Chapter Text
Sayori is woken by a blurry mix of purple, pinks and oranges in the sky and warm hands nudging her arm gently.
A soft spoken voice bringing her into consciousness.
“Sayori. Sayori wake up.”
Sayori turns her head to be greeted with kind emerald eyes and a gentle smile. The sight makes her melt her heart rushing blood to her face. Memories flooding back in a rush and an awkward realisation falls upon the coral haired girl.
“Oh my god. I fell asleep on your bed. I’m so sorry! I was so tired I stayed up all night picking out an outfit and I was so tired and I was just going to lie down but your bed smelt like you and I-
“You stayed up all night to pick an outfit?”
Surprised by the sudden interruption, Sayori stutters out a response. Her mind still tangled in sleep and the smell of cherries.
“Y-yeah.”
“To…impress me ?” Monika's words came out almost breathless like she couldn’t believe herself and it didn’t make sense to Sayori. It couldn’t make sense as her brain skipped and stuttered and stuck to all of Monika’s words, slowing down all of her coherent thoughts. Monika had a hint of disbelief etched beautifully into her face. Like she couldn’t believe someone put in the effort for her. ( How could she not believe it? How could she not see?) The bun of her hair had become messier now like she was running or walking fast maybe. Strands were falling near her eyebrows near her eyes and longer strands reaching down her face crawling towards her lips and — oh god she needs to say something.
“Yes. To impress you.” Sayori finally says, the sleepiness erased from her voice and replaced with a confident tenderness, only preserved for few people. A fleshier part of her, a fragile part of her that she rarely showed. But she’d show it to Monika. She’d let Monika break her, she’d let Monika have all her parts. Let Monika see all of her.
“Why?” Monika was closer now, she was sitting next to Sayori who was propped up on one elbow, Monika was leaned in closer, their faces almost nose width apart. It was as if she was trying to see the thoughts with her own eyes, trying to see the frameworks of Sayori’s mind by getting closer.
Their hands were almost touching. Her voice was so soft . She sounded almost hurt. Wanting to know so badly that it was painful.
Sayori pulled away, she was terrified, she couldn’t speak, her words were getting lost by the proximity between them. “I don’t know it was stupid I know. We’re just friends, but I wanted to look nice for you. And the others too of course.” Sayori couldn’t do it, she couldn’t be honest with her.
“Oh.” Was all Monika said. She pulled her hand away from near Sayori’s. Monika was scared too. “You look cute.” There was sadness in her tone. It was slight but Sayori always noticed. Monika wasn’t as perfect as everyone always thinks she is. Monika had jagged edges, little things about her hidden beneath layers of perfectly ironed clothes and perfectly tied shoe laces.
“Well I’m gonna call the others up here, you can stay on the bed if you want.”
Sayori watched as Monika walked away. Moving up into a sitting position.
A few minutes later Monika, Yuri and Natsuki walked into the bedroom where they greeted Sayori. Monika placed the snacks in the middle of the rainbow rug.
“Hello Sayori” Yuri said with a wave.
“Hi Yuri. Hi Natsuki.” Sayori replied with an awkwardness exuding from her. Nastuki replied with an endearing huff to Sayori’s greeting. Monika glanced briefly at Sayori, noticing the change in her from mere minutes ago, the shift in energy.
“Let’s all sit on the rug here I’ll get some bean bags so you don’t get hurt from the floor.” Monika chirps while reaching into the closet.
The bean bags are handed out to all the girls by Monika and they each seat themselves down comfortably and Monika grabs the one in the corner of the room for herself. There is a sense of familiarity in the air as it always is when the four of them spend time together.
Sunlight is shooting through the windows heating up the room. Yuri fidgets and Natsuki notices. Monika is seated on the left of Sayori and the sunlight hits their backs from the large window behind them. Natsuki and Yuri sit side by side on the opposite side of the rainbow rug backs towards the door. Yuri passed down copies of the book they were reading: Carmilla.
“Oooh I’ve heard of this one” Sayori chirps. Her face brightened with her smile. Her smile that shines in the aqua of her eyes and creases the corners of her face in a gorgeous display of joy. Sayori shifts to the side and the sun beautifully catches her face. Stars of sunlight running down her nose, pooling out onto her face painting her in a golden glow. Monika stares at Sayori with her eyebrows scrunched slightly upwards. Her green eyes shift up and down Sayori’s form. She can’t stop staring. She moved her right arm a little next to Sayori’s pathetically hoping it will ease the feelings within her. The warmth enveloping her stomach. The tingling from the top of her head right down to the tips of her toes. Hoped that it would somehow sow out the seed that suddenly kept causing branches of thoughts to tangle in her head. But it didn’t. She looks away, suddenly scared or nervous Sayori may catch her looking. Averting her eyes to instead begin observing Yuri and Nastuki conversing.
Natsuki’s hair was pinned down with cute cat pins. Monika hadn’t noticed that before. She also hadn’t noticed the strange closeness between Natsuki and Yuri. Their arms brushing against one another’s.
“It’s not strange you’ve heard of it. This book is quite well known. It’s not the usual kind of thing I read as it’s a lot less graphic and more toned down so you all can enjoy it with me.” Yuri says to Sayori.
“Well what’s it about?” Natsuki asks.
“Vampires.” Yuri replies with a smile.
“That’s all you’re gonna give us?” Natsuki said in an almost annoyed voice but anyone who knew her could tell it was meant kindly.
“Yes, that's all I’m giving you.” Yuri replied with a teasing lilt to her voice.
Sayori stared at the two girls for a second, slightly confused by that interaction. She was sure she was off the mark but she’d never seen them tease each other like that without a little bitterness afterwards. Despite her concerns she chalked it up to a newfound closeness or perhaps camaraderie after they all divulged their shared feelings for Monika.
Monika suddenly clapped her hands together. The other girls momentarily stunned turned their attention to her.
“Alright ladies, so I organised our day. We’re gonna be reading for 30 minutes, hopefully get through a chapter or two and then spend the rest on the festival prep since we need to finish the banners and check over the poems we’re gonna perform at the reading. If anyone wants to write some new poems to present that’s okay too.” Monika announced cheerfully.
The others looked around at each as the familiar feeling of comfort came over them as it often did back at school during the club.
Natsuki however voiced something that was on her mind. “Hold on. This is the first time we’ve ever been in your house and your room. You're not even going to let us snoop around a little? Isn’t that like a rite of passage?”
“I understand but in all seriousness there’s not much to really look at here. And we’ve really got a lot of work to get done. How about later?” Monika replied although there was an undertone of unease in her response.
“You’re not trying to buy time so you don’t have to read Yuri’s book are you Natsuki?” Sayori interjects teasingly while reaching to grab a can of Dr Pepper from the middle of the rug.
“What? No!” Natsuki’s face was flushed from being called out so suddenly.
Monika giggles lightly, her fist covering her mouth as if she’s embarrassed about laughing at something so silly. Sayori glances but only briefly not being able to stare very long as she feels heat creeping up to the tip of her earlobes. She hopes she can blame it on the sun. Yuri glances at Monika briefly, a soft expression on her face as though she’s mentally taken note of Monika’s laugh.
“Now, now, enough stalling. Let’s start reading before we completely go off schedule.” Monika pipes in quickly before Natsuki can put on her usual defensive front. It seems to work as Natsuki pipes down effortlessly. Sayori finds it strange she hadn’t noticed Natsuki’s affections for Monika before as it now became blatantly obvious to her. The way in which Monika always managed to put Natsuki at ease and managed to get her to comply with all the Literature Club regulations despite Natsuki’s loud protests. At the time Sayori had assumed it was because Monika had a knack for leadership and managing the room but now she sees Natsuki’s obedience may be due to her affections for the brunette.
“Alright, I'll read first. Usually I’d pick but honestly I’ve been feeling like reading ever since I woke up this morning.” Monika says gleefully as she grabs her copy of the text.
Nobody has any objections to Monika reading so the others pick up their respective copies of the book and open up to the first page.
The girls take turns reading for the next half an hour, sometimes coming to pauses due to Sayori’s loud crunching as she shovels nachos into her mouth and the sometimes confusing text due to it being translated from French however Yuri makes sure to chime in to clarify any confusion that anyone faces. Monika claims the start of the book was quite boring, Natsuki agrees but says she wants to give it a chance and it’ll probably get better later. Despite the slight setbacks (Sayori’s loud chewing and slurping noises when sipping from her can of Dr Pepper) the girls have a great time reading and enjoying each other's company.