Sayori and I exited the school after changing our school shoes at the entrance. Under the awning, the light patter of raindrops both soothed and alerted me.
Did it rain in DDLC? It skipped to the poem game on this day of the game, so I wasn't sure if this was normal or if something was amiss.
"Wow! It hasn't rained in a while!" Sayori exclaimed as she bounced on the pavement, almost splashing a mud puddle on me. "Oops, sorry, ehehe~"
"It's alright." I smiled. "I didn't know you liked rain so much."
"Rain is beautiful! They bring rainbows and flowers! I still prefer sunny days though, ehehe..."
I stared up at the gray sky, clenching my bag straps that were around my shoulder. "I can't believe they cancelled the festival..." That is definitely not normal. Was it my fault? Was it Monika's?
"Yeah... and I was really excited to share our poems!" Sayori stopped her frolicking, and looked up at the gray, boring sky along with me, rain dripping down her face and off her chin. It was almost picturesque. "I hope Monika's okay... She was really looking forward to it. Monika was the one who came up with the idea, and we talked so much about it. We had all the plans down and everything! And now... I really hope she's okay."
"I hope so, too."
I left the safety of the school's awning, and we trekked back to our neighborhood, drenched in the cool wetness of the day. For some reason, the normal rainy weather and scenery gave me a cold shiver.
Saying our goodbyes, I went into my new house and tidied up the place. While doing so, I was sent a text from Monika. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of her name on my dialer.
Monika: i'll be there in 30 minutes! i gotta change first and do a few things before i can come :)
As lovely as this text is, does she even have my address...? Monika can't come without knowing it. She can be omnipresent, so she'd know but she should let me, the MC, know this so it doesn't bring up questions-
Monika: what's your address? X3 almost forgot to ask
I couldn't help but laugh. She is careful indeed.
I looked at the location on my phone and texted it to her.
Monika: k, thanks! I can't wait <3
My heart fluttered slightly at the sight of the heart.
Other girls usually do that from what I know of, maybe I should try doing it too? I don't want her to think I'm not excited or something...
Y/N: I can't wait! I'll leave the door unlocked for you <3
Monika: great, then we can get down to business ;)
W-What?
I stared at the text for a minute, a multitude of thoughts overflowing rapidly in unison with my heart rate.
Man, my thoughts are jumbled at this point. She means talking about self-awareness and stuff. I did tell her I had a surprise today for her, after all.
An unpleasant one at that, but it's probably a blessing more so for her.
I got some snacks out and some vegetables. I don't know what she likes... oh! Protein bars.
I grabbed them out of the cabinet and set them on the kitchen table. I had explored the house yesterday when I got home, so I knew where a lot of the things were, freshly in my mind.
After tidying a few more things, I heard a gracious knock at the door.
I walked to the front of the entrance and leaned against the wall with crossed arms and a smirk. "I said I left it unlocked."
The door opened slowly, a familiar white ribbon perched upon a long, lucious ponytail peered in as the door continued to creak open. "Well, I thought it was at least appropriate to knock so you'd know I'm here."
I gaped at the fully opened door, revealing Monika in her casual attire. I've always wondered what her casual clothes were.
She stepped inside after folding her umbrella to put aside.
I began to study her as she put her umbrella near the door frame.
She wore a tan shoulderless sweater dress that cuts close to the top of her thighs. The dark straps of her tank complimented her black thigh high boots, and the slight heel to her boots accentuated her long legs, making for the perfect casual Monika attire.
"Done staring, yet?" My eyes darted back up to her face, the smug grin that spreaded across her beautiful features made my heart race.
Monika's clothing is modest yet suggestive. It really showed her figure in an attractive way.
Her casual attire looks so cute... and sexy kinda? Wait- what am I thinking?!
"I'll give you a minute if you need~" Monika giggled as she flashed a model's pose.
I couldn't help but avert my eyes, "I haven't seen you in casual clothing before, so I couldn't help myself from looking, hehe."
I heard the click of the door, causing my eyes to focus back on Monika. She had her back pressed to the doorway as she locked the door knob behind her. "Now~ Why don't we get situated?"
I cleared my throat to distract my mind from how her gesture made me feel. "Sure, but..." Before we started "getting down to business," I wanted to talk to her about the festival. "Um, you heard the announcement, right?" Something changed in the game to cause this unforeseen cancelation, but who caused it? Was it her?
Monika's whole cheery demeanor dropped into a downcast of lost words as she looked at me glumly.
Clearly, she was trying to not think about it, but I just had to bring it up. Stupid curiosity, stupid me, stupid. "Hey..." Monika's low voice snapped me out of my deprecation. She must've been able to read my thoughts through my expression because she continued, "It's alright. It's something we should talk about at some point. I just..." She sighed. "I don't know what happened. We were on schedule to have the festival. In fact... it was predetermined." Checking for my reaction, she only received a nod from me. "I was really excited for this, my first real school festival."
From her tone, I could tell she wanted the festival to happen as much as Act 3 Monika of the game. It couldn't have been her, so why did the festival cancel?
"Yeah, it really sucks it had to be this way. I never would have expected for it to get canceled. Imagine how torn up the other clubs are because they probably started their preparations way earlier than us." I assume that's how it went given the context of Natsuki's excuse of our late preparation.
"While that is true," Monika giggled, a hint of sadness cracked in her voice. "We had such great poems to show the school, and now... Well, no point in dwelling on it!"
And like that, she was back to her usual self. No sadness on the surface, but if I inspected closer, it was pretty obvious.
It's probably best I don't prod her any further on the subject. She doesn't want to talk about it, and I can understand why with how important it was to her. I remembered she was so bummed in Act 3 of the game that she wasn't able to participate in the festival in neither the first week and the redo week.
Putting my thoughts aside, I looked back at Monika, her umbrella on the side, then the weather outside, and it all felt so surreal.
"Okay, why don't we go to the kitchen?" I offered.
She nodded with a smile. "Lead the way~"
I walked her over to the kitchen that had a bunch of assorted food on the otherwise clear table. "Here's some snacks if you, uh, like." I gestured to it. "I thought you'd like some of these."
"Vegetables, coffee, chocolates and protein bars?" Monika laughed, covering her mouth to stop the overflow of hilarity. "Oh my God, this is perfect. It's too perfect."
"What do you mean?" I asked in fake ignorance. I knew full well why the set up was so perfect.
"I think I get it now, Y/N." Monika leaned forward with a smile, her eyes scanning the layout on the table until they landed on me. "Are we the only ones in the house?"
I felt my heart flutter once again by her. My pulse raced as I thought about the question, and the anxiety of the answer. "Yeah, we're alone. I'll show you to my room, so we can talk comfortably. I'm sure we both have many questions for the other."
"That'll be perfect then. Just like the snacks somehow." Monika grabbed a protein bar and awaited me to lead the way.
We both climbed up the stairs and entered my new room.
I immediately heard the door shut behind me as I felt a slight, impatient push on my back towards the bed.
"Now sit~" she hummed as I was practically forced onto my bed, not that it bothered me. "We have a lot to talk about! Don't mind my excitement, ahaha!"
"It's fine." I shrugged.
Monika plopped next to me on the edge of the bed, causing the mattress to slant slightly from her weight and me to accidentally lean into her at the sudden bed shift.
"S-Sorry." I sat upright again to which she continued to giggle at my blunder, her smile telling me that it was okay, and maybe that she wouldn't have minded if I had stayed leaning on her.
"Now," she began, "let's talk."
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Just graduated high school today (5/22/21)! So I hope to try and write more since school is done for me UwU but at the same time, I'll be busy with trying to get the hang of post-high school life.