If Monika Didn't Have Powers

Monika never realizes her Club President powers!
Just your average literature club for the next year!
The Dokis laugh, read, and have fun!
Graduation approaches!
Oh, what a beautiful ceremony!
The Dokis go on to college!
Except for Sayori, she married Anon!
Good for her!
Yuri majors in English!
She finds a job in a Western publishing house!
Natsuki majors in environmental engineering! She works in an environmentally sustainable greenhouse now!
Monika majors in philosophy!
Monika couldn't find her calling!
Four long years of indecision!
Surely it will work out!
She's now a night clerk at a convenience store!

>>198411567
Wondering where it all went wrong with Monika!
She seemed so smart and dutiful in high school!
And she kept it up through college!
Becoming trapped in fantasies of her own making!
How she'd change the world!
How she'd find her love and have a loving family!
How it would all work out in the end!
Thinking back on the Dokis!
What did Yuri, Sayori, and Natsuki do that made them successful?!
Searching desperately alone in her bed night after night for an answer!
Monika trying to figure things out!
She thought she was smart!
Everyone told her she was smart!
Why can't she figure it out?!
Cyberstalking her old friends!
Being ashamed of herself for envying them so deeply!
Her heart used to be full, now it's so empty!
Monika!

>>198412187
Monika trying to make friends at age 24!
With her signature laugh and cheerful disposition, she's sure to be successful!
People want nothing to do with her!
Her "Ahahaha~"s are completely out of place among her coworkers!
Monika stops laughing in front of them!
Monika stops laughing altogether!
Monika goes home to an empty apartment!
She takes off her uniform, puts on pajamas and goes straight to bed!
Monika's sleep patterns alter for the worse!
Monika becoming tired all the time!
Monika can't control herself, it's hard to wake up nowadays!
What does she have to make it worth getting out of bed anyway?!
Fantasizing under the covers about how cool she could be!
Fantasizing under the covers about a boy calling her pretty!
No one has expressed interest in Monika in many years!
Staying under the covers all day, pretending her own smell is someone else's!
Monika!

>>198412928
Monika trying not to express contempt for other people!
It's very difficult!
Seeing every couple in the street and imagining herself as the girl instead!
Alternatively, imagining how horrible their lives must be and being glad she's not in that position! Whores!
Clerking at the convenience store!
Getting late, almost time to head home!
Mopping the floor to the tune of "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"!
Alone!
Checking the register! All clear!
About to lock the door and go home to bed!
But wait! Someone's pulled up in a new Mazda!
He waves to you in an urgent way and asks if you're still open!
Monika wants to say no, but she says yes!
The man gestures for his two young daughters to get out of the car and come in with him!
"We just needed some bananas," he says, coming into the light of the store!
It's Anon! He has a small beard now!
He recognizes you too, but you both instantly realize that your economic class separates you!
Monika tries to make small talk!
She forgot how difficult it's become to make small talk nowadays!
Anon mentions he does computer stuff now!
Monika laughs because she dabbled in that earlier in life but could never figure it out!
Asking how Sayori is!
Great! Third child on the way!
Receiving a similar question from Anon and being unable to answer!
Monika wanting to tell him how hopeless life is!
Monika wanting to tell him she might kill herself soon!
Monika wanting to tell him she really misses being young and having friends and laughing and enjoying life and not wanting to die and having a reason to wake up in the morning and the simplicity of youth when everything made sense and when life didn't seem like a nonstop descent of suffering and pain!
Monika saying it's fine, everything's fine!
Anon saying that's great and giving her the bananas to ring up!
His hand brushes hers and she feels a rush of sensations she hasn't felt in a long time! She's ashamed that such a small, meaningless occurrence would mean so much to her!
Monika!

>>198414540
Anon's two little daughters asking how Monika knows him!
Anon saying they used to go to school together!
"A long time ago," Monika says, "ahahaha~!"
Conversation dries up!
Well, this is goodbye!
Anon waves as he and his daughters exit the store!
"Say goodbye, Nana! Say goodbye, Yuri!"
Anon's daughters squeal goodbye and hop into the car!
Monika mopping the floor again!
Monika counting the register once more!
Monika going home alone!
Monika going to bed alone!
Curling into a fetal position in your uniform!
Imagining what could have been!
Becoming lost in fantasies of your own making!
Tears streaming down your face!
Usually you don't cry when fantasizing!
Your own mind taking away the one pleasure you had in life and replacing it with sadness!
Happy thoughts becoming jumbled with sad thoughts!
Unable to control what you're feeling, you go to the kitchen and try to eat your favorite breakfast cereal!
It tastes like ash!
Throwing the cereal box across the floor!
You never learned to cook!
You never learned any skills!
You never learned anything worthwhile!
All you know how to do is be yourself, and that's not good enough!
Monika!

>>198416034
Monika taking off her work clothes and putting on her old school uniform!
It was her favorite! It still fits!
Putting on her coat and going back outside!
It was warm out earlier, now it's rather chilly!
The blowing wind dries her tears!
Her resolve is strengthened!
Monika putting one step forward in front of the other to do something difficult!
It feels like the first time in her life she's done something like that!
Walking at night in a cold and desolate town!
She grew up here!
Passing her old elementary school and its new playground equipment!
Empty!
Passing a minimall whose newest addition is a sushi shop!
Empty!
Passing a library!
You better believe that's empty!
Crossing the bridge over the river on foot!
Winds intensifying!
Monika has never been more resolved!
Monika thinks of all the people she knew and how none of them cared!
Monika thinks of all her fantasies she's never told anyone about!
Monika knows it's for the best!
Monika looks over the railing of the bridge!
Long way down!
Oh no, a car's coming!
Monika doesn't want to be seen like this so she pulls out her phone!
Empty contact list with Monika!
Pretending to have someone to talk to with Monika!
The car slows!
Monika talking to herself with her face turning red!
The driver asks her what she's doing out on the bridge this late at night!
Monika saying she was just heading back home!
The driver doesn't believe her! He tells her to get in, it's cold out!
Monika thinks in the back of her mind that she's being propositioned for sex!
Monika says no, she'll walk home!
The driver smiles and says "Don't worry, I've never touched a girl in my life!"
Monika charmed and disarmed!
Monika opens the passenger door and gets in!
Monika is safe and warm for a moment!
Monika!

>>198418883
The driver remains expressionless as they travel!
His glasses glint at every streetlight's passing!
Monika doesn't know what to say or do!
"So..." the driver says quite ominously!
Monika still doesn't know what to say or do!
She just wishes she could escape!
"Try to cop out of anything lately?" he asks!
The driver laughs slightly at his own joke!
Monika looks toward the passing buildings!
"I mean, girl on a bridge, nighttime..." he says!
"Seems like suicide to me," he says!
"I know a little about suicide myself," he says!
Monika looks at him and is frightened by his ugliness, but to connect with another person makes her feel things she hasn't felt in a long time!
The driver says suicide is one answer!
You can do it if you choose!
Life is all about choices, isn't it?!
And suicide is the most easy, straightforward path of them all if you want to reach the end quickly!
But there are other answers, the driver says!
There are other paths, the driver says!
All you have to do is lay them out!
Brick!

>>198413915
>Monika still drowsily gets her thoughts working
>Anon is still quiet
>that was just her mind talking
>weird, he's usually responsive to your words
>Monika calls his name
>no replies
>Monika reach her hands out to him
>Anon? Wake up, dummy
>she grabs Anon's hands
>it's cold

By brick!
>>198414824
Monika is at work!
She's barely keeping herself awake!
Some customers come in!
She mutters the normal greeting, not even turning from what she's doing!
It's MC and Sayori!
They were out on a date and had to stop for gas!
They're still deeply in love, years after their wedding!
MC is making small talk while Sayori looks around!
He asks about her life!
She just says "it's fine" and laughs!
He asks about her love life!
She lies!
Monika pretends to have a boyfriend!
When MC asks about her, she freezes up!
Monika runs to the freezer to cry!
That night she looks up suicide methods!
Scrolling to the bottom of the page!
There's a link to a suicide help hotline!
She laughs at how pointless it all is!

By brick!
>>198415465
Monika is at her computer!
She orders an escape mask and a tank of helium!
She's closing her tabs for the night!
Monika sees the suicide site!
She forgot it was open!
Monika decides to call the hotline!
She's going to kill herself anyways, so there's no harm!
Waiting for an answer!
A voice picks up!
It sounds familiar!
It's Yuri!
She's been doing suicide hotlines in her free time!
Yuri recognizes Monika's voice, even through her tears!
Monika spills all her feelings to Yuri!
Yuri starts breaking down too!
The thought of losing Monika is too much for her!
Yuri tells her about how Literature Club was the only place where she could open up!
Yuri explains that it was Monika's poetry that inspired her to become an author in the first place!
Yuri even says she based several of her protagonists after Monika's personality!
Monika feels loved again!
Yuri asks Monika to stay at least a bit longer!
Yuri tell Monika to meet up with her one day!

By brick!
>>198417336
Monika wakes up earlier the very next day
Her heart is racing again.
Not out of anxiety or of the anticipation of death.
But to meet up again with an old friend.
The items ordered has arrived.
Best to keep them in the closet.
With best intentions, maybe to fill in the balloons for an eventual reunion.
Yuri said she'll have free time today.
A tea time at the cafe by the old school they used to go together.
She even bought one of Yuri's published works.
One of the stories was even an allusion to their friendship.
Monika prepares to leave her house.
The door opens.
She could've sworn it's only noon
Why is everything dark all of a sudden
She turns around
Wait
Her living room
Her house
It's gone
Impossible, she was just in there
She turns around
Finds herself sitting on a chair
In front of her stands a man
No
it couldn't be
A man she never thought she'd seen in years
"Anon? is that you?"
"Hello, Monika. It's been, almost a decade haven't it?"
She anxiously nods in confusion.
"But, what is all-"
"-this about? Monika. This isn't a dream. Nor is it real. The past few years? Barely even a day has moved since"
"What do you mean, Anon?"
"Remember the 'little mistake' you did?"
Monika swallowed something on the verge of her throat. It wasn't saliva. It was bile.
"Monika, this isn't real. The situation you're in? The horrors of life you've gone through. None of it"
Her hands tightened in a fist, quivering
"What is going on, Anon?"
The man lowered his head, reluctant to answer.
"Monika, you're trapped. It's an endless cycle of dramatic events you've not meant to experience. Monika, just as you showed me how there's more to my world. There is more to the one you're in right now. By the time I'm done this whole ordeal will revert back and you will barely recall a thing I've just said. Monika, this is not a game like last time. This time, there's more than one pulling the strings. But they're not doing it out of love. They're a bunch of horror writers"

By Brick!
>>198417671
Yuri's new book is published!
Monika opens it and looks for her poem!
Before it is a long rant on how important the author was to Yuri's life!
Monika tears up reading it!
She sees her poem!
It looks great in print!
Monika looks up reviews online!
They're horrible!
Critics hated it!
New readers didn't buy it!
Old fans felt betrayed!
Monika looks online for what people are saying!
They're making fun of her poem!
Saying it's stupid and how it inspired such a great author is a mystery!
Everybody laughing at Monika!
Monika wishes she had used a pen name!
She feels humiliated!
Her doorbell rings!
The escape mask showed up!
Monika connecting everything!
Placing the mask over her face!
Refreshing the page one more time!
A new comment appears!
They loved it!
It was by far their favorite poem!
The reader even points out the small details less attentive readers may not have noticed!
The thread devolves into shitposting!
Everybody arguing against that one poster!
But they defend the poem to the end!
They really liked it!
Monika puts the mask away!
She won't be needing it ever again!

Even if the whole world seems to be against you, as long as you make a difference to one person, you're worth something and cannot be replaced.

But remember, the driver warns...!
It takes a lot of work to make a path you would want to travel on!
Life is full of fantasies and indulgences!
And that's one path! The path you happened to choose!
But you see where that path ends, Monika!
It's time to write a new path!
They reach Monika's home safely!
Go and write a new path! I'll be watching, the driver says!
Monika steps out in the cold air!
Goodbye for now, the driver calls!
Oh, he says! You forgot this!
He throws a small object toward her!
It hits her in the face!
Monika picks it up!
It's an empty keychain!
This isn't mine, Monika says, wanting to be courteous!
But the driver tells her she's wrong!
She already has all the keys she needs!
Now she just needs a keychain to go along with them!

~~~END~~~