The Doki's Go Babysit! Part 2

Just how long can a baby continue crying? As long as they can be called a baby, Sayori guesses. She dazes in and out of consciousness, having had to deal with the onslaught of Clara's screech for the past hour. She's tried every trick in the book, changing the diaper, giving her food, cradling, singing, funny faces, they all had no effect on this howling animal.

"Ahh, I can't believe this. How are you still crying after so long?" Clara continues sobbing.

"Alright, Alright fine then! I can cry too! Wahh! Wahh! How do you like that? Is it fun hearing that all night long?!" Clara continues bawling.

"Oh god, what came over me? I'm so sorry! Listen, why don't I give you a nice chocolate bar if you stop crying?" Clara refuses.

"How about a Gameboy?" Nope.

"College tuition?" No.

"A lifetime of happiness and the partner of your dreams?" Not a chance.

"Oh I give up!" Sayori tosses the baby back into her crib and she only gets louder. The girl with the red ribbon in her hair rests her head on her arms lying atop the crib's cage. She stares at the bundle of joy and she can't look away.

"Maybe this baby just doesn't like me after all. Yeah, that's probably it. That makes sense, seeing as though it's got to spend more time with me. I mean, If I had to get tucked in by me, I probably wouldn't be happy about it. That's how it is whenever I get to bed and cover then blankets over myself, so.

Ohh, I knew this was a bad idea! I knew I should've said no, but the look on his face at the time, like a pleading puppy...

I should just give up and get some help already. I should just admit this is another thing I'm not good at. God, how am I gonna even handle my own kid? He's going to have to be the one tucking her into bed every night, and then he's going to give me a look of pure contempt, knowing full well what a failure of a mother I am..."

Sayori scrunches up her face, about to join in with the baby, when she looks at Sayori's face and starts laughing.

"Oh! Oh! Do you like my face like this? Is it funny?" Clara continues laughing in response.

"Alright! I'll keep it like this just for you! Just fall asleep, have sweet dreams.." And Sayori wonders how long the muscles in her face can keep this look going. She guesses, until she can no longer be called sad.

---

And in a another room, two girls breathe a similar sigh of relief.

"I'm glad your friend finally got my sister controlled, even if it did take a little help."

"But Natsuki and Yuri ar-" Monika leans forward rabidly into her opponent at the realization. "Hey, I thought I said to not lay a finger on them!"

"Who said I was changing Sayori's mind?" Maria devilishly grins while moving another piece on the chessboard.

Monika grimaces, creases of frustration appear on her forehead as she retracts her lunge forward. "You'll use your powers that freely, huh? On your own siblings?"

"Come on, Monika. One, she isn't my sister, really. She's just another annoying NPC in this game full of them. I have no true connection to her whatsoever. And two, I have the power to make this meaningless existence a little more tolerable. Wouldn't you have done the same thing?"

Monika replies by making her move on the chessboard. She purses her lips, deep in thought not just with the game at hand.

---

Josh was cackling as he played with his Game Boy. It was the perfect cold war. They couldn't touch him with his nuclear device in his hand, ready to detonate at any given moment. Plus, the coke gave him enough energy to stay up all night long. Today is the day he is going to complete the game 100% of the way!

A knock on the door. Josh groans and puts the helmet back on. "Foolish beings! You know better than to disturb the magnificent Magneto when he is busy plotting the domination of all humankind!"

"Uhm, I just wanted to, uh, express my feelings towards you misinterpreting my character a bit by designating me to don the 'Psylocke' persona. Personally, I always felt that I had a certain seminal, if you will, connection to the big bouncing Beast, Hank McCoy. His heightened linguistic abilities hold a charm that I must confess, I have tried to assimilate in my own day-to-day speech. Not only that,"

"Get to the point, Yuri!"

"W-w-well I just wanted to play a role that allows me to immerse myself more easily. Maybe the Beast, maybe a character that has a special technique with my vertically challenged companion her-oof! Ow!"

"Yeah, who would that be?" Josh shakes his head chuckling, a girl years older than her taking this whole play acting thing more seriously than him.

"Why, Colossus of course." Yuri kicks the door open, and Josh sees her winding up for a pitch. He's read enough X-men to know this isn't going to end in his favour. He makes a futile attempt to open the coke bottle as Yuri yells,

"Fastball special!!" and throws her shoe straight at Josh. It smacks his face, stunning him for a brief moment as Natsuki is already running into the room, screaming "Beserker Barrage!" and she tackles Josh off the bed, pinning him down in triumph. "Ha! How do you like that motherfucker? Didn't expect a bit of teamwork there, did ya? Didn't...oh."

"What's the matter?" Yuri looks over on the other side of the bed as she's collecting the nuclear materials.

"He fainted."

"Oh dear..."

"Yeah."

"He'll...he'll be fine. I'm positive his current state is temporary."

"Well, easier to tuck him in I guess. Help me lift him up."

As they both prepare to deadlift the passed out child, Natsuki says "3..2..1! Okay, perfect. Well Yuri, as straight-forward as that plan was, it certainly worked out for us."

"I do want to apologize for putting you in harms way though, had the plan failed you could've have become a sticky mess."

"No, no don't be. It was fun looking straight into his face as I pounced him. He was scared shitless!"

They both share a hearty laugh. They walk towards the door as Natsuki says "Say Yuri, we should do this more often."

"Babysitting? Oh no, I believe this experience has been enough to last a lifeti-"

"N-n-no...I don't mean babysitting. I mean, just, y'know." Natsuki rolls her hand, hoping Yuri will fill in the gaps.

"...I'm not following."

Natsuki growls, her face looks towards the ceiling, taking a deep breath before looking at Yuri and confessing "I just mean, we should hang out more often, okay? Being around you isn't hell on earth. I-it's kind of fun, t-to be honest. There, I said it."

Yuri's face goes blank. "..Pardon?"

"No way am I saying it again! You know what I said." Natuski crosses her arms and looks at the carpeted floor in a false fury.

"T-t-truly? But you expressed at the dinner table of your desire to be with Monika."

Natsuki groans at the comment, "That wasn't true! Jeez, why do you always have to take everything at face-value?"

"Well, I can't be certain that you are speaking the absolute truth here, not many people have that desire. But.."

Natsuki cuts her off by managing to look her in the eyes, reaching for her shoulder and saying "Look. Anytime. Anywhere. Okay?"

Yuri slowly breaks into a smile. She links arms with Natsuki and says "Okay. Thank you. Now let's go check on the others."

"Hey, I didn't say we can get all touchy-feely or anything! Yuri, let go!!" And they shut off the lights in the room.

---

"Checkmate." Monika moves her queen onto the perfect square to execute the death sentence.

Maria stares at the board before sighing and admitting to defeat. She stretches our her hand and says "Good games" Her smile shows a level of reservation.

Monika offers no such smile, but returns the handshake. "Good games. Now go to bed." She gets up, brushes off her skirt and walks towards the door before Maria calls out "Don't you want to know why I didn't concede? I lost the second you took my knight."

Monika sniggered, "I don't need to be a sentient video game character to know why you were stalling." She closes the lights as she says "Good night. Sweet dreams."

"...You're not going to let me live, are you? Keeping the facade going? That just means you being the only one with power, isn't it?"

Monika stops at the door handle, looking down. "I'm sorry, you're too dangerous. Having someone like you around could sabotage my one, true chance at something I desire more than anything else. And you've made me have..doubts. Gosh, I never had them, after I realized the truth. I knew exactly what I had to do. Now, well. Thanks a lot for that, I guess."

Maria chuckles as she rustles the blankets to wrap her body. "I know I don't deserve much after being the loser, and with what I've done, but can I have a request?"

"Depends what it is?"

"Just give me a nice dream. I don't even care if you have to change the very core of my being. I just want a nice, final, dream." Maria nestles into her coffin, and closes her eyes.

"..Sure." Monika shuts the door,

---

and bumps into Yuri and Natsuki in the hallway. "Oh, about time!"

"Ah, hey guys, so how'd it go." Monika says.

"Well, we are happy to relay that we managed to wrestle the demon into slumber, in our own unique way." Yuri covers her giggle with a hand but Natsuki can only roll her eyes at her subtlely.

"Well, that's great. I'm proud of you."

"Yeah, we even beat you in time! We were waiting here for five minutes for your slow ass to come out. What were you even doing in there?"

Monika just shrugs, "Maria just wanted to play a few games of chess. I had to indulge her."

"Chess? We had to formulate a strategy that had to succeed or else it spelled doom for all of us, and you were in there engaging in relaxing activities for the mind? Unbelievable."

"Yeah, if that's true I want a bigger cut out of your pay. Like-"

"Guys, guys." Monika brings her hand to her face and rubs down the exhaustion from it, revealing only her weary eyes. "Let's just go check on Sayori okay?"

They walk to Clara's room and Monika opens the door and sees Sayori by the crib. She notices the sliver of light, turns around, and her face is still scrunched up, shaking from the strain of her muscles, unbeknownst to Monika, who thinks she's about to bawl. She gestures to Sayori to get out. She looks back at the slumbering baby once just to feel safe knowing she can walk away, and tiptoes to the door.

Monika whispers "Hey, are you okay?"

Sayori just shakes her head while rubbing her sore face, and manages to squeak out "No talking for me right now."

The literature club heads back downstairs to the dining room, sitting down at the dimly lit table, waiting for the parents to get home. It's 10:30 PM, the exhaustion of the day has caught up to them, and no one has the urge to say a word. Yuri is reading her pocket novel, Sayori is rubbing her face, moaning from time to time, and Natsuki is finishing whatever dinner is left. Monika stares at the window from the nest created from her arms laid on the table, lost in thought, until she sees a flash of light, the car of the parents.

---

"So they're all upstairs sleeping?" The dad of the three has a look of disbelief.

"That's right." Monika says.

"Unbelievable! You know, we'll come home and see MC struggling to even get the three to their rooms, and yet, you all have managed to get them sleeping by this time. I'm going to pay you all extra for that."

"Thanks." The father distributes 15 dollars to each of them, and Monika hands her money to Natsuki. She's about to pipe up that she was joking before, but Monika's face told her to just take it.

"So is there any chance we can get you to babysit again? Next Friday, maybe?" The mother asks.

"We'll think about it, and give you a call." They each walk past the pleased couple and out onto the street, in a single file line.

"Oh, okay. Well we'll be waiting! Have a good night." And the door closes.

Natsuki stretches out her arms. "Glad that's finally over! Say, let's go grab some Chinese to celebrate. I don't have to worry about money today, cause I got a bonus, hehe!" nudging a Monika who is intent on staring at the sky.

"I'm pretty beat, so I think I'll just head home."

"Yeah, same..."

"Natsuki, I would be delighted to accompany you."

"Okay, that's what I'm talking about! Later, losers!" And Yuri and Natsuki walk off to enjoy their impending culinary feast.

The other two are left loitering around until Sayori asks "Want to walk me home?"

"Sure." They go on their way. The night is breezy, and the moon is covered by clouds, street lamps and nocturnal rooms being the only providers of light.

It's a quiet walk until Sayori says, "Boy, I never knew babysitting could be so hard. When Clara wouldn't just stop crying, I felt so lost with not just her, but everything." She turns to Monika, whose eyes can't stop wandering. "But I managed to finally get her to stop! And I was so happy, hehe! I guess fortune comes to those who wait, huh?"

"You know, maybe you're right. I gave you responsibility for that baby for a reason. And even if it cried for an hour, I never thought about going to help you, because I knew you could handle it. I'm proud of you, Sayori. It's days like these are why I remember that you are my Vice-Presedent." She offers Sayori a smile and she brings her arm around her. The guilt of the half-lie grips her heart, but Monika knew this small lie was necessary to covet the greatest one of all. The lightbulbs all flicker out around them.

"Awwwh, thanks Moni! It means a lot to hear you say that. Oh, look!" They stop and she points towards the dark sky. "A dove! What's it doing flying around this late at night?" With no light on the block, the dove that flies past them is the only source of contrast from the pitch-black.

"Maybe, maybe it's just taking it's final look around, because now is the only time it will get to." Monika was glad for the darkness, so Sayori couldn't see her eyes growing cloudy and misty.

"Uhh, what? You can be really weird sometimes!"

And the dove flies deeper into the sky, past their sight, so it can behold the beauty of the blue gem that it has inhabited for all it's life. The beauty that was never truly appreciated. It thought it saw everything there was to see, but never knew the greatest secret held within looking at it from so high - that this gem was so small, yet so precious. The dove takes a nightly trip around the world, seeing all the sights and peoples it has to offer before returning home to wear off an eternal exhaustion.

--END--