DDLC: .366 TKM (Eng)

"You can't even imagine how cliche this is."
"But it works!"
**
Inspired by RadLad's "Hard Times" and insane loneliness.
Translation help - TuffNuff.
**
XVn universe. Somewhere in Haberberg.
A year has passed since the Yamaku Incident [note. - Event from "Katawa Shoujo: Britannia" fanfics. Never translated, thank God]. Our army has gradually disappeared. Some started drinking like there’s no tomorrow, some are missing in action, and the others were either killed by accident or captured by the government, and so Enigma and I are on the run now. But we're quiet like mice, so no one even knows that we're here. No one will search for us in this musty basement. Not to mention, we’ve found good friends always willing to help us out.
April is on the streets. It is a time when couples change their thick coats to something lighter in order to walk, breathe freely, kiss each other and hold hands like it's the last time they see each other. But we are not up for love. We perform experiments for our own benefits.
I loudly slam the door, causing Enigma to fall out of his chair. Hardly keeping his balance, he jumps up from his perch and comes to the "planning table", which I’m already littering with circuits, regulators, light bulbs, tools and two thick notebooks.
"Okay, dude, this will be the craziest shit I've ever planned," I say, throwing my backpack away, "Take that notebook and open page 15."
I point at the notebook with an orange cover which better resembles a badly made Big Mac than a notebook. It's full of cut-outs from newspapers, prints and drawings, which are barely held together by two regular paperclips. Enigma takes this paper monster and flips through a dozen of pages.
"«A twenty-one-year-old John William Scott disappeared from his house on the night of December 23, 2017 in Chattanooga, Nashville. Searches were carried out all over the city and the surrounding areas, but were unsuccessful - the guy was never found. John was a young radio engineer, and a regular on the 4chan imageboard. He left a lot of experimental records and lots of unfinished projects.» So?"
"This, my dear comrade, is the starting point of our plan. Gimme that," I grab the notebook out of Enigma's hands and flip twenty pages forward, "Somewhere on the 19th of December, someone posted an unusual fanfic on 4chan. It's author was one “RadLad”. Here's the print. Everything could have been simple with this creation, but RadLad noted the idea that his hero, meaning himself, was to change the script of DDLC in order to save all the girls in the novel."
"Damn it, you and your DDLC. Listen, let's drop this topic. It’s bad enough we didn’t get anything good from this novel, but as you know now one of your copies somewhere in the XZ universe has gone crazy and died because of that."
"Shut up and let me finish, Marcus," I interrupted my colleague and dropped the notebook on the table, causing it to rip, "It was an ordinary fanfic, but with a meaning to it. Not only did this RadLad, a.k.a. John Scott, want to change the script and save everyone, but he also wanted to infiltrate the game and make everything inside the way he saw fit. He wanted to rule this place, wanted everything to himself. The son of a bitch almost did it, but he remained inside the game because he had no backup return plan. The second notebook is his work. And we are going to use this work for our own reasons. Understand?"
I take a look at Enigma's face. It’s clear that he’s lost in thought and at a slight loss of the situation. He thought very hard, but not for long.
"You want to infiltrate this game, right?"
I snap my fingers.
"Bingo!"
"And you want to be the ultimate hero out there?"
"Yes."
"You don't fucking understand how dumb you sound right now, Colonel. That's fucking stupid," Enigma picks a second notebook from the table, "At first we broke laws of physics and staged a mass murder. Now we will build some kind of electric chair, to push you inside this game and break the laws of physics and all logic again?"
"Yes."
"Where did you get these notebooks from?"
"It doesn't matter right now, dude. The only thing that matters is what we’re going to do. Can you even imagine the possibilities with technology like that? We can... use computer games as hideouts if cops are right behind our doors.  We will no longer have to ask anyone for help. And most importantly – it’s science, just the way we like it. So, are you in?"
Enigma scratches the back of his head and sighs. An evil smile lights up his face:
"All for the sake of science. I'm in."
**
A giant clap and smoke. This is how my seventeenth attempt to "save everyone" ends in this small electronic world. A nosebleed paints my favorite hoodie crimson-red, followed by a terrible spasm clinching my muscles, causing me to start shaking. For seventeenth time. Usually I don't have enough time after calibration, but the last five times I furiously fail in my attempts. A human factor - I made a mistake again. Enigma unfastens the straps on my hands and pulls me out of the chair:
"Mal, are you okay?"
"Again... We must try again," I say, spitting away bloody saliva, "Again."
"One more attempt and your brain will turn into a baked potato," Enigma says it through his teeth while dragging me to a sofa, "One more attempt and all equipment will burn down, blacking out the entire city. One more attempt and the cops will find us, do you understand this? Maybe we'd better try this on rats?"
"No... We can do it... The calculations show that you can send a person. I don't want to go through this notebook again. We will do it the way it was written on these pages. We will send in a human."
Enigma throws me off his shoulder onto the sofa and disappears somewhere in our hideout. My eyes begin to close on their own due to fatigue. Returning to reality is exhausting my body. A wet towel touches my face before I pass out:
"It seems that we can't take on any other project, one that would be less dangerous to you. That's fucking insane, Colonel. The calibrations are always unstable, with every attempt you have less and less time. At one point, you will be stuck in this little world and you will have no way to get back."
I push Enigma's hand away from my face:
"Marcus, why would you accept my idea if you're trying to give up now? You better give me something, man... what can we do to make it work as intended?"
At first Enigma goes silent but then speaks up:
"We can change the resistance of the circuitry, by removing the resistors, change polarity in some chips and... this should work. But this can cause a massive short-circuit and a fire."
"Do it. Take all the instruments and do it. But..." I lift my finger in the air, "Be kind, do something else before you get to it."
"What?"
"Prepare a strong tincture of phytosedan. And pour it into my flask. And get all of my money from my dollar stash. And..." I say, falling into a dream, "Do not disturb me for some time, okay? I need to take a nap."
"Still, Morpheus is stronger than you, soldier," Enigma takes the watch off my hand and pats me on my shoulder, "Take a rest."
My body can not stand the magnetism of sofa and I fall on my side like a stone. Tomorrow... will be the day...
*
The chair, which looks like an electric chair, was cleaned from my blood and traces of soot. I adjust the watch on my hand and put the flask in the inner pocket of my softshell. My hoodie is covered in blood, so I must wear some other "signature" clothing. I'm nervous, like it’s my first time. Enigma tries to cheer me up:
"I will put the dust left from you in a box of matches and bury it. Deal?"
"In that case, tell my mother that I was a communist," I glance at the clock on the wall, "The time has come. Gentlemen, start the engines!"
I sit down in the chair and fasten my legs.
Enigma is busy with wires.
"I've upgraded the watch on your hand. Now it will show you the current state of stutters and all the errors which can happen. But there's a problem," Enigma, freed from wires, began to fix my hands in the chair, "I could not put a speaker in them. So, do not forget to «check the time», okay?"
"Okay. I am ready, give me a shot."
Enigma takes a syringe and injects anesthetic into my hand. It will help me survive what’s ahead. Clicking of tumblers makes me slightly shudder. The watch flickers and shows 00:00. The process has begun. Enigma approaches the control panel, opens the lid and holds his finger over the button:
"In the name of science, don't forget to come back, okay?"
I give him a thumbs up.
"All right, here we go!" Enigma's finger falls on the button and an electric charge hits my body...
*
White bathroom. Pretty simple, European style. The only thing that stands out of the general scene is a basket full of dirty laundry... and white panties with black polka dots. I stand in the middle of the room and look at the device on my arm.
"Calibration. 00:59."
The watch on my hand count percents, - not minutes or seconds, - showing me how "united" I am with the game. And right now it's 59 percent. No, 60 percent already. It's a shame that I can't leave the room, otherwise a huge bug will occur, and I, indistinguishable from a freshly-baked pie, will be thrown back into reality. And I do not like going back, it always hurts.
"Calibration. 00:78."
I go to the laundry basket and take out the panties which caught my attention. They look cute, especially when I know who their owner is. I could take them with me as a trophy, but that's just crazy. What if it's her favorite pair? And I'm not some kind of pervert, hah. I open the lid of the basket and throw them inside. I hope, after today, she will at least wash her dirty clothes. How long must I wait?
"Calibration. 00:95."
Too long. I hear something falling somewhere in the depths of the corridor. I put my ear to the door. Wheezing and sniffling, it’s quiet, barely audible. Damn, she has done it. I glance at my watch.
"Calibration. 00:99."
Come on, come on...
"Calibration. 00:99."
Hurry up, she’s going to be fucking dead if I don’t make it in time!
"Calibrating. 01:00. Time calculation..."
I jump out of the bathroom and, in the blink of an eye, rush inside the room that I need to be in. Quickly, I pick up a chair lying on the floor and put it under the feet of a floundering girl. I put my hands on her feet, so she does not flip the chair and hang herself again. I wait for her to relax the knot around her neck. She can't do it. At all. Being extremely frightened, the girl starts to pull back the rope, so the knot becomes even tighter.
"Sayori, damn it!" I release the girl's legs and take out a knife.
I get up on the chair, leaving no room for Sayori; she stumbles and hangs on the rope once more with a terrible wheeze. I grab the rope and cut it. The girl falls on the floor, gasping and choking with tears in her eyes. I get off the chair and lean over to her.
"That's it, that's it, calm down. Breathe," I say, removing the rope from her neck, "It's all right."
The rope falls on the floor and I take a look at Sayori. Two small waterfalls on the cheeks, a red bruise from the rope and scratches from her nails, the bow almost fell from her hair... I take the flask out of my coat:
"Here. Drink up, this will calm you down," I give the flask to Sayori.
"Wh-what is this?" she asks with a trembling voice.
"Phytosedan. Herbal tincture. Tastes awful, but it works smoothly and quickly. Drink."
Sayori grabs the flask and makes the first few sips. Her face shows that she doesn't like the taste. In my defense, I can say this is the best thing I can offer to her. After finishing the drink, Sayori leans against the couch and sits up in the fetal position. Her slightly trembling voice breaks the silence:
"Who are you?"
"Me? You can call me your «guardian angel», who protects people like you from stupid, impulsive actions. And I just did my job," I bow.
"How did you get in my house?"
 "Actually, I «spawned» in the bathroom," I chuckle, "Hoping that I would not have to do anything... But I was wrong. By the way, you have very nice polka dot panties..."
"What?!" my words surprise Sayori.
"What?" I shrug.
An awkward pause tears the room. Damn, keep your mouth shut, Colonel. Sayori sniffs. I look at my watch.
"Time. 00:03.58."
I have 4 minutes. I kneel before Sayori and start looking straight into her eyes, they’re still red from tears and hardly focus on me:
"Wh-what do you want?"
"Please, listen closely now, okay?" I say as softly as I can, "First of all, I did not touch your panties, they're in the laundry. I advise you to wash all of your clothes or soon you’ll have nothing to wear. Secondly, I know what's going on with you and why you want to die so badly. Monika. She tried to push you into the rope on Friday, but... she just took the first steps then. So she decided to mess with your brain. A hypnosis, if you will. Code words, that kind of stuff. That's how she made you feel even worse. But, here's what I need to tell you: all her speeches are lies. Do not listen to her. Your presence and your care paints the world in bright colors for your friends. Therefore... even if the rainclouds do not disperse, then find happiness in... dispersing them from other people. Maybe then your life will change for the better. Alright?"
Sayori closes her eyes and nods. Apparently, the tincture kicked in and she is no longer so scared. I wipe the tears from her face with my hand. The girl does not even try to move away.
"You are a good person, but be even better. For others and for your own sake. I was in a similar situation, where even taking a breath hurt..." I get up, "Now I'm saving lives like yours. Feeling better?"
"Yes, thank you…"
"If you get rid of the rainclouds in your head, the world will light up with new colors, not just in shades of gray," I sigh and pick up the flask off the floor, "Today, by the way, is festival day. Are you ready for it?"
"Ah, I completely forgot! I'll be late!" Sayori jumps up off the floor and begins to search for clothes.
Smiling, I turn around and move towards the door.
"Time. 00:00.59."
I do not think that my speech will help her. And I do not think that she understood it at all, because I think I just said complete bullshit, trying to catch up on the importance and pathos. That's not the way you work with depressed people. Most likely, it's just a nuclear dose of herbs that temporarily turned those rainclouds off and she forgot about everything so quickly. The door closes behind me and I start to go down the stairs.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Sayori runs out of the room, covering herself with a skirt, "What's your name?"
"Mine? Malcolm."
In this very moment, a guy enters Sayori's house. Almost the same height as me, eyes are brown and empty, mess on the head. We look at each other.
"Who are you?" the guy asks me.
"Morning, Joseph!" yells Sayori somewhere from within her room, "I overslept again, can you even imagine? Give me three minutes and I'll be ready! By the way, get acquainted with my «guardian angel». His name is Malcolm."
"Hello, my friend," I reach out my hand to greet Joseph and smile, "Nice to meet you."
He stretches out his hand and I squeeze it. A click of joints echoes through the room.
"I have to go," I say, releasing his hand, "We'll see each other again sometime."
"Time. 0:00.00. Stutter in progress."
*
I forgot to close my eyes before the stutter. The effect, similar to an explosion of a stun grenade blinds me so hard, that it seems to me that I have gone blind once and for all. For the umpteenth time I forget Enigma's advice - "Close your eyes before the stutter". After a while my vision is almost restored, the outlines of the world begin to make their way through the white veil in my eyes. A long corridor stretches out in front of me. I glance at my watch. Letters and numbers merge into one green mush, so I squint to make the picture clearer.
"Calibration. 00:89."
This time the calibration is much faster. The corridor is one large room, so I can move around it without fear of interrupting the settings. The evening sun paints everything in an orange shade, which makes it seem that the whole corridor is burning.
I feel my legs shaking while I’m walking. I’ll be sure to close my eyes during the next stutter. The class that I need is dead-ahead, so I go up straight to the door and straddle my shoulder against the wall.
"Calibration. 01:00. Time calculation... 00:45.59."
Forty-five minutes! What a gift. This will help me with my plan.
I put my ear to the door to scout the situation. I hear someone arguing inside the room and steps, which are quickly heading towards me. I break away from the door and hide in the nearest arch.
"Hey, Joseph... Yuri is really something, isn't she?
The door closes. I stand against the wall hoping to merge with it, so that no one will notice me. It's a shame that the wall is white and my softshell is gray. I move closer to the shadow, so that I can't be seen.
"Monika, there is something wrong with Yuri, I swear!" a sonorous voice rolls down the corridor like a thunder.
"It's all right, Natsuki. Go home. She just wants to be with... Joseph," the soft voice responds a bit nervously to its "interlocutor".
"I... I really should go, then. Bye, Monika."
"Farewell, Natsuki. Don't forget about the muffins!" Monika clears her throat and starts to mumble, "Little twat. Can't wait to get rid of you. And this Sayori... still alive. Damn it."
The girl stops at the arch and peers into the shadow, where I'm hiding.
"Hm?"
"Go away, Monika. Go away. There's nobody in this shadow," my brain screams as I clench my teeth.
"Must have been my imagination, ahahaha~!" Monika passes by the arch and disappears behind the turn.
Lucky me, someone's eyesight even worse than mine. I step out of the shadows and look out of the archway. Nobody is here. Awesome. I take off the softshell and shoes. I put one shoe against the wall, the second one is in my hand. When I'm only in my socks no one should hear my footsteps. The second shoe will come in handy as an obstacle for the door. I walk up to the door and gently press the handle. A barely audible click of the spring tells me that the door can be opened. I slowly pull it towards myself and look into the classroom. These two are in the classroom - a tall girl with purple hair and that guy I saw in Sayori's house, Joseph. A knife party, heh? Second day scenario? I must work quickly and quietly.
"There's really something wrong with me, isn't there? But you know what? I don't care anymore. I've never felt this good my whole life," Yuri says with a trembling voice.
I step inside the classroom and put a shoe under the door so that it does not close and frighten the "victim" with an unexpected blow against the wall. I glance at the guy. It seems that he is in a trance and he does not care about a dude at the end of the class who is slowly sneaking up on his friend.
"Just being with you is a far greater pleasure than anything I could even imagine. I'm addicted to you. It feels like I'm going to die if I'm not breathing the same air as you. Doesn't it feel nice to have someone care about you so much? To have someone who wants to revolve their entire life around you? But if it feels so good... Then why does it feel more and more like something horrible is going to happen?", the girl goes on.
"Because I’m right behind you, that's why," I think to myself. Slowly shifting from foot to foot, I sneak up to Yuri and, apparently, she does not really hear anything aside from her own speech, because my foot slightly creaked under my wet sock. A knife handle sticks from under her jacket. Damn. My task is not to let her use this knife. More precisely - to not let her kill herself. But I need to wait for a moment, otherwise there may be up to three corpses in this classroom. I quickly glance at my watch. 40 minutes. Still enough.
"Maybe that's why I tried to stopping myself at first... But the feeling is too strong now. I don't care anymore, Joseph! I have to tell you! I'm... I'm MADLY in love with you! It feels like every inch of my body... every drop of blood in me... is screaming your name. I don't care what the consequences are anymore! I don't care if Monika is listening! I don't care if this little brat Natsuki or your dumb friend Sayori are listening! Please, Joseph, just know how much I love you," the girl's voice bounces off the walls with a slight echo.
I stop in about a meter away from Yuri and almost cease my breathing. Steady, steady…
"I love you so much that I even touch myself with the pen I stole from you. I just want to pull your skin open and crawl inside of you. I want you all to myself. And I will be only yours. Doesn't it sound perfect? Tell me, Joseph... Tell me that you want to be my lover. Do you accept my confession?"
"No," the guy answers in a monotone voice.
Oh boy, here we go. I ready myself.
"Hahahahaha~!" the girl bursts into a crazy laugh and reaches for the knife.
I rush forward and grab the girl into a stifling reception, which I learned through the Internet. The knife falls to the floor with a wild ringing.
"Who... who the fuck are you? What do you want?! Let go of me!" the girl starts kicking, but I already have a safe grip over her.
"Stop squirming already," I spit words through my teeth, trying to keep this mad machine.
I'm clutching my arms so she can't get rid of them. Now I just need to press down, like in the manual. I gradually push on the carotid artery, trying my best not to hurt Yuri. The girl resists less with every second. After remaining in the grip for another half a minute, Yuri becomes soft and begins to fall on me. Successful success is successful. I barely hold the weight of the body falling on me. Her head hits my nose so hard that I see stars. I catch the smell of her hair - grapes. Well, Enigma lost the bet, that means free pizza for me. I move my hands away from Yuri's neck, grab her under the shoulders and drag her to a chair. After tucking her in so she does not collapse, I put my hand under her nose. She’s breathing. I put my ear to her chest. Heart’s beating. Alive. Great. I adjust my glasses. Now we need to deal with this mannequin. I go up to him and snap my fingers in front of his face. No reaction. I slap his face. No reaction at all. I pull his nose, tug at his hair, punch him in the chest - nothing.
"Into the closet you go, sad fucker," I say, lifting the guy.
What a heavy son of a bitch. What are you, made of lead or something? I open the closet and put him on the floor. Sure looks good as decoration on the ground, which he actually is. Now I need to find an assistant to bring Yuri to her house. I could do it by myself, but I do not know where she lives.
Her bag might help me with this task. I get inside of it and… what’s this? Five more knives of different shapes. Jesus Christ. I take one out, pull it out of its sheath and begin to examine it. Gleaming steel, a handle made of bone, no stop guard, really impressive. Definitely a collectible one. I look at the knife on my belt. It almost looks like a stationery knife, yet its sharpness saved me more than once. A really great knife, this ACB-90. I wasted so much money on it...
"You will always be number one for me," I pat the scabbard, "cheering up" my best friend.
I return the elegant blade back to Yuri's bag and find a phone somewhere on the bottom of it. I open "Contacts", and find the number I need. I clear my throat and start the call:
"Hello, Natsuki? Yea, this is Joseph. Why am I calling you from Yuri's phone? I'll explain it later. Look, I need your help. Could you please come to school and help Yuri and I? Yes. Yes. As soon as possible. Thank you so much. See ya."
I walk to the door and pull my shoe out from under it. I should collect my stuff.
"Hey, Joseph! How can I help..." Natsuki cuts herself off mid-sentence, entering the classroom, "You're not Joseph. Who the hell are you?"
"Oh, you finally came. I really thought I'd sit here until the end of times. Name's Malcolm. Nice to meet you."
"Malcolm? Wait a minute," the girl points her finger at me, "Aren't you this guy that appeared out of "nowhere" over at Sayori's house?"
"That’s me."
"Hah, then it is understandable why you called me from Yuri's phone, you maniac. You raped and killed her, and now you decided to take me on?"
"Actually, I saved Sayori that day, I'm not some kind of maniac. At least not today. And here's your Yuri," I point to the body on the desk with my hand, "She's unconscious. I had to put her to sleep, so she would not do anything stupid."
"For example?"
"She tried to kill herself."
"Kill herself?" shock runs through the face of this miniature girl, "So, I was right..."
"Yes, from beginning to end. She's not okay," I got up from the chair and went to Yuri, "Yuri has a phase shift in her head. A solid one. I do not know what caused it, but I can say only one thing - she must visit a psychiatrist, because she cuts herself and... somehow she developed a furious affection for your friend Joseph, whom she could kill. By the way, here is the knife she wanted to kill herself with. Check it out."
I pick up a knife from the desk and give it to Natsuki. The girl looks at the blade for a while, then looks up at me.
"What kind of "help" do you need?"
"We must take Yuri to her place. I can offer her a ride on my back, though. But the problem is that I do not know where she lives. That's why I called you. So, will you help me?"
"Yes, I'll show you to her house. She lives not far from here," Natsuki answers me, smacking the knife into my hand, "And get that piece of metal away from me. By the way, where is Joseph? He was with her when I left school."
"In the closet, see for yourself, if you dare," I forcibly put on an evil smile.
"What?" Natsuki retorts, slight concern washing over her face now.
"Just kidding, let’s get going."
"Time. 00:19.27."
The late evening had already turned into the night when we entered Yuri's house. Natsuki turns on the light and shows me where the living room is. I reach the couch and drop Yuri from my back. The crunch of my joints attracts the attention of Natsuki:
"What are you, tired already?"
"Yes, I'm tired of pulling you people out of all sorts of trouble. Okay, Natsuki, here is my plan," I take a seat in an armchair and exhale heavily, "You'll have to stay here with Yuri until tomorrow morning."
"But..." Natsuki wanted to protest, but stopped herself.
"Your dad will kill you? Tell him that you helped a seriously ill friend. It’ll be the truth, too. It's not like you're trying to hide your manga from him..."
Natsuki gives me a furious look. Her fists are squeezed.
"How dare you..."
"I'm not judging you, relax. Sometimes I read manga too. Hentai, to be exact," I say with a chuckle, "But let’s not stray from what’s at hand. You will stay here with Yuri and tomorrow you will take her to a psychiatrist. Yes, you'll have to skip school. But you’ll be choosing the lesser evil here, for the well-being of your friend. You want her to be fine, right?"
"Yes..." answers the girl with a dull voice.
"Then you will have to do as I said. And everything will be just fine."
I get up from the armchair and look at my watch.
"Time. 00:10.44."
"Is there a coffee shop somewhere?"
"Yes, down the street, in a large red building. They serve really tasty donuts!"
"Mmmm... donuts. Thanks, I'll remember that. Oh, I almost forgot..."
I reach into my jacket and take money out of it:
"Take these. 400 dollars, more or less. Take them to an exchange point and convert it into your local currency."
Natsuki's eyes start to shine.
"Why are you giving them to me?" the girl asks.
"This is my «thank you» for your help. Not to mention, I do not want you to starve because of your father."
"How do you know that?"
"I'm a guardian angel, didn't Sayori tell you? Don’t waste the money on manga or some other trash. Food only, okay?"
I give the money to Natsuki and put my hand on her head, wanting to pat her. The girl jumps slightly in an attempt to get angry, but she changes her mind. It was a little painful for her that someone showed such attention to her. But I hope this is fine now. Her own father probably shows her less affection than some dude from Sayori's house. I feel like a lolicon right now.
"This will be enough for two months or so. I hope it helps."
"Thank you."
"I have to go. Take care of yourself and Yuri. See you."
I put my hand away from the girl's head and walk to the door. Natsuki follows me and hugs me from behind as I open the door.
"Thank you..." Natsuki chuckles, "Angel."
"I'm still learning," I say with small laugh.
The girl lets go of me and I get out onto the streets. My path lies to the coffee shop, where I'm going to grab a coffee for my future interlocutor and I. On a sunny day, this street looks very nice and cheerful. But at night it reminds me of a black cat which has some secrets under its mane. Orange lanterns illuminate the footpaths, the trees stand like tarred pillars, swaying in the wind, yellow lights in the windows, and no one's on the street. Romantic. I head inside the coffee shop and take two large lattes with sugar and a box of donuts with jam. Doubt a vegetarian will eat these, but whatever. I really hope that the smell of fresh donuts will change her mind and she will join me. The world produces a strong glitch. I look at my watch. One minute. I get out of the coffee shop. A light breeze sweeps over the bushes, enveloping me like a shawl. Even the sound of the wind glitches. Funny. A newspaper, carried by the wind, flies next to me and stops entirely in mid-air. Time to have a face-to-face... with Monika.
I slowly close my eyes.
"Time. 0: 00.00. Stutter in progress."
*
When I open my eyes, I see the classroom wall in front of me. I turn around and see the desk standing in the middle of the room with Monika and this dummy doll Joseph. With the same blank expression on his face, like in the scene with Yuri. Monika's room... This is impossible... I helped everyone. I saved everybody... Everybody, but Monika. Huh.
Looks like that's it. Monika was so angry with the fact that someone's destroying all of her plans, that she simply erased everyone and everything without any understanding of the situation. She could not catch a glitch that breaks the script. Could not catch me. But she almost did it in a coffee shop. But what can she do to me if I'm not part of the game? Nothing at all, I guess. Look at you, Monika. Clever and intelligent girl, you want this dumb, man-sized doll all to yourself. That's just sad.
Well, here I am. In this room, where everything ends. I sigh with indignation:
"Looks like, everything was in vain, am I right, Monika?"
The girl with the white bow turns her head towards me and almost falls from the chair, frightened by my sudden appearance:
"You?"
"Yes. The one who pulled Sayori out of the noose, the one who didn't let Yuri kill herself, the one who gave Natsuki money for food..." I walk to the desk and put coffee and donuts on it, "Your little glitch. And I'm going to be the one to throw this retard out of this room."
"Wait, do not touch him!" Monika jumps off the chair, but I pacify her ardor, putting her back with one hand.
"Sit the fuck down."
I take the "dummy" and drag him to the door. Monika is shocked, sitting in complete disbelief. I open the door with a kick. The pitch-black infinity, speckled with stars, created by Monika with nothing but sticks and stones, enters my gaze. I throw Joseph beyond the threshold into this emptiness:
"Have a nice flight, faggot!"
A red flash on my watch attracts my attention.
"Calibration. Critical error."
I shake my hand, hoping that this will help somehow. I tap the screen...
"Calibration. Critical error."
"Shit. Well, Monika," I say as I’m closing the door, "Looks like the two of us really do have an eternity in front of us."
I head towards the chair. Monika is sitting with a grimace of complete misunderstanding of situation, anticipating whatever comes next. It seems like she is preparing to defend herself, hoping that I will try to smack her.
"I brought coffee," I gesture to the cups in the carrying case, "Sugar is on the bottom. Grab one."
I move the chair to the desk and take a seat. Monika continues to look at me like I’m an enemy of the state.
"Monika, the coffee will be cold soon, help yourself. Cold coffee is bad coffee. Unless it's frappuccino."
Monika exhales a nervous laugh and reaches for the cup. Taking it from the case and turning in her hands, she takes a sip.
"Latte?"
"Yes," I say, moving the donut box to the center of the desk, "Any problems with this?"
"No, everything is wonderful, ahaha~! Well made, as it should be..." says Monika with a small smile.
"Great. You’re vegetarian, right? I wasn’t sure whether you’d be up for donuts or not, what with eggs being part of the ingredients. In any case, we’re going to have a long talk, you and I, so I doubt you can be picky."
I take my cup and break a sugar stick into it:
"I haven’t introduced myself. Name's Malcolm Satou..."
**
The smell of burning plastic drags me out of sleep. Being half-asleep, I abruptly jump off the couch and run into the depths of basement, bumping into the walls on my way. Everything around is in smoke, can't see shit. Enigma’s standing with a fire extinguisher and pours its insides on the adapter between the transformer and the chair.
"What the fuck happened?" I ask, choking on smoke, "Open the windows, damn it!"
"They’re already open," Enigma calmly answers, covering the adapter with foam, "Our project is dead."
"Dead? How?"
"Well... I decided to work with the stabilizer, so that in case of a voltage jump you would not be killed. But it turned out that because of our circuit assembly, we did not isolate two important transistors, that can’t be found anywhere - they are an antique at this point, old Soviet transistors. In the end, after my trial test, all the electronics went up in flames," Enigma puts the fire extinguisher aside and sits down on the floor, "No more game infiltrations for you."
I can’t believe my ears. Get into someone's house on the other end of the world, steal blueprints and prototypes, then assemble them... all for nothing? I can’t believe this. I walk to our device. The wires on the chair have melted, all the cords are black, the circuits are melted, the console burned out...
"Everything is gone..." anger arises from the depths of my body, "Marcus, everything's fucking gone!"
Enigma gets up from the floor and walks up to me.
"There will be more ideas and projects, definitely. But this one is dead," he pats me on the shoulder, "Go out into the street, vent yourself and cool down. It’s Spring time, after all! By the way, our guests are waiting for you. I'll stay here and clear the mess."
"Whatever you say..."
Enigma disappears somewhere in the premises. I take my softshell from the hanger and open the basement door.
The street meets me with a bright sun and warm wind. April... I'm inspecting our basement from the outside. The black smoke is billowing out from the windows like from the oven, dissolving a meter away from the walls. Everything burned down in a crimson flame. Do I feel sad? Yes. This universe offers so many opportunities for crazy and fun experiments, but I get nothing from my attempts. So close, yet so far away. We should vent our place for the next 24 hours or so... I sit down on the bench in the alley. I know who the guests are that were waiting for me. They’re definitely not the cops that can come to us at any moment and shoot us on sight. These are the ones that always come to help out.
"You’ve woken up, huh, Malcolm?" the hand of a woman falls on my shoulder.
"Yea."
"What were you dreaming of?"
"You..." I peacefully sigh and smile, "All of you."
I turn around and see all four in front of me. Sayori, cheery as always, salty Natsuki, quiet Yuri... and, of course, brilliant Monika.
"Sometimes I wonder: why did I not appear in this world earlier?" I get up from the bench and hug every one of them.
"The stars were aligned that way..." Sayori smiles, "Or maybe the lightning struck in the wrong time."
"Let's go and have breakfast. And grab some food for Marcus too," Natsuki lifts her finger with a suggestion.
"That's a good idea, Natsuki. Let's go," agrees Yuri.
"Tell me, Malcolm ... why did you decide to get inside the game? Couldn’t get enough of us?" Monika says in a playful tone.
I take Monika by the hand and squeeze it firmly.
"Because… the one who dares - wins."

Playing now: "Кино - Песня без слов".