The sun shines through the window down onto your face. You feel the heat through your eyelids and scrunch your face in annoyance. The light makes you see color through your closed eyelids, which makes you realize that you probably won't be sleeping much longer.

Not but a moment later, your alarm clock goes off, a loud buzzing sound echoes through your room. You wait a few seconds. The buzz is annoying, but you endure it to get your bearings. Finally, after the sound becomes a major annoyance, you reach to your left and shut it off.

You sit up, your eyes still closed. "Monday..." You mutter. 

You step out of bed and your eyes finally open and adjust to the bright room. You go through your normal morning routine to get ready for school.

Shower, get dressed, comb your hair, eat breakfast. It's a daily cycle you go through. 

As you sit at the table, eating your cereal, you can see clearly out the window. The sky is bright and blue. Not a cloud is in sight. It seems like it'll be a nice day.

Out that same window, you see the house next-door. This house belongs to your best friend, Sayori. The two of you have been best friends since you were kids. 

It dawns on you that she hasn't even woken up yet, mostly due to the dark window that leads right to her room. The curtains are closed as well. 

That dummy. You think to yourself.

You grab your bag and walk out of your house and stand on the sidewalk for a few minutes, waiting for the sliver of a chance that Sayori may appear.

1 minute...

3 minutes...

5 minutes...

She's probably not up. 

The thought of waking her up yourself enters your mind. You turn to the house and are about to go knock, but then you think it's not worth it. She'll wake up soon enough. 

As you're about to just go, you hear "Heeeeeyyyyy!"

You look to see Sayori running up to you. She's waving her arms in the air, like a lunatic. You think that she's basically oblivious of the attention she may draw to herself. She looks like she just woke up. Unsurprising. 

"Haaaahh...Haaahhhh..." She gasps out at you, her breathing heavily.

You can't help but chuckle. How are we such good friends?  You think.

Sayori is what you'd call, a cute girl. She has short brown hair that reaches a little past her chin, topped with a red bow. Her eyes are blue as the sky, sparkling as the sea. She wears the normal girl's uniform for your High School, but she does not have her jacket buttoned. Normally this would bother you, but she always wears it like that, so you usually don't bother fixing it for her.

"I overslept again!" She says through her heavy breaths. "But I caught you this time."

I was about to leave you. You think, but of course you know you shouldn't say that out loud. "Maybe, but only because I decided to stop and wait for you."

"Ehh?! You say that like you were thinking about ignoring me." She replies, pressing her fingers together and making a pouty face that you can't help but find cute. "That's soooo mean!"

"Well if people stare at you for acting weird, I don't want them to think that you and I are a couple or something like that." You say, still cracking a smile.

"Oh fine, but you did wait for me, after all." Her pouty expression disappears and is replaced with a happier one. "I guess you don't have it in you to be mean to me, even if you really wanted to."

You playfully bring your hand down in a chopping motion on her head. She looks at you and giggles. You can't help but find the face quite cute.

"Whatever you say, Sayori." You say, lifting your arm off of her head and returning it to your side.

The two of you make your way to school. The streets begin to fill with the other students. Your eyes dart around between them all. Funny, I don't talk to most of these people. The though runs through your head, but dissipates quickly.

"Hey, have you decided on a club to join yet?" Sayori asks suddenly.

This breaks you from your dissipating thoughts and you look over at her. She tilts her head, awaiting your response.

You sigh. "Sayori, how many times do I gotta say that I'm not interested in joining any clubs?" 

She makes a pouty face at you, causing you to feel a bit guilty for your rather blunt response. Why is her pouty face so adorable?  You ask yourself.

"I mean, I haven't really been looking..." You add.

"But you told me you'd join a club this year!" Sayori almost yells, but it ends up sounding more like scolding sister.

"Did I? I don't remember." You reply.

The thought strikes you that perhaps you did agree. It may have been in a passing conversation that you just said yes to get her off of your back. In hindsight, it may not be a good idea for you to keep doing that. I might accidentally sell my soul. Your mind jokes.

Sometimes you wish that she wouldn't worry about you so much. She's like a sister to you, a sister who keeps pushing you to do stuff you don't want to. You always tell her that you're content playing video games and watching anime. 

"I'm always worried about your social life. What if you can't socialize before college?" Sayori says worriedly. "You do realize how much your happiness means to me? Right? Like, I'd just die if you became a NEET due to your inability to socialize."

She gives you a worried expression that shoots knives through you. You can almost feel her gaze penetrating your heart. It's a look that she gives you a lot now that you think about it. You wish she wouldn't use it on you.

"You trust me, right?" Sayori asks. "Please don't make me keep worrying about you..."

"Alright, alright..." You say through a sigh. "I'll look at a few, but I'm not making any promises."

"Will you at least promise you'll try a little?"

"I guess I'll promise you that..."

"Yay!~" Sayori exclaims.

How did it come to this?  You think. How did Sayori make me relent to her?

It's the pouty face.

You realize it's not truly the pouty face. You wanted to put her worrying mind at ease. You don't want her to stress about you. She cares, but perhaps a bit too much.

The rest of the day goes pretty normally. You sleep through a class or too, but that's to be expected from staying up all night on the computer. Maybe I'll cut back a bit for sleep. 

Your last class ends and you sit idly as everyone else leaves the classroom. 

Clubs...

"I guess I'll start with the anime clu-"

"Helloooooo~" The voice echoes through to you. 

You look up, almost falling out of your seat after seeing Sayori's face right in yours. You make an odd sound that makes her giggle.

"I thought you'd have left class, but here you are, spacing out." She says with a smile. "You're worse than me sometimes."

"Don't wait up for me, you're going to be late your club." You say a bit annoyed, but still not in a way to upset her.

She fidgets with her fingers and smiles nervously.

"Weeeellll, I thought that maybe you'd like to, I don't know, visit my club." Sayori says, her eyes avoiding your gaze.

"Sayori..." You say quietly.

"Yeeeessss?" She replies happily.

You reach up a hand and squeeze her cheek lightly, and somewhat playfully.

"There is no way in hell that I'm joining your club." You say plainly, but holding a smile on your face.

"Meanie!" She says through her stretched mouth, causing her voice to sound funny. You let go and she rubs her cheek.

Sayori is in the Literature club. In fact, she's the vice president. However, you aren't a fan of literature. The extant of what you read is, well, manga...

To be frank, you're quite positive that she's not even that big into literature. She probably just thought it'd be fun to be part of starting a brand new club. 

"Sayori, I'm going to the anime club." You say and stand.

"Please you big meanie?" Sayori pleads.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" 

She fidgets her fingers together and puts on an expression that you know from experience, means trouble. 

"I may or may not have told everyone that I'd bring in a new member...And Natsuki made cupcakes." She says, rubbing her fingers together.

You place your hand on your face. 

"Don't make promises you can't keep..." You say through your hand.

Sayori has always been an airhead, yet sometimes you wondered if she was actually a pure genius. Is she truly cunning enough to plot something like this?

You doubt it.

"Fine...I'll stop by for a cupcake..." You mutter.

Sayori grabs your hand and yanks you from the classroom. "Yes, let's go!" She shouts, dragging you behind her.

I really did sell my soul... You think. And for a damned cupcake.

Sayori leads you upstairs to a part of the school that you're quite certain you never visit. However, it seems familiar to you. You look around and view the hall.

Somehow, you feel a sense of...dread? 

It couldn't be. You've never been here. This is definitely the first time you've been in this part of the school. 

That dread remains with you.

Your thoughts are interrupted by Sayori pulling you through the classroom door. 

"Everyone! the new member has arrived~!" Sayori shouts at the top of her lungs.

"Don't call me a new member." You say into her ear.

I glance around the room and see three other people inside. One of them approaches you. This person, no, this...pretty girl! She smiles at you.

She's a quite tall girl. In fact, as far as you can tell, she's taller than the rest of the girls in the club. Not only that, she has long bright purple hair, and eyes to match. You can see that she's most likely the oldest of the girls in this classroom.

"Welcome to the literature club, it's a pleasure meeting you." She says with a voice like silk.

Your heart skips. She's really pretty.

"Sayori always says such kind things about you." She adds.

Somehow, looking at her, you feel like you know her. You know you haven't met her before, yet you somehow know her. Yes, the name comes to your mind. Her name's Yuri.

Another girl pops up beside Yuri. "Seriously Sayori? You brought a boy?" She hisses. "Way to kill the atmosphere."

This girl is small, you suspect that she's a first year. She has short pink hair styled into pigtails, both held together by bright red ribbons. Normally you'd say a style like this was childish, however, it seemed to suit her well. Her bright pink eyes glare at you, shooting daggers.

Trouble. You think.

Her, like Yuri, springs a memory in your mind. You're unsure how, but you know her too. Natsuki is the name that you match with her face.

"Ah! What a nice surprise!" The third girl says, stepping in front of the other two. "What a nice surprise! Welcome to the club!"

This third girl is Monika. You know her since you shared a class with her the year before.

Monika is definitely a pretty girl. You don't want to say that she's the prettiest of the group, but she pretty dang well could. She has this bright expression, definitely beautiful. She has long, medium brown hair that's held in a ponytail by a white bow. She has pretty green eyes, which seem to match her quite well.

It finally does occur to you that you are in a club with a bunch of incredibly cute girls.

This isn't right. I've been here.

You meet the gaze of Natsuki. She doesn't look angry, but she does speak up.

"What are you looking at?" She spews. "If you got something to say, just say it!"

You make an inaudible gulp. "S-sorry."

I've lived this before.

"Natsuki..." Yuri chimes in.

Natsuki merely replies. "hmmph."

Sayori leans up to my ear. "You can just ignore her when she gets moody." She then turns her attention to the other girls.

"Anyway, this here is Natsuki. She's always full of energy." Sayori states. "And this is Yuri, the smartest girl in the club."

I know them. How? This is the first time I've been here.

"D-don't say things like that..." Yuri says, looking away, her face turning a deep red.

"W-well, it's really nice to meet the two of you." You say nervously.

You've already met them!

"And it sounds like you already know Monika." Sayori says. "Is that not correct?"

"That's right." Monika answers for you. "It's super nice to see you again."

Monika smiles sweetly towards you. The way she smiles...it sends chills up your spine. Yet, you are able to smile back. You're currently unaware of this knowledge you already possess.

"Y-you too, Monika." You mumble out.

You know that Monika is pretty much the most popular girl in school. She's smart, athletic, beautiful. It's a wonder she doesn't have a boyfriend.

Her genuine smile, which should fill you with joy, yet...how does it give you dread?

I feel a strong sense of déjà vu. Why do I know them? How?

You look into Monika's eyes. Those beautiful green eyes. Somehow, you know that that smile is a lie now. Actually, no, it is genuine, but it's suppressed back. 

Monika, you know something. You think

Her smile fades slowly. You see a plea in her eyes.

She mouths something, something that the others don't notice. You realize that this message is meant for you and only you. In fact, her eyes say it all, you don't need the message from her lips.

This message is two simple words with so much meaning. You know...