Doki Doki: My Life With Monika Part 2

Chapter 1: My Second Date

This is the continued story of my life with Monika, and our friends. This story begins about two weeks after the last one ends, and deals with my struggles with a newly released Craig, my affection for Monika growing, and fighting an entire army of A.B.E.s... but that's getting ahead of myself. For now, let's begin at... the beginning.

I woke up dangling off the side of my bed. This had become fairly normal by now, because I was sharing a bed. I got up, stretched, and looked at the other side of the bed. Monika wasn't in it. She must've gone downstairs to help Buddy make breakfast. I quickly put on my bathrobe, and walked downstairs.

Monika was standing in the kitchen, still in her pajamas, having a friendly conversation with Buddy, who was setting the table, dressed in the tuxedo he always wore. His face, covered by synthetic skin, expressed genuine happiness. The only way you'd know he wasn't human were his glowing red eyes. The two of them looked up as they heard me coming down the stairs, and smiled.

"Good morning, Abe-y," Monika called to me. Buddy pulled a chair out, which Monika sat down in, then pushed her to the table. "Oh, Buddy, you're such a gentlemen," she giggled.

"Just my programming, Mrs. Monika," he said dismissively, and then he turned to me. "Good morning, Master Abe, how are you on this fine morning?"

"I feel great, Buddy," I told him. I looked at what he made for breakfast- breakfast burritos. Since Monika is a vegetarian, he had made both eggs and sausage. I sighed to myself. Buddy worked himself into the ground, but whenever I told him he should really take a break, he always said he was just "earning his keep." I sat down at the table, and began to eat. "Any news on Craig and Sayori?" I asked. Buddy nodded.

"My original bosses are serving time in jail, sir, and right now are out picking up trash on the side of the highway." Buddy, as you may recall, was originally a robotic murderer named A.B.E., standing for Assassinating Bionic Entity. (Although Buddy has since reverted to him original programming, which was intended to interact socially with humans, so his ORIGINAL acronym was Artificial Biological Entity.) Whoever had built Buddy was still out there, but since Craig had stolen Buddy, I figured they must've just given up on robots. But since Buddy only knew there he was supposed to be a prototype, I could never know for sure. I also knew Craig and Sayori forced Buddy to do things he really didn't want to do, and practically worked him into the ground. Now Buddy was doing that to himself, at our house. I really wanted to give him a break. And since I also wanted to spend time with Monika, I came up with a way to kill two birds with one stone. After we finished eating, Buddy took the dishes to the sink to wash them. I pulled Monika aside.

"Monika, can I ask you something?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just..." I was trying to come up with the right way to put this. "What if we ate out tonight?" Monika looked at me, a smile on her face.

"You mean like a date?" she asked.

"Exactly. It will let us spend some time together, give Buddy a break, what do you think?" Monika's smile grew as she nodded her head.

"I'd say that's a great idea!"

"Okay." I went into the kitchen, and told Buddy we were going out on a date tonight. The robot nodded in understanding.

"Roger that, I'll just remain here, and watch the house then."

"Thanks, Buddy." I turned to Monika. "Where should we go?" She looked down at herself, then at me. We were both still in our pajamas.

"Let's get dressed, then decide on that second factor."

..........

That night, Monika and I headed out of the house. The door was unlocked, but since Buddy lays on the couch to recharge his batteries, and he never sleeps anyway, we thought it'd be okay. We were both wearing our best, which was a plaid button-up shirt and khaki pants for me, and a black dress for Monika. After dinner, which was a simple meal at a BBQ restaurant, we decided to just walk around the park for a couple hours. As we had our stroll, hand in hand, Monika turned to me.

"Abe, I've just realized something," she said. I turned to look at her.

"And what's that?"

"Well, we're pretty much a couple now..."

"Right..."

"And we both really like each other..."

"What're you trying to say?" I asked her. I rubbed my pants pocket. There was something in there, something intended for her. I was just too nervous to use it yet, especially with so many so many witnesses around. We weren't the only ones in the park, after all. A couple of people were also out and about, enjoying this peaceful spring evening.

"It just suddenly occurred to me that we've been dating for a month, and yet, I've never met your parents," Monika informed me.

"Oh." So that's what she was talking about. "Well, my parents moved down to Southern Idaho, because my mom has wanted a farm for years. I stayed up here, because of college." Monika nodded. She looked a little sad.

"I never had parents programmed into the game," she said. She was staring out into the lake, where the moonlight was reflecting off the surface. "I've always wondered what it would be like." I took her by the shoulders. She turned her attention back to me and hugged me.

"Hey, it's alright," I told her. "Some people in this world never know their parents. But a lot of them find love and comfort from other people... like you have." She smiled at that, then she thought of something else.

"Craig and Sayori are on community service," Monika told me. "Natsuki and I saw them picking up trash on the side of the highway. All Sayori ever does whenever she sees me is glare." I put my hand on her cheek.

"Don't worry," I reassured her. "She'll get over it. You don't have to worry about Sayori. Aw, dang it. I just rhymed." Monika giggled. I laughed, too. And it turns out I was right. Sayori and Craig would be the least of our worries.