13- The Best Path Forward

{A/N: From now on, canon is thrown out the window. Both because of the nature of the world and Cal's existence. Plus, DDLC last like 3-4 in game days total before time loopin. Still, I hope you'll all like where I'll be going with the world.}

After that sobbering thought, Cal got a strange split second whiplash after turning and catching a glance of the three girls in the back of the room, each doing something that they would be doing in the game. Natsuki was reading a manga while sitting on the ground, her back against a wall and munching on some chocolatey bar. Yuri quietly reading a book sitting at a desk, her face peaceful and only minutedly changing as she read along some apparently frustrating or fascinating parts. And Sayori perusing the books on the shelfs, yet not taking any one of them and pausing to watch what the other girls were doing or reading, all the while having a slight smile on her face.

{Good Image of the girls here:}

For that split second, his vision overlapped with his memories of them on a flat screen, doing exactly the same things tey were doing now, and he got a sort of vertigo, realising the fragility of it all in his bones, and most importantly, theirs. He thought it obviously unfair, nightmarish, even, to have your fate and individuality be at someone fingertip's by the most literal sense. He had, by circumstances, been given the very freedom they currently lacked, along with the heavy weight of their future on his shoulders. If he so much as wished for it, he could twist them irrevocably, erase them from existence. There was a true, strong and dark primal exhaliration to the prospect that he had never felt before now. One derived from having Ultimate Power over something else. Of knowing that if he was inclined to, he could shed all pretense in a blink without any consequences.

Yet, he wasn't afraid. Nor did he doubt himself at that moment. That realisation, if nothing else, only made him more sure of himself. He wouldn't let that feeling warp him, no more than he had let pain do. It also made him more accutely aware of a thought that had lingered idly in his head for some time.

The concept that this... All of it. It was an opportunity. One that he hadn't had the time to ponder deeply upon the previous day and during his time freezing escapade because he had been too blinded by fear and apprehension to see it. But now, he could.

Here, he could do anything. Makes something great, a world in his image. A paradise, or hell. He could do both or neither. He could let his imagination run wild and be the cogs holding it all together.

He had the opportunity to break the chains, pave a new path for himself and others. And if his guts were rights, not just for whatever this world was. After all, he had seen the void outside the boundary of the game, and clearly, there was more things out there. And hopefully, not just eldritch masses of sentient code.

And as the first step of it all, he would bring the girls to his side, all of them. Because, let's face it, in his current situation, it was either all of them or none. And he was rather strongly inclined to the former. Given he was the only guy existing in this place, and the only one able to do something about it. HE would have to be the one to create living people for the girls to potentionally befriend and love, so that they wouldn't stay alone in the world. And not only would doing that leave a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth, but creating sentient people for a singular purpose and designing them for it would only begin the cycle anew. If he did comes to create life one day, or something close to it, he would makes them as free as he could.

No, he would give the girls a choice. Even if the act of offering it wound out to be unfair in itself, the truth of the matter was simply that the current state of things made it so. But it didn't really matter anyway. Since he would make them choose him, he had been given the right tools to do so, and he was confident in his character and charm. As things stood, he would be a failure if he failed, really.

'Uh...' Rubbing his chin, he thought It was kind of odd how his feelings went from wanting to simply save them to being determined to win all of their heart and bringing them to his side. But thinking further about it, he came to the sobbering conclusion that it may very well be the only truly happy ending, or at least the happiest. Romancing one of the girl over the others would probably irrevocably break the dynamic of the club, and romancing none would leave unanswered feeling festering into frustration and sadness or even worse... Plain old ankward friendzone, which he guessed was also an option. But thinking about Sayori made all the later options shaky... He was the only joy in her life, and ironically, he was also the darkness in it. He didn't know what would happen to her if he took these other routes. Plus, he personally didn't like it, it felt like the true cowardly ways. Some may argue than choosing them all is also a coward move, but he'd beg to differ. It take balls to willingly take the harem route, even more when swearing to do it as right as he possibly could.

Speaking of that, it seemed his feet had unconsciously carried him to the back of the room while he was being enlightened in the Dao of not-being-a-little-bitch-afraid-of-the-unknown-and-the-unfathomable-consequences-it-can-bring-anymore. Or the Dao of NUT in short. Instead he found himself overlooking Natsuki from the side, leaning against the wall still standing, he casted a look at the manga she was reading and couldn't help but frown as the pages were blank.

The petite girl, who had tensed up slightly at his approach, finally deigned to look up as she noticed him looking at what she was reading. She frowned at him as she did. "What?"

"What what?" He replied innocently.

"What are you doing?"

He tilted his head and brought a finger to his cheek, frowning as if he was thinking really hard about his answer. "Right now? I'm speaking to you, isn't it obvious."

She looked at him unimpressed for a full second before rolling her eyes so hard he almost thought they'd roll back inside her head. "That's not what I was asking, why did you come here of all place? — Just to bother me?"

Dropping the act, he pointed at her manga and smiled. "Fine, I was just curious to see what you were reading."

Natsuki's gaze went to her book and did not go back to look at him. "Oh th-that? It's Hidden Force, a new popular series." She seemed a bit unwilling to say more.

"Never heard of it. Is it a shonen?" He was shooting blind, but he didn't see what else it could be with that kind of title.

The pink haired girl perked up as she looked at him, suprise in her eyes. "Yes. Do you read manga too?"

Nodding, Cal grinned. "Of course I do, there's some really good stories out there. Those who refuse to try manga because of prejudices are just missing out, seriously." Really, woe to those knowing the future and who chose to exploit it to their advantage. Fuck those guys. What, Him? He was only saying his honest opinion with some extra padding, so that didn't count.

A small smile rose on Natsuki's face and her eyes lit up. "Right! That's what I think too!" She fell silent dor a few seconds after that before asking him something. "Don't you think it strange?"

"What? Reading mangas in a litterature club?" He lifted an eyebrows knowingly at her.

...

A blush slowly rose on her cheeks as she looked at his face in silence for a few moments before she seemed to realise what she was doing and averted her gaze. "Yeah, that."

Leaning back against the wall, he crossed his arms and let out a breath before shaking his head. "Not really? I mean, manga is litterature, end of the line. There's storytelling, themes, sometimes even deep messages in their pages. They can even be used by authors to express themselves in some cases, just like books or poems. So those who says otherwise just don't know much about them." He replied easily since it was the truth.

Natsuki chuckled cutely but then scrunched her nose. "Ugh. You sounded like Yuri for a second there, while somehow saying things she would never." She said and then went on, trying to hide her interest in the next subject, and failing. "I bet the poem you wrote is all fancy and deep-like gibberish like her's usualy are."

"Ah, wouldn't you like to know?" He smiled at her slyly, making her flush a bit.

Still, she stood strong as she turned her head away and harrumphed. "Hmph! In your dreams!"

"Oh, really~? Then I guess I-"

*Clap Clap* The soft sound of hands clapping interrupted Cal as all people present turned toward Monika as she spoke up with a slight smile. "Everyone, It's time for the beginning of the club's activities." As she said that, she met Cal's gaze with a glint in her eyes as she briefly threw a look at Natsuki before going to sit at the table.

He squinted for a second at that before going and sitting at the table like everyone else besides Yuri who said she was going to prepare some tea with a small frown on her face.

Sat between Monika and Sayori like yesterday, he watched with veiled surprise as Sayori and Natsuki initiated an idle conversation between each other, mostly about how days and writing their poems went.

He didn't even register movement on his left until a beautiful voice tickled his ear with a whisper. "It's strange, don't you think?" Refraining from breaking his neck to look at Monika, he calmly met her gleeming green eyes and her odd smile with a perfectly confused expression. "What is?"

She scrutinized his face for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Nothing." He'd be lying if he wasn't pleased by the spark of frustation lighting up on her face as she resumed listening to the two other girls, her chin resting on her palm.

Ah, that'll teach her to try to cut short his time with the other girls. He just hoped it wouldn't push her toward a more radical method of dealing with them.

That'd be a bummer.