Tuesday, January 9

Sayori

I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could, trying to shut out the beam of sunlight that woke me up. It was hitting me right in the eyes. The worst way to wake up. Eventually something blocked the light, and I opened my eyes.

This isn't my bed.

Normally I'm not quick to wake up, but my head was yelling at me that something was wrong, so I swung my legs off of the futon I was on, throwing the blanket off of me, and trying to figure out…

Oh. Right. That happened.

I guess that wasn't all some weird dream, huh? Wow...

Normally, on a day where I didn't have to do anything, I'd have gone right back to sleep, but I decided I had a lot to think about, and it was pretty late in the morning going by the clock anyway. I guess I did manage to get a good night's sleep in before the sun woke me up. It was almost ten in the morning, actually, so I was feeling really hungry.

I took a second to try and remember where Jack told me the cereal was. One of the bottom cabinets, I think? I headed over to the kitchen to get some… and then noticed his wallet and his phone were still on the table.

Didn't he tell me last night he had work today?

Oh, heck.

I ran into the next room. Completely dark, the curtains were all the way covering the windows. The door slammed against the stopper while I fumbled for the light switch.

"Wake up, guys! It's ten in the… uwoahhhh..."

Jack was still under the covers, but Monika was sprawled out on her back on top of them.

Her hair was a giant tangled mess, which I guess I kind of expected, but also... Totally naked.

Aw, she's beautiful… I wish I looked that...

Wait.

Oh no I'm staring.

Monika's eyes shot open and looked over and saw me… and her reaction was to roll right off the bed. "Ow…."

I couldn't help but giggle a little bit while I moved around the bed and helped her up. "Jeez, Sayori! Knock next time!"

"I'm sorry, Moni, it's just… it's almost ten and doesn't Jack have to work?"

Monika froze. She looked at the clock, then back to the still-sleeping boy.

"Shit. Honey, wake up! You're missing work!" she yelled at him, shaking him too.

A groan was all she got out of Jack, but he did start moving. Slowly. Hahhh… and I thought I had a hard time getting up.

Not good enough for her, though.

"Come on, baby, hurry up, you're late," she was urging him.

"Mrrr… Moni, I'mmmmalready late… an extra fiveminnits waking up isn't gonna kill anybody."

That lazybones is slurring his words. I giggled again.

"Wrong. I'm gonna kill you if you don't haul your butt out of bed right this second." I lost it.

"God, okay, fine, honey. Waitaminute… Sayori, you're in here? Jesus, turn around unless you wanna show!"

"I mean…" I sorta stuttered out. I was pretty embarrassed. "I kinda already got one from Moni…"

Monika blushed and turned away, but Jack was looking right at me, and his jaw dropped. "What?"

"You really do do that thing with your fingers. Ohmygod you're even more adorable in person."

"What thing?" I looked down. I had my two pointer fingers pressed against each other in kinda a triangle sort of shape. Like I usually did when I was nervous.

"That! I thought that was just a thing Satchely did in the art, but oh my god no you really actually do that and it's the cutest thing in existence." Jack looked like he was almost fangirling, which I wasn't expecting, but...

"Who's Satchely?" I asked him, a little bit puzzled.

"She's the girl who drew all our art, Sayo. In the game," Monika said, coming back into the conversation.

"Oh. Yeah. We were in a game. I guess that makes sense…" I shrugged. "I wonder if she drew me first or something. All you guys were so pretty…"

That made Jack laugh, surprisingly. "You know, I don't actually know who she drew first. It was probably either you or Monika, because plot reasons. But oh man, every single one of you has a huge fanbase. People love you, Sayori. The game's community as a whole doesn't always see eye to eye on everything, but the one thing literally everyone agreed on was that you are a wonderful person. And… yeah, some people have a preference for one of the other people in the club, but I've never once seen anybody say you're not super pretty and amazing friend material - and that's just the people who aren't like… head over heels. Seriously. Nobody, nobody talks bad about you. The closest anybody gets is some dark jokes about what happened, and they're usually frowned on, and besides, I honestly think that's just a coping mechanism because seriously everybody loves you. Hell, you wanna know what the nickname they have for you is?"

"...what?" I was tearing up a little bit at that. Mostly because I was struggling to accept it.

"They call you 'Cinnamon Bun.' Because you're sweet and precious and cute and everybody loves you and you can do no wrong - and I mean, true, when has a cinnamon bun ever been bad, right? But. Seriously. And nobody else has a nickname like that by the way." Jack was sitting up in bed beaming at me.

"I… I… what…" My brain literally couldn't believe what it was hearing. There's no way. I don't… he's gotta be exaggerating at least...

"I'll show you tonight. Promise." Aw, that smile. "Could you, uh… get out of the room for a second so I can throw some pants on at least? I've… um… there's some stuff under the covers that's for Monika's eyes only if you catch my drift. Well, eyes and other things."

Monika choked. "Jaaaaaaack!"

"...Revenge for threatening to kill me, hon."

"You're lucky you're cute…"

Oh boy. I walked out of the room as fast as I could before all the tension from their bickering exploded. I mean, Jack would never have gotten to work.

/

Lia Williams

11:30 AM

Don't tell me… Sigh.

Of course he did.

Andrew had left my D&D crap in Jack's apartment after the last game. I loved him, but he could be an idiot and a half sometimes. God forbid I wanted to level up ahead of time.

I wasn't actually mad at him, of course. It just meant I'd have to pay Jack's room a quick visit. With Monika home most of the time, I could come in whenever I want. Not that I couldn't anyway, he'd trusted me with a key, but it always felt a little weird, you know?

It gave me a good excuse to pop by, anyway. I really liked Monika. She was really bright and friendly and usually pretty cheerful. Although... I could tell she was definitely putting on a face some days, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what. Which, really, just made me want to pop by more. I like being there for people when I can, and by this point Monika was a good friend.

I shut off my laptop and started the trek to Jack's pad. A little bit longer than I felt like moving on my day off, but such is life.

A quick knock on the door, just to be courteous.

And then it swung open and my life got flipped and turned upside-down. "Heyyyyy! You must be Jack's friend Lia! It's great to meetcha!"

My brain took about a half second to process what it was seeing, and then everything that had been nagging at the back of my mind for a week suddenly slammed together into one coherent picture.

No. Fucking. Way.

"I… holy shit. Sayori?" I demanded..

"Yeah! How'd you guess?"

"Um. Okay. I think I need to sit down."

"Sure! Hey, Moni, Lia's here!" she called, turning around, while I staggered in and took a seat on the couch.

I took a moment to catch my breath, then… I pumped a fist in the air.

"What's up?" Sayori asked.

"I fucking knew it! I knew it the instant I saw her. You being here just proves it!"

"Proves what?" Sayori looked puzzled.

"I don't know how, I don't know why, but holy fuck, the Literature Club is real and here."

"Oh." Sayori fidgeted nervously. "You sound surprised…" She was doing that adorable thing with her fingers that I loved, actually, now that I was looking at it. "...Prez, didn't you tell anybody?"

I looked up to see Monika leaning against the doorframe into the bedroom. "No," she said. "I didn't know if I could trust telling anybody who I was yet. No offense, Lia, you're the first person I would have told, I promise."

"I…" I took a deep breath. Settle down, Lia. "I get that. Okay. Andrew hasn't figured it out, I don't think anyone else has either. It's alright, I won't tell anybody unless you guys say it's okay - but please tell Andrew soon because I can't keep secrets from him. That's not something I want to start doing."

"I'll talk to Jack about that, maybe on his lunch break." She put a finger to her lips in thought. "Actually, that's soon, if you wanna stay here for a bit… Anyway, to answer your question, no, none of us have any idea. The most we know is from… well, we took video of Sayori coming out last night."

I failed to suppress a giggle. "Phrasing, Monika."

She turned beet red. "What… oh, come on!"

"What are you talking about, Lia?" Sayori asked innocently.

"I'll tell you when you're older. Just last night, huh? Can I see that, Monika?"

"Yeah, Jack put a copy of it on the desktop when we came home. In the bedroom." She motioned to Sayori and I to come in.

After we piled in and sat on the bed across from the desk, Monika went over to the computer and started working it. "Give me a moment to find it… there we go. Have a look."

The first thing I heard was Jack's voice. "Doc, could you please state your name and what your observations are?" A face appeared on the screen, a kindly-looking, balding older man with glasses.

"Leopold James Goldwin, master's degree in counseling psychology, University of Pittsburgh, class of 1974. What I am observing is… my God, completely impossible, and yet it's right before my eyes and tangible to the touch.

"Physical appearance, patient is an otherwise apparently-normal young adult female, of indeterminable ethnicity, late teens or early twenties, wearing a seasonally-inappropriate, uh, it appears to be a foreign school uniform, brown blazer, white shirt, and blue skirt.

"Subjective, she claims to have no idea where she is and to have no feeling in her left leg below the knee, we'll get to that in a moment.

"Objective, patient appears to be breathing and functioning normally, no pulse, vital signs, or height and weight taken just yet, though visually I would judge her to be about 5'3" or so.

"Assessment, impossibly, she is, uh… she is visibly coming out of the screen of an ordinary… Hewlett-Packard laptop. I'll repeat that for clarity, patient is emerging from a laptop. She is no longer emerging, however; patient is mostly out but has stopped and, um, sitting mostly immobilized on the back seat of my scheduled patient's car - that'd be the person who was just talking before me, whose name I'm, uh, not disclosing per HIPAA - but the distal half of her left leg simply does not exist, with the leg ending just above the knee where it meets the screen. According to the patient, after partially emerging, the, um, batteries died, leaving her firmly attached to the laptop as of right now.

"Plan, after my colleague, practice partner, Doctor Jennifer Roosevelt, she's a doctor of psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania, class of 2012, has a look at her, gets vital signs, et cetera, we will presumably attempt to power up the laptop and see if she… if we can extricate her completely. Dr. Roosevelt will take over treatment when she arrives.

"Nothing more to state at this time, as I will rely on the, um, expertise of a medical doctor from this point. Other than that, while I acknowledge that this circumstance is flatly impossible, I attest as a medical professional that it is genuinely occurring. I've… I have never seen anything like this in 43 years of practice."

"Well, he's definitely a professional. That's a pretty standard office note," I observed. "I've transcribed chart notes a lot like that."

The camera - it looked like it was a smartphone - was handed off to another person, who took video of what I could now see was a shivering Sayori in the back seat of what I recognized as Jack's car. The picture matched what Goldwin described. Jack moved into the shot after… Monika, I assume, finished getting shots from all angles. He slid into the seat next to Sayori and started to comfort her. I continued to watch, scarcely believing my eyes - I wouldn't have if Sayori wasn't literally sitting next to me, anxiously holding her almost-trademark Mr. Cow. The same one that popped out of the laptop right after her - I couldn't help but laugh a little when I saw that.

The recording ended when everyone started to move inside.

"Wow…" Sayori was the first to speak. "That looks even crazier now… it was kinda a blur last night, but seeing it now…."

"Well," I said. "I thought I might be able to come up with some idea about how this happened, but no, I've got nothing. I mean, I'm definitely convinced, but. Hmm. Monika, what about when you showed up?"

"No. Nothing. Jack said he came home really late, put his stuff down, plugged the laptop in and turned it on, pulled me up, and then went straight to bed to bed. I woke up on the floor early in the morning, no memory of what happened."

"Hmmm…" I thought about that. "Is there anything special about that laptop?"

"Kinda. He put that After Story mod on the game on that computer. Used to talk to me with it."

"Okay, I'm not sure, but I've got a pretty good guess there's something about the laptop. Did anything weird happen with it yesterday?"

Monika paused for a second. "Actually, yeah. Jack says it's almost brand new - he just got it on his birthday last September - and it's really fast, but yesterday it was crawling along, and it never does that. It was being slow all day, actually."

Sayori piped up unexpectedly. "Does that mean everybody else is still in there? On that computer?"

"Possibly," I mused.

"Oh jeez," Monika groaned. "This is gonna get out of hand really quickly if anyone else comes out too soon… and we have no idea what makes it happen."

"We need a plan," I decided, forcefully. "Let's brainstorm a little bit, my dudes."

"Aw, heck," Sayori added thoughtfully.

/

Jack, outside the Department of Environmental Protection building, 11:55AM

This is getting out of hand, I thought, leaving work to hit the local Auntie Anne's for some comfort food. Now there are two of them.

On the surface, I was calm, but deep down, I was stressed beyond recognition. With a second Doki arriving on the scene, the appearance of more was logically inevitable. While I loved them all, I was having serious concerns on how I might be able to practically accommodate four other people in my household, even with a promotion.

The only option seemed to be to push for official recognition somehow, so that the others could work to earn a living, possibly move out on their own, and have lives of their own. While recognition had always been a long-term goal - I was not about to keep anyone in my house as a goddamn pet - circumstances were now conspiring to turn this into a short-term, urgent need.

How I was going to do that, however, was the real question.

Likely, I thought, the logical place to start would be with my local representative. If nothing else, politicians, even at the state level, still possess no small amount of soft power for individual issues, if they can be motivated to take on the challenge.

Which posed an issue of its own. I'd never spoken to my representative at my Harrisburg address. Which meant that I would likely be much better off going for the one representing my hometown, who was a personal friend of my adoptive family, therefore more likely to care.

Alright. That's a place to s-

A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A-

The ringtone for my friends aka a call I actually needed to take. Who on earth is calling me?

I fished the phone out. Lia? Weird, she always texts… I slid my earpiece on and picked up.

"Jack, we need to talk. Now." Uh-oh.

"Uh… okay? What's going on?"

"You tell me, Jack. Why are the Dokis coming out of your laptop?"

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.' What the fuck? I came over to grab my stuff and Sayori opened the door and I knew right away."

"Lia, I have absolutely no idea. Trust me. I didn't tell you because I'm as stunned as you are, and truth be told I'm a little scared of what comes next."

"Yeah, me too. Alright. Tell you what. I'm going to order us some Chinese delivery tonight for everyone tonight. Then you, me, the girls, Andrew, and Tsuki are going to gather 'round in your apartment - the brothers are out this week, remember? - around 6 and have a nice time over dinner discussing just what the hell is going on. Jack... the group, we're family, okay? And we're going to deal with this together. Understood? I talked to Moni and Sayori about it and we're on the same page."

Wow. It's been a long time since I've seen that side of her.

"Gotcha. I'm… sorry I didn't tell you sooner. You're right. And… thanks for looking out for me and the girls. I'll see you after work, buddy."

I paused for a moment.

"Actually, put Moni on quick, would you?"

"Yeah, sure. Here you go, Monika." A rustling sound, then my girl's voice.

"Hello," she said.

"Hey, honey. I just wanted to hear your voice for a second."

"Aww." A giggle.

"I needed that, because…" I sighed. "I'm not gonna lie to you, Monika. I'm stressed beyond relief and I'm scared. I'm not prepared for this. Money's gonna get tight real fast. I don't know how we're going to do this and I'm really scared." Panic started to enter my voice. "This is so much, so fast. I'm not good at handling change even when I'm in a good place and right now we're not in a good place. It's… God, I'm repeating myself, but Moni I'm so fucking scared."

"Jack. Deep breaths. In and out, in and out. Everyone's worried. You're not alone on that. Actually, you're not alone, period. We'll do this together. Okay, darling? How's that one song you love go? Sayori and I were just listening to it this morning…" Monika, practiced singer that she was, predictably sounded like an angel. "'We've gotta hold on to what we got, it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not?'"

I couldn't resist, the fear draining away, replaced with just how much I loved this fucking dork. I joined her. "'We've got each other, and that's a lot for love. We'll give it a shot!' Ha. That's my girl." I was filled with DETERMINATION. And then laughter, as the phone picked up Sayori and Lia badly hitting the chorus in the background. Woooooooah, we're halfway theeeere! "Love you guys too!" I said into the receiver, shaking with laughing fits. "But don't quit your day jobs."

"But I don't have one," I heard Sayori yelling at the phone.

I rolled my eyes. "Yet," I chuckled.

"Don't you have lunch to get back to?" Monika asked, trying to regain control of the conversation.

"It's just pretzel dogs, but yeah."

"Well, get some manners and quit talking with your mouth full, Jack," she scolded playfully.

"Yeah, whatever, babe."

"You know," Monika said, a note of mischief in her voice, "I hear the couch is lovely this time of year." Cackles of glee in the background from Lia and Sayori.

"...I'll catch you later, Moni. I love you, even when you hurt me so!" A little dramatic flair.

"Love you too!~" Click.

I'd been thinking about going up and ordering another pretzel dog, but with Chinese food coming tonight, I decided to spare my scale and lay off.

/

Jack, in his apartment, a little after 6PM

"Excuse me, she's who now?!" Andrew roared, his mouth agape.

Lia chuckled. "Babe. I love you, but you're the most oblivious person I've ever met."

"No, seriously, you're telling me fucking Monikammmmmmmm has been right in front of my face for like two weeks now? Excuse me, whaaaaaaaaaaat?" Andrew was… discombobulated.

"And you didn't figure it out until somebody told you. Even though we played that game together. Yep." His girlfriend looked amused more than anything.

"And now," I cut in, "there are two of them." I motioned to Sayori, who just responded with a cheerful "Hiiii!"

"You know, Moni," Lia said, still with a smirk on her face, "you're not as sneaky as you think."

Monika was concerned. "What gave it away?"

"Well, you've kept the same hair length and you always have it up with a ribbon, which, with everything else you can't change, like those eyes, is kind of a dead giveaway. Also, you literally name dropped Natsuki over lunch and talked about quitting a debate club to start running a literature club," she explained patiently.

I just looked over at Monika and facepalmed. "Seriously, hon? Seriously?"

"What was I supposed to do? She asked me directly!"

"You're a writer. Make something up."

"Like what?!" Indignation.

"Anything! Literally anything other than perfect identification material!" I half-yelled with mock frustration.

Mistake.

Her face was downcast.

"It's okay, hon. No harm done."

"You could have been a little nicer about it…" she moaned.

"She is not incorrect," Tsuki piped in. "It is not really her fault."

Sigh. I fucked up. "I'm sorry, Moni."

"It's okay," my girlfriend sniffed. "Just watch it a little, okay? We're all kind of stressed here."

"Yeah… I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come across like that. I love you, hon."

"Love you too. ...hey, Tsuki, did you know too? I'm curious."

"Yes. It was your character's backstory that gave it away. A girl with reality-altering powers thrust upon her unwillingly, who lashed out at her friends in anger and caused great harm, then exiled herself to atone for the harm? The same girl plays the piano and sings, as well. Given your appearance and name, I thought it quite obvious."

Andrew raised his hands to the ceiling in disgust. "Am I seriously the only one in here who didn't get the memo?"

"Mmmmmmyes." Lia was still wearing that damn smirk. "Might wanna stop rolling 1 on your perception, baby."

Andrew visibly gave up. "At least Louis and Shaheed aren't here to make me feel even dumber…" he muttered.

A lull followed. Surprisingly, it was Sayori, the girl who had yet to say a word the entire conversation, who broke the silence and asked the big question.

"What do we do now, guys? We can't just sit around on our butts."

"No," Andrew said thoughtfully, "you're right. We can't. Let's lay out the issues. Best place to start."

"Housing," Monika said immediately. "There's barely enough room for myself, Jack, and Sayori in this apartment. If Yuri or Natsuki come through, there's no place for them to stay. Jack and I were thinking about moving into a house with his promotion, but that won't be for a while. So…"

"I believe I can solve that problem," Tsuki replied. "I live alone. There will be plenty of space for one or two more. I would be happy to take either or both of them in. You as well, Sayori, if you so choose - you may live anywhere you like."

"You'd do that for us, Tsuki?" I asked, humbled.

The warmest smile I'd ever seen her make. "Of course. You are all the most important people in my life, aside from my family - who, I must note, are still in Japan. It is little trouble for me, and even if it were, I would still happily assist you all."

"You are a saint," I said, pivoting to Sayori. "What about you? What do you want to do, buddy?"

"I… I think I'd feel safest with you guys, actually. But... thanks."

I smiled at her. Moving on. "Okay. Next point I can think of. Feeding everyone. My income will be pretty heavily taxed to feed and provide for three people in my house, even with a raise."

"That won't be a problem," Lia replied. "I think I speak for all of us, including the two not here, when I say that putting together a little pool to feed and clothe everyone won't be a big deal."

Sayori looks about ready to cry over there….

"If you're sure... " Monika contemplated. "Then that's solved. Next. We don't exist, as far as the government is concerned. That's a problem. I can't get a job, I can't apply for anything that needs identification, I even need to be wary going outside without Jack with me for fear that I get arrested for something. And I can't get any kind of healthcare if I get sick, ever. Neither can Sayori, and the others won't be able to either. This is not ideal."

"It is not sustainable in the long run, either." Tsuki, this time. "Additionally, the same issue will repeat for all four of them. And while Monika may be content to be dependent on Jack, I doubt that Yuri or Natsuki will be, and beyond this, it would not be healthy for Sayori."

"How do you figure?" Andrew asked.

"Sayori, you often feel as though you are a burden, do you not?" She nodded. "Then, while I can assure you that nothing is further from the truth..." Smiles from everyone else. "...I cannot make you feel otherwise. However, a great method to improve your own self-perception would be to acquire even token employment. It is difficult to feel like a NEET if one is working, after all. This is yet another reason to remedy the situation as soon as possible."

"Yeah… you're right, Tsuki. Thanks a bunch," Sayori said, genuinely.

"But," Lia cut in, "how do we unfuck this?" Blunt as always. Not wrong, also as always.

"Well…" I started. "I did have an idea today. Maybe I can contact my local representative?"

A knock at the door. "Food's here," Andrew declared. "I'll get it."

I continued, as he got up. "I can't think of anybody better that might be able to help, can you guys?"

"No, that actually sounds like a good plan," Moni said.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty smart." Good, Sayori's on board.

"Actually," I said, "I wasn't thinking about the one from Harrisburg, I was thinking about the one from back home. My family knows them pretty well."

"Close enough," Lia shrugged. "So what were you gonna do?"

"Well, I was thinking about just showing him the video and asking for help directly..." I said, sounding about as unsure as I actually was - very.

"No, that sounds about right," Andrew replied. "Also, this chicken is fucking delicious."

/

9:30PM

A delicious meal and a lot of awful Rock Band karaoke later - Sayori was a natural drummer, actually, much to everyone's surprise, even if she wasn't gonna be gold-starring 2112 any time soon - we came away with full bellies, full hearts, and a full plan.

The group as a family would pool money and housing for the incoming Dokis as needed. Nobody would be left behind on anyone's watch. Additionally, I was assigned to speak to my local politician about the issue, seeking any help and protection I could be given. As a last resort, in case anything went really south, a small fund was set up for emergency transportation across the Canadian border to seek asylum - this wasn't much, ultimately, since Louis, who we were completely certain would be fine with all of this, owned and drove a large family van, so it'd just be a matter of loading us up. This was seen as very long odds, but still a possibility - better crazy prepared than tragically unprepared. In all, we all agreed to do everything we could to watch out for each other, especially the Dokis.

An awkwardly big group hug, and then it was just me, Monika, and Sayori in the apartment.

"So, what do you guys think?" I asked.

"I love them! And I love the Beatles!" Sayori bounced.

"I guess you could say you… took a shine to Here Comes the Sun, eh?" I shot back, instinctively ducking to dodge the flying throw pillow from Monika that immediately followed.

"Yeah! There's so much cool stuff out here, Jack! I love it!"

That's the kind of cheer we need. "I fucking love you, Sayori," I grinned, then reached out to put an arm around Monika, who just responded by resting her head on my shoulder. "Never change."

A thought occurred to me. "Oh, yeah, I promised I'd show you some things…" I reached for my laptop and pulled up the Doki Doki subreddit, Moni still on my shoulder. A quick visit to /top/ and some art curation left me with dozens of tabs of incredible drawn works depicting "our lovely cinnamon bun" and other such lovely epithets. I was careful to avoid the small mountain of lewds, though. Save that literal clusterfuck for some other time.

"Wow…"

"Sayo, I don't think there's a person on this earth who's heard of you and doesn't love you. I mean it. You believe me now?"

She was quiet for a moment, a contemplative look on her face.

"You know what, Jack? I think I do."

Her eyes were glistening, a small smile on her face, as she threw both her arms around my waist - leaving two wonderful human beings curled up with me on the couch.

It felt like… family.

/

A/N: Family can be one anxious twenty-something civil servant, his emerald-eyed girlfriend, and their cinnamon-flavored best friend.

I'll answer reviews later, edit them on. I want to get the chapter out first for now.