(Author's Note: This is a revamped version of the original prologue that used to be here. Currently, I'm not able to write any new chapters due to a broken laptop, so I decided that I'd remake the prologue, since I didn't really like the way I did the original prologue. Anyway, without further adeau, please enjoy the new prologue.)

Prologue: One Door Closes...

Ding!

The small and cheerful ring sounded out into the darkness as the sliding doors closed behind me. I carried a small paper bag in my left hand, filled with Sayori's antidepressants, as I left the pharmacy behind me and began walking down the road. It was almost pitch-black outside, and there wasn't anyone else in sight.

'Jesus, what time is it?' I thought to myself.

I let out a huge yawn, fishing my phone out of my pocket with my free hand. With tired eyes, I looked at the screen as I turned it on. The sudden bright light was hard on my eyes, but I eventually adapted and checked the time.

"It's almost midnight!" I exclaimed to myself.

Startled by my own outburst, I looked around me in hopes that no one had heard me talking to myself. When I was completely sure there was no one around, I let out a sigh and turned back to my phone. I opened Messaging and tapped on Sayori's name. As I texted her, I couldn't help but worry for her.

'Sayori... Why did you keep it a secret?' I wondered. 'You're more important to me than anyone else.'

When Sayori finally told me about her depression on Sunday, I just couldn't believe it. To think that my best friend since childhood has been struggling with this for so long and I hadn't noticed... I felt ashamed that I had't noticed it earlier.

Today at the festival, I was able to convince Sayori to tell the others in the Literature Club about it. Yuri and Natsuki consoled her continually for the rest of the festival, but Monika oddly didn't respond much. I thought it strange for her of all people to not care, considering Sayori was her vice president.

Now, I never claimed to be the most perceptive person, but I could've sworn I saw a look of worry on Monika's face when she thought no one was looking. It seemed out of place for her usual self.

I sighed.

"Nothing makes sense anymore..." I quietly lamented.

I finished texting a message to Sayori and hit 'SEND', waiting for a response. Waiting... Waiting... Waiting... Something's wrong.

'She should've texted me back by now.' I noticed. 'Oh shit.'

Worry and determination driving me, my calm walk bolted into a frantic dash down the street. I'll admit, I've never been the best with mental health, but if Sayori wasn't answering her phone when I'd asked her to look out for my name while I was out, there was definitely something wrong.

I ran down the street in complete darkness, using only my memory of going the opposite way as guidance. I remembered Sayori saying that she felt as if her life didn't matter, like things would be better if she were dead. It hurt me greatly to know that she truly thought that way about herself, but it worried me even more to think that she could do something drastic because of it.

The distance between the pharmacy and my house seemed much shorter on the returning journey, which was probably because of my much faster pace and racing mind. Before I knew it, I was dashing off the main road and onto my property. I leaped over the gate, down the path, burst through the front door, and ran inside.

Sayori had been staying with me for the time being, mostly because her parents weren't at home very often and they wanted someone to keep an eye on her 24/7.

'Got to get to the guest room' I thought.

My legs carried me through the hallway and up the stairs. My mind, despite barely keeping up, contained a strong sense of dread which had pertained ever since the worry began. I'd heard stories of people having a sudden feeling just like this before a horrible event transpired. I never really believed these stories to be true, but I was having second thoughts now.

"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease." I essentially chanted to myself in hopes that Sayori was fine.

As soon as I reached the door to the guest room, I froze. The feeling of dread I'd been experiencing had now increased tenfold, alongside a feeling of heaviness in the air. My hand was on the doorknob, but it felt as if I had no control over it. All I could think about was what awaited me on the other side of that door as my hand began turning the doorknob on its own.

I slowly opened the door...

And immediately fell backwards. What I saw... what I was witnessing... it couldn't have been real. The smell of blood permeated the air, only greatening the feeling of shock and despair. There, hanging by the neck in a noose, was...

Sayori's dead body

"A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I screamed.

I fell to the ground with my back against the wall as my mind was struck with this realization. It was all too much for me to handle. I couldn't think, couldn't move, couldn't speak, all I could do was stare on at Sayori's lifeless corpse.

Her body hung limply from the ceiling, only being held up by a rope around her neck. Not only that, but her wrists were slit as well. Blood flowed steadily out through the wounds, down her palms, and eventually dripped down off the tips of her fingers, pooling on the floor in a horribly large mess.

But what hurt me the most... were her eyes.

They were dead. Clear. Glassy. They were the biggest indication of her passing. The high energy and happiness that used to inhabit them was now absent, leaving only a dead stare of vacancy. Sayori... my best friend since childhood... was truly, undeniably dead.

A feeling of deep despair gripped my heart. The world around me went blank as I finally accepted the reality. There was nothing more left in this world for me. Sayori...

She was dead.

"SAYORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

She was dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

S^e wa dea#.

"PLEASE, IT CAN'T BE TRUE!"

h# !s ##!d.

"DON'T LEAVE MEEEEEEEEEE!"

01001000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101101 01100101

SHE

WAS

DEAD

01001000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101101 01100101

[The End]

*Now, for the main event*

'She was dead'

Those words were the last thing I saw on my computer screen before the whole thing went black and the game crashed. I slowly took off my headset and stared at the monitor, which now merely showed my desktop background.

I bet you're surprised, huh? I bet you thought that Mc was the protagonist of this story, is that it? Don't lie to me, I understand. Well, I suppose I should introduce myself before we go any further.

My name's Alex, and I'm the hero of this story.

I'm from Canada, I'm 18 years old, and the date was March 31, 2022 when my journey began. I'm your typical high school nerd; slightly scrawny build, gamer, anime fan, glasses, watch, the whole thing. If I could say something was unique about me, I'd probably say that I'm a bit more emotional and supportive than others.

Well, that and the fact that I was completely alone...

Over the past two years, I'd slowly been losing those close to me. It got to the point where I felt disconnected not only from the world around me, but from myself as well. Someone would look at me and assume that I'd lost my soul. Furthermore, I would've agreed with them.

It started on October 24 of 2019, just two days after my sixteenth birthday. A new terrorist organization had attacked my school, killing almost everyone there. I was the only survivor, and my friends all died in front of me.

Once I was finally over the initial shock, I was kept home so I could emotionally recover. However, as you can probably guess, that never happened. It wasn't just the event itself that crushed me, but rather, it was also the intense survivors guilt I shouldered. I couldn't bear the thought that I was the only survivor of such a tragedy that had taken the lives of my friends, so I was unable to forgive myself.

I endured the despair for two years after that. I was finally starting to get over the deaths of my friends, but that progress was quickly halted when my parents were found dead in an alleyway. I was left alone with my fifteen-year-old sister, who took the news even worse than I did.

I eventually found out she hung herself in her room two weeks later, and I was truly, completely alone.

And that brings us to the present, when I was sitting at my desk, playing a mod of the incredibly popular psychological-horror visual novel, Doki Doki Literature Club. I shouldn't have to explain what the game is, because you most likely already know. As for why I was playing it, that probably required some explanation.

Ever since I'd lost everything, pretty much all I did anymore was eat, sleep, and play mods of DDLC. I had become so attached to the characters over time that I saw them as more than just a sprite on a screen. I saw them as people.

I was always a fan of the game with its creative concept and interesting plot, but it was the modding community that really got me into the game. Fans of the game had created such interesting and deep stories with the power of modding, making absolute masterpieces that rivaled the original.

However... there was one problem. Many of the mods end sadly, with either a crushing character death or an unsatisfying feeling of loss. It didn't help at all that I had been diagnosed with depression shortly after the terrorist attack, leaving me feeling even worse whenever one of these endings shows up.

I quickly became addicted to these modded stories and continued to eat them up, even though the endings crushed me emotionally a lot of the time. I understand it isn't healthy, but I didn't know what else to do. That's why I decided that I would stop after playing one last mod:

Doki Doki Literature Club: Not This Time

Of course, you've already seen how that ended...

March 31, 2022

21:30

'Why...' I wondered. 'Why is it always the same?'

I started to feel tears rolling down my cheeks, the familiarity all too much for me.

'Why a noose... every time...'

Sayori always chose a noose for her suicide. It may not seem like that important a detail, but for me, a noose represented the event that left me truly alone in this world. The image of my sister's hanging corpse will never leave my mind, and was only made worse by the constant reminder in Sayori.

"Why me..." I whispered to myself.

I had been pushed to the breaking point multiple times before. But this... this felt so much worse. It was almost as if the mod was made specifically to torture me even more.

"Why me?!" I threw my head back and stood up. "WHY DO I HAVE TO SUFFER?! WHAT DID I EVER DO WRONG?!"

My wails of anguish fell on nothing but deaf ears. I didn't know what I was expecting. A response, perhaps? Maybe pity? I never believed in gods or anything surrounding religion, so I was probably just screaming for the sake of screaming.

Once I finally got a hold of myself, I sat back down limply, my body crashing into the soft leather of my desk chair. My gaze wandered to the bottom-right of my vision, settling on a single wooden drawer built into the desk. I slowly reached my hand over to it, but stopped halfway.

"No, not yet." I told myself, rubbing my arm. "One more day."

I slowly stood up from my desk once more and began to trudge towards my bed. I was both emotionally and physically drained from my outburst for some reason, but I put no thought into it.

I didn't notice it at the time, but I was clearly much more tired than I should've been. It was almost like my strength was being sucked straight out of my body. My thoughts wandered to the characters of DDLC for some reason. My thoughts were not under my control, but I didn't care.

First, I recalled Monika. The president of the in-game literature club and antagonist. After beating the game, you can't help but feel sorry for her. Realizing that her goal is unachievable and destroying the game to save the others... it was quite solemn and sad. Much of the fanbase was obsessed with her romantically, but I wasn't one of those people.

Second, I thought about Yuri. The shy girl who loves to read, but has issues with cutting herself. She's really not the 'yandere' that people say she is. I could relate to her quite a bit, as I used to have serious social anxiety when I was younger. She used to be my favourite, in fact.

Third, my mind wandered to Sayori. The childhood friend of Mc and vice-president of the in-game literature club, hiding her depression from everyone else. With her carefree appearance and childish attitude, she hides it quite well. Just like Yuri, I could relate to her. I know firsthand that depression is a bitch, and Sayori's suicide cuts me so much deeper because of it.

Finally... Natsuki. My favourite of them all. She's the aggressive girl, a 'tsundere' if you will. With her abusive dad and issues with bullying, I can't help but feel bad for her the most. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like a lot of others share my point of view. A lot of mods that revolve around Natsuki end in her death, or the death of Mc. A popular example would be Exit Music, but you all probably know about that.

My body collapsed as soon as it touched my bed. My world went dark as my head lay on the pillow, me having somehow aimed to land on it. I stared ahead blankly while my tunnel vision shrunk more and more, eventually disappearing altogether...

...

"Do you want to change your fate?"

"What?"

"Do you want to keep going?"

"I... don't know..."

"Help me..."

"Huh?"

"I will give you a second chance. Please, save them all..."

"Waaaaiiiiittttt... wwwwwhhhhhooooo'sssss ttttthhhhheeeeerrrrreeeee..."

End of Prologue