i gave up can somebody help

11:20. Monika had a gut feeling that the queue was gonna be way too long now, she spent way too long trying to sort out some of the underlying structure for the Literature Club and forgot where she was before she realised what time it was, and she didn't even have her purse and such ready when her mad panic began. It was already drizzling, making her thankful that she decided to grab her umbrella when picking up her must-haves - a black, baggy hoodie, her bag, and an admittedly cute fox mask. Why was she even bothering to go out when she had to wear a silly mask to hide her identity?

Her legs quickly got wet from running through puddles, not that it particularly mattered - she'd dry off soon enough, and there was no point turning back now - especially when she'd already paid a surprising amount for a pre-order. But, then again, why was money even an object to her? Her pace dropped. Nothing should be an object for her - when you can see everything there is, and manipulate it to your will, there aren't any boundries holding you back. Why did she build her own barriers to block her from doing what she truly wanted? Monika turned the final corner, and saw the entrance to GameStart, with a respectably long queue in front of it, almost long enough to reach the turn she just passed. There was no hesitation for her to drop her bag, and begin leaning against the wall to ponder some more.

The irony of all of this certainly wasn't lost upon her. To escape a fake reality, she's retreating to another fake reality. She thought nothing of it, though - this was far from the first game she had brought to say the least, and when everything Monika had ever known wasn't real, it allowed video games to be just as real to her as everything else. There wasn't exactly all that much else for her to do, either - while the constraints of the world allowed for her entire town to exist, nothing beyond that existed. She confirmed that with her own eyes. The people might not be particularly real, either - all of them ultimately boiled down to a basic ".chr" file. Monika had one, too, though. So why was she more real than the rest of them? How could she even be sure she was more real than the rest of them? She quickly tried to push this thought to the back of her head - she knew that thinking about this would just depress her more, and she was here to get something fun.

Still, this didn't stop her from continuing her train of thought. She knew that a world existed outside of her own - a real one at that, and for whatever reason, she was able to connect with this world through the internet. She didn't often check this world, though. Knowing how much of the world was missing to her just made her feel worse off than she did to begin with, especially when she realised that everything around her was just a cheap imitation of this alternate reality. She knew that her world had to be linked to this other one somehow, and she wanted answer, but when she tried to connect with this world on Twitter, it was very clear that she was on a different wavelength to those on the other side. Even if everything in her world potentially was merely fabricated, she could connect with it - her friends might not be real to those on the outside, but they're real to her, and that's enough for her. Maybe it didn't really matter if the people she could never hope to meet created her and her world - if she's only going to know this virtual reality, then surely this virtual reality is all that matte-

"Aaah!" A young girl somehow had managed to walk straight into Monika, sending them both crashing to the ground. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!" She quickly grabbed her bag from the ground, along with the several pens, pencils and notebooks that came tumbling out of it as Monika tried to regain her senses. Monika lent out a hand to help the child to their feet and finally got a chance to look at the klutz. Pink hair, with cute red hairbands and a school uniform. Of course, of all days, she had to bump into Natsuki when she was in line for a game which she'd prefer nobody ever knew she had even the slightest interest in. Keeping up the perfect class-president persona was hard enough work as is, doing so with Natsuki seeing her in line at GameStart would be nigh impossible. Thank god for the mask.

"This is the queue for GameStart, right?" Monika was screwed. Her mask might keep her face a secret, but Natsuki, who she meets with every day after school, would definitely recognise her voice. Refusing to answer was just going to create more suspicion, too - Natsuki was not known for her patience. Better to just get it out of the way.

"Ah, yeah... it is."

Natuski raised an eyebrow as she looked up at Monika. The air fell still and time seemed to slow down as Natsuki slowly tried to put a face to the masked person. After what felt like several minutes, Natsuki seemingly gave up and begun slouching on the wall next to Monika as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Uuuuhhhh, I'm too tired for this..."
Monika knew that Natsuki wasn't particularly experienced with late nights out - admittedly, she knew a bit more about Natsuki than she was probably supposed to - but it was still certainly odd to see Natsuki letting her guard down like this. She looked more like a zombie than she did a human, to the point of being almost un-nerving in contrast to her usual bubbly and somewhat flinchy self. Regardless, Monika kept up her disguise, and showed no signs of being bothered by Natsuki's state. Ideally, the less Natsuki talked, the easier that would be, but even in this state, Monika knew all too well that she wouldn't stay quiet for long.

"So, why are you in line?" Nuh uh. That's a landmine of a question. Even with the mask on, and with Natsuki having more in common with a sloth than her usual self, Monika was not going to risk telling the truth here. Not only would that spell disaster if that tipped Natsuki off somehow, but she also would rather just not say to anybody. Gaming is a bit of a guilty pleasure, considering her status in the school and the irony of her playing video games, and this being one of her all-time favourites series would be even more embarrassing.
"I'm just here because a friend wanted me to get into the series, that's all." Monika instantly recoiled upon deciding that excuse. The most ambitious entry to the series being an entry point? That's a worse lie than most of Yuri's excuses for keeping her knife around.
"Huh..." Natsuki seemed to ponder over this for a few moments, then responded with a slightly drowzy, but still bright-as-ever smile. "That's odd, but I suppose I can see why. Wanna know why I'm here?" That wasn't a question.
"I guess..."
"It's Parfait Girls! That's my favourite manga ever!" Gushing with sudden excitement, Natsuki seemed to suddenly forget that she was so tired she could fall asleep on the spot and turned back into the ball of sunshine Monika knew. "I've liked all of the games so far, and this one seems reallllly interesting!" Any hopes Monika had of being able to shut down conversation for good was gone by this point - even if she ignored Natsuki, Natsuki wasn't going to stop.








WRITING NOTES:

Monika Notes:
- Monika doesn't freak out under pressure, notably good at keeping herself looking fine on a surface level (albeit with sweat and uncomfortable laughter) while AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAing inside
- MC is not in the club yet.
- Game is notably larger, making Monika less insane
- She's just sorta... meh, about everything instead. She knows not an awful lot of it matters, and tries her best to make it matter to spite the world.
- Games and literature are some of her outs, allowing her to distract herself from her current situation
- Hiding her face behind a fox spirit mask (used in japan to hide face during events, rude to take it off of somebody)

Natsuki Notes:
- Tired as hell. She got up earlier than she wanted to today, and today has been a long day.
- Currently sorta likes Monika, but in a tease-y way, like she initially does with MC.
- Secretly super happy that Monika likes the stuff she likes
- Because she's tired as hell, she's also kinda out of it. She probably wouldn't say the stuff she says if she was properly awake.
- Doesn't usually go to these midnight events, but this game is based off of a manga she's super into

Basic Story:

- Monika is out to buy game in line at midnight
- Got there kinda late so she's near the back of the queue
- Melancholy about game inside game, game being patched, purpose of game, etc before getting interrupted
- Natsuki is there, doesn't recognise Monika, asks her if this is the queue for the game
- Monika is nervous, says yeah and tries to shut down conversation
- Natsuki recognises voice but can't put a face to it so doesn't think too much of it
- Kinda casual talk for a while
- Natsuki realises who she is somehow, reveals her face
- Monika sorta just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAs internally
- Natsuki teases her a bit
- Midnight comes, queue is moving along
- Only one game copy left by the time Monika and Natsuki get there
- Natsuki tries to let Monika have it
- Monika CONVENIENTLY FINDS a second copy of the game which she DEFINITELY DIDN'T HACK IN BECAUSE SHE FELT BAD FOR NATSUKI
- Both get game
- Natsuki teases Monika a bit more, makes The Deal(tm)
- Natsuki ends up crashing at Monika's place to avoid the wrath of parent