Purple Starred Destiny

"Falling too fast to prepare for this."

"Tripping in the world could be dangerous."

"Everybody circling - it's vulturous."

"Negative."

"Nepotist."

"Everybody waiting for the fall of man."

"Everybody praying for the end of times."

"Everybody hoping they could be the one."

"I was born to run."

"I was born for this."

"Run me like a racehorse."

"Pull me like a ripcord."

"Break me down and build me back up."

"I wanna' be the slip."

"Word upon your lip."

"Letter that you rip."

"Whatever it takes."

"I love the adrenaline in my veins."

"I do whatever it takes."

"I love how it feels when I break the chains."

"You take me to the top - I'm ready for whatever it takes."

"Always had the fear of being typical."

"Looking at my body feeling miserable."

"Always hanging on the visual."

"I wanna' be invisible."

"Looking at my years like a martyrdom."

"Everybody needs to be part of 'em."

"Never be enough - I'm the prodigal son."

"Hypocritical."

"Egotistical."

"Don't wanna' be the parenthetical."

"Don't wanna' be the hypothetical."

"Working onto something that I'm proud of, out of the box."

"An epoxy to the world and the vision we've lost."

"I'm an apostraphe."

"I'm just a symbol to remind you that there's more to see."

"I'm just a product of the system - a catastrophe."

"And yet a masterpiece, and yet I'm half-diseased."

"At least I go down to the grave and die happily."

"Leave the body and my soul to be a part of thee."

“Oh, yes, I’m alright,” Yuri responded. “I was just waiting for you. I thought we could walk together, at least until we exit the school.”

Yuri, even with all the time they spent together in the club, was happy to spend more time with Josuke. It seemed that she may have wanted to walk home with him, if he didn’t live too far away. She appreciated his company and hoped he felt the same.

Well, that was a bit of a relief. After the tension that broke out a minute ago, he wasn’t sure if there was still something wrong or not. He did, in fact, enjoy her company so he responded with a bit of a grin.

“Yeah, but still, I guess,” Natsuki replied. Addressing everyone, she said, “I’ll help with the festival, too. I’m not gonna ditch you guys like that.”

Monika, sensing the conflict was fading, made her way over to the group again. “We still have time to decide what we’re going to do, remember,” she added. “The festival isn’t for a while. I just wanted to get a head start on planning.”

“Whatever we end up doing, I know it will be great!” Sayori chimed in. “Because you’re all great, and I know how much everyone cares about the club.”

“You’re right, Sayori,” Monika agreed. “That’s the most important thing. No matter what, I know everyone’s going to put in their best effort because we all care about the club.”

Sayori had a dissenting expression. “No, I disagree, Monika. That’s not the most important thing at all!”

“Oh, it isn’t?” Monika asked, surprised. “What do you think the most important thing is, Sayori?”

“The most important thing in the Literature Club…” Sayori smiled, “…is having fun!”

Monika smiled as well. “Ahaha, you’re right, Sayori! With that, I think I can officially call this meeting over.”

Everyone started packing up their stuff to leave. Yuri, however, lingered behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looks like things were looking up. It was just slightly rough, but it was nothing compared to the things he’s been through before. Sayori’s enthusiasm was definitely rubbing off on Josuke. “Now we’re talking, I’m getting all fired up” He spoke, in response to Sayori talking about how great she suspects it’ll be.

Yuri returned Josuke a sad smile. She hoped he was right. Part of her knew she was overthinking again and, though she shouldn’t have acted so harshly towards Natsuki, the situation had been a relatively short argument that concluded before she said anything she truly would regret. Yuri just needed to apologize.

As Sayori had said, Natsuki did return. Yuri practically jumped when she heard the door open. Natsuki was calmer and more subdued.

“Natsuki—!” Yuri started, which caused the girl in question to jump as well. “I’m sorry. I believe this argument was my fault, and I should never have attacked you like that.”

Natsuki seemed embarrassed. “Hey, I should be the one apologizing to you. You were right. I did have a bad attitude. I shouldn’t have been pissing all over everyone’s ideas. Especially you, Josuke.” Natsuki turned to him. “I went off on you when you were just trying to help. So…”—she looked away— “…sorry.”

Josuke had a pretty confident smile, knowing he’d seen far worse things shake up a friendship and was sure it would work out. Even Josuke was a little surprised by Yuri’s sudden outburst, guessing Yuri and Natsuki must really care a lot about each other. It definitely reminded him of himself and his friends, at least a bit.

Sayori returned shortly, but without Natsuki. She said Natsuki was taking a walk around the hall and would be back soon.

Yuri still wasn’t completely reassured. “I still feel responsible for the situation,” she confessed. “I let my emotions overtake me. I usually can control myself, but sometimes, when I feel strongly, I lose restraint. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“I should apologize to Natsuki. I wasn’t fair to her at all. You think this will be easily resolved?”

Josuke didn’t think what she said was too serious, though he probably wouldn’t have said she didn’t care about the club. Still, it was the heat of an argument, and Josuke’s said stupider things in a heated argument. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, after she’s cooled off”

Sayori stepped outside to check on Natsuki. Monika didn’t seem to know what to do, so she just went back to the teacher’s desk.

Yuri stood still, replaying the recent events over and over in her mind. She registered that it was just her and Josuke standing there. She faced her friend with a guilty expression. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…have an outburst.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As his eyes followed Sayori, he wondered if things would settle down. Even if Natsuki hadn’t exactly been the most welcoming to him, he didn’t have anything against her and he definitely didn’t want her to just leave.

Natsuki, still defensive, felt targeted by Josuke’s attempt to de-escalate the situation. “Why are you only talking to me? She’s the one who—”

“Natsuki…” Monika interrupted.

“Please don’t fight, guys,” Sayori pleaded.

Natsuki still felt like everyone was against her, but she decided there was no point in fighting. Not that she meant to cause a fight in the first place.

“…Fine,” she sighed. “It’s whatever. You guys do whatever you want.” She looked down in defeat. But after a few seconds, Natsuki turned and walked out of the room entirely.

Yuri had been standing with a confident smile since Josuke’s comments didn’t seem directed towards her, but her smile faded while her mind reassessed the situation. She had started the argument, and it was over something trivial. Her emotions overpowered her rational thought. Worse, had she been misunderstanding the situation from the beginning? Natsuki had objected to every proposal for the festival, but maybe she had another reason besides a lack of respect for the club.

Guilt rushed in while Natsuki walked out. “Wait!” Yuri called after her, but Natsuki didn’t stop, and Yuri made no move to follow her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josuke was a bit dumbfounded, wondering what Natsuki was talking about when the part about them not going at each other’s throats was pretty well directed at both of them. He didn’t think it was necessary for her to storm out, all he did was give her the option to sit the festival out since she seemed to object to the event as a whole. He got the feeling that trying to say anything to stop Natsuki would only make things worse.

“Well, I was thinking that we’d just have one event, but…” Monika began, but her uncertain thought was, again, interrupted.

“I agree with Josuke,” Sayori stated. “Yuri, that’s a great idea! It sounds like a lot of fun, and I’m sure it will catch people’s attention! Maybe we can even bring in extra costume pieces and props for people to use if they want to perform!”

Natsuki still didn’t seem thrilled with the idea, and she wasn’t any more enthusiastic after Sayori mentioned other people joining in. She crossed her arms and said, “Why do we have to have an event for the festival anyway? It’s not like we’re an important club. And even then, the festival’s not for a while, so I don’t get why we have to talk about this stuff now.”

Yuri felt that Natsuki was just being difficult. Everyone else seemed to agree upon the idea, so why couldn’t she? Worse, she believed Natsuki to be criticizing the proposal simply because Yuri was the one who combined the two ideas. Yuri always thought something about her must have irrationally bothered Natsuki, and these remarks were just further evidence of her prejudice. At least Yuri respected the club, she thought.

“Monika is taking responsibility by having this discussion early so that we are well prepared for when the festival does arrive,” Yuri defended. “If you have another idea, you are welcome to share it with us, but up until this point, I have heard nothing but negativity from you, Natsuki.”

“Well, I just—! Hey!” Natsuki reacted. “Why do you have to get all harsh with me? Are you really telling me you’re excited for a huge event with a bunch of people from school?”

It was a fair enough assumption that the introverted Yuri wouldn’t be comfortable with a huge crowd, much less a crowd of people who wanted to become permanent members of the club, but she was still incensed by Natsuki’s bad attitude. “…I…suppose an event that would attract a large group would be beneficial to the recruitment of new members, which I have no reason not to be excited about. I would be happy to share a love of literature with new people. Josuke recently joined, and he’s been a wonderful addition to the club. He cares more about this club’s success than you do.”

Natsuki, somehow not offended by Yuri’s jab, raised an eyebrow. “Oh? I didn’t realize you cared so much about our club’s newest member, Yuri.”

Without intervention, this argument could turn into a full-blown verbal battle…

Well, this was getting out of control fast. It was just an idea that Josuke came up with, at the top of his head, since he was very much into fashion. “Whoa, hey, can we pump the brakes for a minute?” He spoke up, in an attempt to put some ice over the growing fire. “I’m pretty sure we all care about the club, but let’s no go at each other’s throats here. If I was looking around for a club in the festival, I doubt I’d want to see someone getting strong armed into it, so it probably won’t hurt if you wanted to sit it out” He suggested, mainly to Natsuki since she’s the one who voiced opposition to it. He figured the rest of them could carry on with the festival, if she decided she didn’t want to be involved with it.

The look on Monika’s face showed that Josuke’s idea wasn’t one she expected. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be the kind of idea she was looking for either. “Um, it’s not a bad idea,” she began, but was interrupted.

“There’s no way I’m cosplaying in front of the entire school,” Natsuki blurted. But realizing how harshly she shot down the idea, she backtracked and added, “I mean, if you guys want to, then do whatever. But reading in front of people is bad enough…”

Sayori was more positive. “I think it’s a great idea! We can really get into our event if we come in costumes! Plus, we can use Josuke’s idea with whatever else we end up doing. It sounds like a lot of fun!”

Yuri felt it was her turn to speak, but she still was overwhelmed by all that was happening. The idea of such a public event made her nervous. She was already worried she would make a fool of herself reading aloud a passage from one of her favorite books, and the idea of doing so in a costume only added to the possible embarrassment. Yuri also questioned how the idea of costumes was related to literature, but she didn’t want to discredit her friend’s suggestion.

On the other hand, Yuri did think she could be more confident if she was taking on a role rather than presenting as herself. If she was able to conceal her identity, maybe it wouldn’t matter if people mocked her interests. Or, maybe, it would only make the humiliation worse.

The room had been quiet for a while. “Um,” Yuri cleared her throat. “Perhaps…we can combine the two suggestions. We could dress as a character from the passage we choose to read, and perform as them rather than as ourselves. Our event could be a fully immersive experience that transports students away to the worlds of different literary tales.”

Well, at least Sayori was excited about the idea, but then she seemed pretty excitable in general. His attention, though, was turned on Yuri, at her suggestion. “Now that’s a good idea!” He proclaimed, understanding if Natsuki wasn’t really into the idea since it was just something he came up with at the top of his head. 

Yuri closed the book and looked at Josuke. Was something wrong? What could Monika have wanted to talk about? She stood up from her seat and headed to the front of the room.

Though Yuri was too nervous to say anything, Natsuki asked if this was about the festival.

“Well, sort of,” Monika said. “People are starting to talk about planning for the festival, but I’m not sure what to do, because we don’t even have any club activities.” She let out a nervous laugh. “Which is mostly my fault for not planning anything. Sayori and I have been talking, and we think a reading event where we can read passages from our favorite books could be a good idea, but we wanted to know what everyone thinks and if anyone else has any suggestions.”

Monika opened the floor to everyone, but Yuri was still too surprised to speak. A public event? Reading in front of people? Anything she liked, others would think was weird. She at least needed a minute to compose her thoughts. She glanced over to Josuke, who she was standing next to.

For some reason, Monika was looking at Josuke, too.

Josuke figured that’s what it was about. As far as he was aware, no strife or anything like that broke out, everyone had kind of been doing their own thing and things were actually surprisingly peaceful. “Not a bad idea” He chimed in, beginning to contemplate possible ideas. Of course, one of his greatest passions was fashion, so...

Yuri agreed. What time was better for reading than their time in the Literature Club? She placed her book against the desk and held the left side, offering the right side to Josuke.

As they continued in the book, it became more clear that the story would only get more disturbing. But there was something admirable in the main character’s resilience, even as she constantly wondered if she was doing the right thing. Still, with the book’s dark subject matter, it seemed that it was the opposite of what someone would expect Yuri to be into. At least, the opposite what someone who didn’t know Yuri and her other interests would expect.

Close to the end of the meeting, the two were interrupted by a voice at the front of the room.

“Okay, everyone! I wanted to talk to everyone about something before the meeting ends, so if you all could come up here, that would be great!”

As they read, Josuke’s eyebrows furrowed a bit. The descriptions were, in a way, starting to remind him of the more horrific people he’d run into. Granted, nothing like the prison experiments, but still some pretty screwed up people. He wondered just what was going to happen, next, and how a system could be overturned.

A light blush appeared on Yuri’s face. “I do enjoy our time together,” she admitted, “but I don’t mind if you read on your own either. I’ve read this book already, and I am well familiar with the plot, so I don’t mind skipping ahead.”

Yuri found the same pair of desks, pushed them closer together, and sat down, waiting for Josuke to join her. “Although, I’m the one with more free time to read,” she reflected, “so I shouldn’t be the one rushing you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuri livened up at the reassurance. “Then let’s find a place to read! The next chapter is exciting because it has a new perspective shift. The perspective can be confusing at first, as it changes frequently within the first few chapters, but it eventually centers around one character. You have to pay close attention to the details. Ah, unless you’ve read ahead already, in which case, you would already know that.”

--------------------------------------------------

Josuke listened, as they looked for a place to sit. In response to her final statement, he shook his head. “Nah, I haven’t been reading ahead. I figured, since you liked reading together, I’d just do that here” He responded. Of course, things like school work and his social life were other potential reasons for him not to read ahead, but he also figured Yuri enjoyed reading together enough to hold off from reading on his own.