The Way the Wind Blows (Third Entry)

A Second Chance (Part 1/2)

As we waited until the evening came, we all hung out around the apartment until the time was up. During this, Monika came up with the idea of telling funny stories about our adventures up to this point so far to help lighten the mood.

Sayori suddenly giggled after Natsuki finished her story about the cupcake fiasco. "I remember that. I wished that the game had a route for me. I would've tried to make things fun with the pamphlets." 

Monika shrugged. "That wasn't my doing. A lot of people want to blame me for messing with how the game was designed to go, but in reality, I only had but so much power. I couldn't do much more than changing the files." 

"I still think that's weird," Natsuki commented. "I wonder what would've happened if Noah and Jacob never entered the game." 

"Mind you, that wasn't by choice," Jacob said. "Noah and I just happened to find ourselves in the game. We never asked for this to happen." 

Yuri looked at him. "So, are you saying that you wish that you never met me?" 

Jacob suddenly became flustered. "I-Uh, no! That's not what I-" 

Yuri put the tips of her fingers over her lips and began to laugh. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that Yuri just cracked a joke and a good one at that. 

I decided to add to Jacob's comment. "He's right, though. To answer Natsuki's comment, I think that the answer to that is pretty obvious." 

Sayori tilted her head. "What's that?" 

I sighed. "The Third Eye would've easily taken over the game and expanded into the real world." 

Memories of Spencer came back to me. I tried to shake it off before the mood shifted downwards again. "But hey, I met some of the greatest people I know. I can't complain too much." 

Natsuki smiled. "Well, that's obvious. We're all pretty great." 

Yuri spoke up again at that point. "I think the most interesting moment for me was how well we handled the adaptation to Chicago. I won't lie, the size of the city scared me at first, especially when Sayori..." 

She trailed off, but I knew what she was talking about. "It was something that I expected to happen, unfortunately. This is a place where crime is a common thing. As long as we're together, we should be fine." 

Natsuki smiled at me. She must've remembered the conversation we had earlier this morning. That caused me to glance at the time, and it read just past five. I sighed and began to stand up. 

"Well, I'm going to take a shower before we leave," I announced. "After that, we'll head out." 

Jacob glanced at me. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" 

The girls gave him a confused glance. I looked at him for a second before nodding. "I don't want to mess things up."

He nodded in return and looked away. I could tell that he was nervous, but didn't want to say anything in front of the girls, who were still confused. 

I walked to the room and picked up a short-sleeve shirt and shorts since it was quite warm outside due to the late summer heat still around. I walked into the bathroom next door and closed the door. 

Once I stepped in, I let the cool water run down my face. I sighed from the relaxing feeling. 

My mind began running. How was I supposed to avoid this? What would happen if I fail to save the girls again? I doubted that I would get a third chance since I believed that a second chance was already well undeserved.