Waiting For Ribbons In The Void

Exchange

Deafening silence lingered in the clubroom that late afternoon as Matsuri’s harsh ultimatum was still fresh in Yuri’s and Natsuki’s minds. Just shy of an hour ago, the two girls inherited the Literature Club from Monika and Sayori. Now, that same club was on the verge of disbandment.

Natsuki, the new club president, felt the frustration welling in her heart as Matsuri’s afterimage and sharp words haunted her. She couldn’t take it anymore, so her unfiltered thoughts escaped her lips,

“Damn that Matsuri bitch! Why the hell is she gunning for us like this? She’s singling us out here, isn’t she? Does she hate us or something!?”

Yuri, on the other hand, cradled her copy of the Portrait of Markov while she hung her head low. A myriad of thoughts swirled in the quiet novelist’s mind, so she started thinking out loud,

“I… cannot discern this ‘Matsuri’ person’s motives, but we cannot ignore the fact that she has a fully-rendered sprite like ours. That is the true oddity, I believe.”

She opened her book and studiously flipped through the pages to scan the game files. Yuri then furrowed her brow and repored,

“It is just as I thought. Curiously, ‘Matsuri’ does not have a character file - nor does she resemble any of the unused elements in the game folder. I do not see her on the character list of ‘Post-Credits’ either, so it is hard to say if she is one of Elias’ creations.”

Natsuki groaned and felt dizzy after hearing Yuri’s report. She sat down on one of the clubroom chairs, heaved a tired sigh and then started fanning herself with her administrative notebook. The club president then glanced at her notebook and wondered,

“Hey, Yuri - you think she knows about all of this? About the game and the story and stuff?”

Yuri closed her book and thoughtfully hummed,

“Matsuri did not seem to react when she saw your administrative notebook - or my novel. Perhaps she does not understand the powers that we wield through them. If that is the case, then I doubt that she knows about the Ren’Py engine and the html word processor.”

She then faced Natsuki and concluded,

“Moreover, Matsuri did not use any sort of coding language against us. She spoke in unencrypted English and… she simply performed her duties as the student council president of our school.”

Natsuki sighed as she set down her notebook. She then leaned against the backrest and wistfully looked up to the ceiling and moaned,

“That might be true, but I’m still pissed! She just came out of nowhere and started talking crap to us!”

She then turned to Yuri and asked,

“You think Matsuri has a script or something, Yuri? Something we can mess around with?”

“I do not think so, Natsuki. We have been off-script since Chapter 4 of ‘Post-Credits’, but Matsuri was responding to us naturally during our conversation. A scripted NPC would have continued with her lines, but Matsuri wasn’t like that. Matsuri was speaking with us. She even cut a deal with us - through her terms are grossly unfavorable to us since we are the ones in the wrong.”

Yuri then set down her novel and promptly reminded,

“As much as I wish to ponder more about Matsuri’s nature, we still have our deadline to meet. Given how shrewd Matsuri seemed, I doubt that she would give us another chance.”

Natsuki’s lips twisted with displeasure until a curious thought came to her mind. She then opened her administrative notebook again and found the save files page as she proposed,