𝘿𝘿𝙇𝘾 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨 & 𝙎𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙨

Act II.

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Monika

You're so silly, ahaha!!

I don't know why this keeps happening, but I promise, everything is fine. Kinda like you ;)

I'm so sorry if this chapter is worrying. I swear, this isn't anything serious. Just know that I love you, so, so much, no matter what, okay? And this– I don't know, I suppose you just enjoy angst or something, hehe!!

Hey, if you want an Act III chapter, I don't know if I can do that. But just keep an eye out for more of my chapters, okay? I'll be doing what I can ;D

Help me

It should have been fine. It should have been normal. It was a normal day. It was a perfectly fine day.

It wasn't really a club meeting unless Natsuki dragged you off to the corner to read manga together, and today was no exception. She'd enthusiastically pulled you to the closet, excitedly talking about the newest volume of Parfait Girls and how she'd been lucky enough to get it from a friend.

"I don't mean to be insensitive, but, um, do you not just get them yourself?" you had asked as she started to pull out a few volumes of the manga. "We could always go to a bookstore together or something, if you wanted that."

"No, no, it's okay," she had replied, smiling at you thankfully. But that expression immediately vanished when she continued, "My dad would beat the shit out of me if he ever found any of this."

And then she'd just handed you a copy of Parfait Girls, sat down on the floor in her usual spot, and opened the manga to the most recent chapter.

Your blood felt like it had been left in a freezer in Antarctica with how cold you suddenly felt. Natsuki didn't act like she'd said anything. Not a single twitch in expression, retraction of words, nothing. It was like nothing had happened.

But you knew what you had heard.

You weren't an idiot (not all the time, anyway). You'd been growing more and more concerned for Natsuki over the past few weeks. After all, it was easy for you to catch sight of the bruises she'd try to cover, or how she'd been showing up to the club more and more hungry each day. Monika looked like she'd noticed, considering how she always brought something for Natsuki to eat, but you didn't know if she'd brought it up.

Maybe it was scary because it confirmed something you'd been afraid of for months. Maybe it was scary because you couldn't stand the thought of someone you loved getting abused like that. Or maybe it was because of the way her eyes didn't look like eyes when she'd let that slip. It was like reality had temporarily glitched out when Natsuki had spoken, her face distorting in a way that you couldn't just brush off as a trick of the light.

It could be any one of those. It could be all of them.

All you knew is that you were absolutely terrified for Natsuki.

iruY

You could feel Yuri'seYEsSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSbSbbSSbSburning into the back of your neck.