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Unfiltered Noise

—Monika's POV—

The first five minutes are rough.

Sayori fumbles the intro. I talk too fast. The mic picks up the sound of me nervously drumming my fingers on the desk. It's not exactly the triumphant return of the Monika & Sayori channel. But we push through.

We're recording a "Best Friend Tag" video. It's stupid. Old school YouTube content. Something people stopped doing five years ago. That's why we picked it. It's simple. No scripts. No pressure. Just us.

"What's my favorite color?" I ask, reading off one of the cue cards we jotted down in Sharpie last night.

Sayori leans back, scrunches her nose, and says, "Teal."

I raise an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Is it not teal?"

"Sayori, it's been emerald green since high school."

"Emerald is just spicy teal," she says.

And I laugh. Really laugh. I don't remember the last time I did that on camera without feeling like I was performing.

We go back and forth like that for a while. It's clumsy and low energy and probably won't do well in the algorithm. But I don't care.

It feels real.

And that's enough.

—Yuri's POV—

The stream tonight is quiet.

Natsuki's trying out a new horror puzzle game, something obscure with liminal hallways and cryptic notes left on bloodstained desks. She's tense. Her focus is razor sharp. I know better than to distract her when she's like this.

Still, I glance at her from time to time. Watch her brow furrow. The corner of her mouth twitch as she chews the inside of her cheek. I've learned to read her silences like poetry. Every pause, every sigh, every muttered "ugh" says more than chat could ever guess.

I'm not streaming tonight. Just here to mod. To keep her company.

A message pops up:

"Have you seen the new video?"

I don't have to ask which one.

I tab out and check the channel.

There it is.

Monika & Sayori. Back on camera. Two smiling faces in the thumbnail, framed by pastel lighting.

The view count is climbing fast.

I nudge my tea aside and open the video.

—Natsuki's POV—

I hear Yuri's soft inhale before she even says anything.

I know that sound. It's the one she makes when something surprises her but she's not sure how to feel about it yet.

I glance over. She's watching the video.

Of course she is.

"I thought Monika was taking a break," I say, not quite looking at her.

"She was," Yuri says.

"Guess she's back."

The words sit weird in my mouth. I'm not sure if I'm annoyed or relieved.

The truth is, I missed them. All of us. Together.

But watching them return without a word, like they just decided the band was back together, it stings.

I died on that hill with them. Took the hits during the messy months. Stuck around while the fan theories spiraled and the collabs dried up. And now they're just... posting again?