever part of my brain sends motor signals to my limbs is not responding. Kay is staring at me with genuine concern. Blushing, she takes my hand and tows me towards the house. The outside force is just what it takes to kick-start my nervous system into functioning again, and I follow.

As we pass through the kitchen, a thunderous crashing sound cascading from above. No no no no no. Someone just fell down the stairs, and it was most likely Sayori… I can hear my heart pounding in my head as I dash past Kay toward the base of the stairs.

Sure enough, Sayori is at the bottom of the stairs, half-consciously groaning as she clutches her leg. MC lies unconscious beside (or, like, half-underneath?~) her, apparently having been knocked down by Sayori as she fell. My stomach lurches, as if in free fall on a roller coaster.

I closely inspect MC, and thankfully find that he's still breathing. My instinct is to move him into a sitting position, but, like, what if he broke his neck or something? Would that make it worse? He's pretty tangled up in Sayori right now too... I turn to her.

"Sayori, are you okay? Did you hit your head?"

She winces and shakes her head, tears streaming from her eyes. "My head is *hic* fine, but my leeeeeeeeg, agh!"

I look at her knee. It's been like two minutes but her knee is already showing faint signs of swelling.

This is all my fault. If I'd managed to keep the party under control, this never would have happened.

"I'm so sorry Sayori. I'll come with you to the ER, okay? But for now, do you think you could get off of MC?"

"Huh? Oh- OH MY GOD! EMMY ARE YOU OKAY?!?"

Sayori grimaces as she hoists herself off the boy and drags herself to his head.

"Emmy, can you hear me?!? Wake up n-now okay? You gotta wake up!" She fusses over the boy, gently batting at his face. After about ten seconds he starts to stir. Scrunching his face at the noise and at Sayori's slaps. "Oh my god Emmy I'm s-so sorryyy! I'm so stupid!"

His eyes are open, but he's staring off into space, mostly unaware of his surroundings. Now that I think of it, I remember hearing that he had some kind of traumatic experience with being thrown down the stairs when he was a kid. I'm not sure if he's having an episode now too, or if he's just concussed from hitting his head. Maybe both? God this is a fucking mess .

Sayori, squeaking in pain, helps the shell shocked boy sit up against the wall. At this point I realize the cluster of onlookers crowding around us. I turn around and see that among them, two separate people are fucking filming this. Are you shitting me?!? This isn't someone making a fool of themself with a stupid dance! This is serious!

"What the fuck are you doing?!? I can't believe you people! This isn't a fucking SnipChat story— my friends are hurt! Get the fuck out of my house!"

I stand back up. "I'm leaving to take them to the ER, so everyone else needs to get out too. Now! "

After several moments of stunned silence, the guests start to trickle out.

I feel so lost and out-of-control here. Helpless . How did I let all this happen? All of my friends are miserable.

By now, Yuri and Nat have come down to tend to our two injured club members. While I've been sitting here having a meltdown, Kay brought the two of them bags of frozen vegetables from my freezer, which they're now gently applying to Sayori's leg and MC's head. Actually being helpful while I stand here like an idiot… and Natsuki's still not even fully recovered.

Okay, think. What now?

I try to remember how many drinks I've had, and how long ago. I still feel pretty disoriented, so I'm not sure I should be driving. But Sayori is plastered and injured, MC is likely concussed, and neither Natsuki, Yuri, nor Kay has a license.

"Yuri," I ask the girl who I know has had zero alcohol tonight, " I know you don't have a license, but how confident are you that you could drive a car to the hospital if you really had to?"

Her face drains of color. "Uh… n-not very…"

Shit. Damn you for coddling us, public transportation system.

Yuri plays with her hair as she makes a suggestion.

"Um… S-Sayori and MC live maybe ten minutes away by car. Could we call one of their parents?"

I sigh. Is this really how useless I am? Having to rely on my friend's parents because I failed to keep things under control...

"That's probably our best option then." MC is still sitting there like a vegetable, so I look to Sayori.

"Hey, Sayo, can you call your parents?"

She grimaces even more than she already was from her injury, whining to me, "ughhhh nooooOoOOooOo. I'm too embarrassed. They're gonna be disappointed in me."

"Well they're going to find out no matter what when you come limping home." I sigh. "Here, give me your phone and I'll call."

Guiltily she hands me her unlocked phone and I click on the contact labeled 'Mom.' She answers before the second ring even finishes.

"Hey honey, what's up? Are you okay?"

"Um, h-hi, this is actually Sayori's friend Monika. I think we've met a couple times… so, Sayori had a bit of an accident on the stairs and hurt her leg pretty badly. I… uh… she's like, not in life-threatening danger or anything, but I think she needs to go to the ER, and none of us with licenses are… y'know, good to drive…" This is absolutely humiliating.

"Oh my god, of course I can take her. Is Emon there, though? She told me he was supposed to be the designated driver."

"MC got... caught up in her fall. He hit his head and he's very... out of it , so I don't think he should be driving. I think he needs to be looked at too, actually."

"Oh, Jesus. Okay, I'm leaving now. And I'll call Pedro on the way." Pedro is his dad's name, right? I guess that's one less awkward call I need to make ...

"What's the address?" she asks.

"I-it's 371 Salvato street."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Less than ten minutes later Yuri and I are helping Sayori hobble over to her mom's car, carefully loading her into the back. There's no way she didn't speed driving here. I get in with her, allowing her injured leg to rest elevated across my lap, while Natsuki guides MC to the front passenger seat. He's not totally spaced-out anymore, but he's experiencing a lot of dizziness, and seems pretty confused .

I turn to Yuri, who's hovering outside of the car beside me. "Thanks for holding down the fort for me. You guys can help yourselves to anything in the fridge and the cabinets. And if you need to sleep, you can use my bed or my sister's— she doesn't live here anymore but her old room is right next to mine."

My timid friend nods, clearly apprehensive.

I give her a reassuring smile. "Hey, it'll be okay. Everyone is gone now, so it'll just be the three of you. Oh, and don't worry about cleaning up or anything— you're already doing too much for me. Just let the dogs out to do their business and make sure the place doesn't catch on fire.

"O-okay. Please keep us informed about how MC and Sayori are doing."

"Of course!"

I glance over to Sayori, expecting some silly or reassuring comment from her, but she's totally zoned out right now, staring at the floor.

"Alright," Sayori's mother calls from the driver's seat, "let's blast off."

Yuri steps back and I close my door, waving goodbye to her, Natsuki, and Kay as we pull away. Setting off towards the hospital, the drive is mostly silent.

"Y'know Dad's working tonight, Sayo. He's gonna be surprised to see you and Emon."

Sayori doesn't respond. I look over to see that she's conked out. I'm surprised that she can sleep despite the pain, but I suppose she's had a lot to drink, and it's past 1am now.

"Uhh… I think she's asleep," I whisper. "So... her dad works at the hospital?"

"Yeah, he's a nurse. Gets stuck with awful shifts like this sometimes," she explains.

I look down at my shoes.

"Hey... I'm really sorry about this. A-about what happened, and about making you drive us. If I'd been able to keep the party under control this wouldn't have happened."

"Ah relax, hon. I was worried about Sayori coming tonight, but more because of her than the party itself. She's the one who chose to drink that much. You're not my daughter's carer."

"But-"

"Butts are for sitting on," she announces in a silly tone I'm used to hearing from Sayori's mouth. I can't help but smile at this discovery; I love seeing which mannerisms my friends have gotten from their parents. Well… except when I found out where Natsuki's anger issues come from.

"Now I'm really wishing I'd done a small, laid-back party like Sayori did. Tonight was so stressful, and my friends got hurt..."

"Yeah, maybe that would have been better. But, hey, you'll never know what you like best if you don't try new things. It's part of life."

She's being so nonchalant even though her daughter was injured because of me...

"It's just… the choice didn't just affect me. Other people got hurt."

"That's true," she admits, "but I doubt you had bad intentions. Throwing a big party is innocuous enough. Sure there are some risks to it, but your guests accept those risks by attending. And their actions aren't your personal responsibility. You're just a teenager sweetie, it's not your job to be responsible for a hundred other kids."

It's weird— she's talking about how young I am, but it doesn't feel condescending. Even though she's saying I'm "just a teenager", I sense that she still sees me as a person, and she's leveling with me. This feels nothing like the way my parents talk to me...

"I… uh… thanks."

Sayori's mom eyes me in the rear view mirror.

"Don't beat yourself up about it too much, okay? The fact that you're so concerned about it shows me how much you care about Sayori. ...And I don't know if she ever would've opened up to me about her issues if it weren't for your club. I'm grateful you've all been such good friends to her."

"Oh, uh… I… you're welcome? She's… really been there for me too, so…" I trail off, nearly tearing up as the realization hits me yet again— the club is over. Highschool is over. Sayori and I are moving to the capitol for college, leaving the rest of our friends behind... oh my god. My chest is hurting.

"I'm glad." It takes me a second to remember what we were talking about after my two-second-long anxiety attack. Before I can say anything else, Sayori's mother announces our arrival. "Oh, here we are!"

She approaches the turn in for the hospital, following the sign for the emergency room. After wiping a bit of moisture from the corner of my eye, I tap Sayori's shoulder to wake her as we approach the loading area. I really hope her injury isn't too serious .