Doki Doki: Heart of the Literature Club~ A Doki Doki Literature Club AU

Week 1, Day 4: Tension

We're sitting in the sun. We're having... a picnic.
I look up at the sky, the sun beaming in my eyes. It feels good, but it hurts.
It feels like someone is calling my name... but they aren't.
Like they're calling someone else, but I can tell it's for me.  They keep calling this name, and it won't stop. I cant take it anymore.. it's weighing down on me. I cant-

I awaken. My heart is racing and my head is pounding. I feel completely discombobulated. In an attempt to take my mind of things, I
look at my phone.

A message from Sayori.
It reads:
"Hey! How's your head :("
"Better." I reply.
"Yay! :D"

I get out of bed. I'm not letting this stupid headache get in the way of anything.

I sloppily get dressed, i attempt to keep tidy but if my room is any indication to anything, it's that I'm not the best a keeping things clean. I run out the house without breakfast again, although it's probably the kinda thing that could help prevent these headaches. I walk up to Sayori, whose standing in front of my house, about to text me.
 
"Hey Sayori."
"Hii~!"
"Are you feeling okay?" Sayori asks again.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You ready to go?"
"Yep! Lead the way, MC!"

As I walk, Sayori skips behind me.
————————————————————————
As I walk into the room, Monika runs into the room.
"Aw man.."
"I'm the last one here again!"
I attempted to
    "Don't worry, I just walked in too."
    show yuri 1f zorder 3 at f32
     "Were you practicing piano again?" Yuri asked.
  
    "Uhm...Yeah..."
   
"You must have a lot of determination."

"What do you mean, Yuri?" I asked.
    "O-oh! I-I meant.. Starting this c-club, and now picking up piano..."

Monika blushes.
     "Well, maybe not determination...But I guess passion."
    "Remember that the club wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all of you and I'm super happy that you're all willing to help out for the festival, too!"
  
    "Aaah, I can't wait for the festival! It's gonna be great!"

"Eh? Weren't you complaining about it just yesterday, Natsuki?"

"Well, yeah... but I'm not talking about our part of the festival. It's a whole day of school where we get to play and eat all kinds of delicious food!"
  
"You sound a bit like Sayori all of a sudden..."

    I think to myself, "Where is Sayori, anyway...?"

    I spot Sayori sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, looking down at nothing.  As Natsuki and Monika start talking about squid, of all things, I figure this was a good time to dip out of the conversation and walk over to Sayori.
    "Hey, Sayori."
   She looks zoned out. I wave my hand in front of her face.
   "Eh--?"
    "You're spacing out again."
    "A-Ah..."
   "Ehehe, sorry..."
She looks down.
    "Don't mind me. You can go talk to everyone else."
    "Huh...?"
That response caught me off guard. Sayori doesn't seem like herself..
    "Is everything alright?"
   "O-Of course! Why wouldn't it be?"
I feel awkward. I'm not 100% convinced, but I didn't want to pry.
    "It just feels like you're a little off...Sorry for assuming things."
    "Jeez, you worry too much about me. I'm fine, see?"
    Sayori shows me a big smile. She sounded more like me, rather than herself.
    "Don't let me distract you from having fun with everyone."
    "Well...alright. If you say so."
    show sayori zorder 1 at thide
  
    I worriedly glance at Sayori before turning back toward everyone else.
    But the conversation has already dispersed, with everyone back at their usual activities. I decided to sit back down at a desk. I think for a moment. I know Sayori told me not to worry about her, and to have fun with everyone else... But that's impossible to do when she's behaving like this. Exactly how much do I care about her, that I'm letting this weigh me down so much? Now it feels like I'm the one behaving out of the ordinary... I eventually decided to write my poem for next week.
Eventually, I decided to go talk to Monika about Sayori.

"MC! What's up?"
    "Hey, this might sound a little strange, but...Have you noticed anything up with Sayori recently? Maybe I'm reading into it a little too much, but she seems a bit downcast today..."

Monika peers across the room at Sayori, who is idly dragging a rubber eraser up and down her desk.

"Maybe there is something on her mind..."

"Yeah, but she's never really like this... She's always talked to me about things that bothered her but.. this time, when I asked her, she was really dismissive."
I realize I'm talking so much about this thing Monika may not even care about.
    "...Sorry, I know it's not your problem! I just wanted to ask if you knew anything, so I'll drop it now..."
 
"No, no..." Monika stops me. "It's important to me, too. "I mean, I'm also friends with her... And I also care about the well-being of my club members, you know?"

"Maybe I'll try talking to her myself..."

    "Eh? Are you sure about that...? She seemed like she wanted to be left alone..."
    "Are you sure?" Monika asked. "Maybe she just has a hard time bringing it up with the person of interest..."
    "Person of interest...? What do you mean by that?"

"I'm saying that maybe the thing on her mind is you, MC."
  
"Me...? How on Earth would you come to that conclusion?"
   "Well..." Monika thinks of how to phrase her words. "I probably shouldn't say too much, but..."
    "Sayori talks about you more than anything else, you know?"
  
"Eh...?"
    "She's been so much happier ever since you've joined the club. It's like an extra light was turned on inside of her. You should hang out with her more. It may make her feel happier."

"Oh... uhm.. Thanks Monika.."

"No Problem!"

As we finished our conversation, Monika announced that she had to leave early.

"What do you mean you're leaving early? You literally just got here late not 40 minutes ago!"
Natsuki protested.
"Natsuki." Yuri interjected. "Monika probably has something more important to tend to. Mind your business."

"More important than the festival? She hasn't even told us who's doing what yet!"

"Look, there's no need to fight about this. How about this? Natsuki, you'll make the cupcakes. Yuri, you and me will make the banner. Is that good with everyone?"
"Yes. Thank you, MC."
Natsuki shrugs and turns away.
"Yeah, whatever. that's cool."
"Is that good, Moni-"
I turn to see that Monika is gone. Even though I'm defending her, I must admit, Monika does seem off today. I guess everyone is "off" today. She got here late, and she was sweating like she had to run from her house back to the clubroom, not from the music room down the hall. It was wierd. But I had no time to worry about that. Monika was right. I needed to spend time with Sayori. I walk over to her and sit next to her. I don't say anything, I just let ourselves sit there in silence.