We told Sayori that Monika gave the 'aroma' to Natsuki who then made cupcakes with it. Then there's no way this lie will work on Natsuki because...wait maybe...

Ethan: "Just to be sure...You actually didn't give anything to Natsuki on Monday for her cupcakes, right?"

Monika: "Uh...yeah...All my memories are really hazy...but I don't remember ever giving anything to Natsuki for her cupcakes."

As I feared...

Monika's right arm lies at her side while her left arm is holding her right elbow. Her eyebrows are down and I can feel regret in her voice.

Monika: "Ahaha...If I thought more carefully about the situation, I could have..."

I interrupt her:

Ethan: "You did the best we could have done. You only had one minute to think of a believable lie. And the person who was in front of you was Sayori. It's totally normal not to think of the bigger picture in that situation."

Monika: "Um...yeah but...Anyway, it's not like we can go back to the past, can we?"

Of course...Hold on, didn't she rollback time when the main character saw Yuri in the hallway in DDLC? Or was it the game system?

Ethan: "Are you sure about that? When I played the game, I think you were able to rollback events..."

Monika: "Really? Hm...I didn't tell you yet but I can actually open a python console. Maybe there's a command I can execute?"

In DDLC, she used the command console to delete the other characters. It must be the same here. Thus, there should be some kind of functions to save, load and rollback.

Ethan: "Try to find something like 'rollback', 'previous', 'load'...Scratch that, can you save the game or load it or something?"

Monika: "Let's see...Oh you're right! There are some functions about saving and loading! There are ' renpy . save()' and ' renpy . load()'."

If it's really possible to save and load then all our problems will be solved!

[Player]: "Great! Can you try executing the line 'renpy . save('day_2_morning')'?"

Monika: "Let's see..."RuntimeError: Access Denied". It's the same error that happened when I tried to modify the club members' files!"

Ethan: "Gods damn it. I figured it would have been too easy otherwise. Can you see the list of saves?"

Monika: "Yes but it's empty..."

Ethan: "Well, it looks like saving and loading is out of the question then. Let's try one last thing. There should be something like 'renpy . rollback()'..."

Monika: "I can see it but... how does it work? You know, I'm very new at programming. I only discovered yesterday I could execute python commands.."

Ethan: "Well, I know programming, Python and even Ren'Py so I could teach you but...we don't have much time left before Natsuki and Yuri arrive, do we?"

Monika: "Yeah, they should arrive in less than 8 minutes. Sayori already is coming out of the drug store with medicines. I guess she will join us in about 20 minutes."

I sigh. We don't have enough time to experiment more with Renpy and python functions...No, at least, I still want to give one more try to the rollback function.

Ethan: "Let's try one last thing. Execute the line 'help('renpy . rollback')' and tell me what you see."

Monika: "I see 'renpy . rollback(force=False, checkpoints=1, defer=False,greedy=True,label=None,abnormal=True)', then under it, each argument is explained. I don't really understand any of them..."

Ethan: "I can guess the meaning of some of them...But just guessing isn't enough when a mistake could literary break the world...It cannot be helped, we really don't have enough time."

Monika: "Should we make up some new lie for Natsuki and Yuri...?"

Ethan: "...Maybe...Not. I don't know about you but I can't think of any believable lie that would solve our problems."

Monika: "What if I try to make the lie I told true? I don't remember ever giving something to Natsuki for her cupcakes and it's surely the same for her...but who didn't forget something in their life? Especially for me, Sayori, Natsuki and Yuri, our memories are blurry, as if everything until you came didn't exist."

Ethan: "Well, the original game started yesterday morning so that explains why your past memories are blurry, or in another word, 'undefined'. In that case, yeah, you could convince even Natsuki you gave her the aroma. If she really believes it, then new memories will be 'defined' and will become real. Probably."

Monika: "Ah...but I shouldn't just convince her I gave her the ingredient one time. I told Sayori I used to give aroma to Natsuki so I should not only change Monday's memory but also all the times Natsuki made cupcakes..."

That's...on a whole new level of difficulty. Convincing someone they forgot one thing one time is difficult but convincing them they repeatedly forgot it for years is almost...

Ethan: "Ahhh...that's a real challenge...Uh...I..."

I'm doing my best to find a solution but not to avail.

Ethan: "Sorry, I'm not the best person to rely on when it comes to lying and dealing with people."

Monika: "Don't underestimate yourself, I think you're pretty smart! I wouldn't have thought of all those ideas without you. Unfortunately, I'm not the best at managing my club members too..."

Monika crosses her arms and lowers her head as if she's giving up. But after a short moment, she rises it again with a more determined look on her face.

Monika: "I can't fail, can I? If I fail to convince Natsuki and Yuri that the lie we told to Sayori is true then there would be no other way to save them without deleting them and restoring them, killing you in the process..."

Ethan: "Maybe not...Maybe it's okay if we tell the truth to Natsuki and Yuri and just lie to Sayori. Maybe the placebo effect needs only one character to believe into something to work. After all, only Sayori was aware of the apple and the knife and yet it worked?"

Monika: "It might be. But in the case of the apple and the knife, only Sayori needed to be aware of them and it didn't modify her memories. In the case of our lie, all members are involved, especially Natsuki and the lie would affect the past..."

Uh...it's more complicated than I thought...Ah, I don't have the energy to deal with that...

I was feeling dizzy and tired for a while...but it's getting worse.

Ethan: "If only we had more time, we could try more things...How many minutes do we have left by the way?"

Monika: "Less than 4 minutes. They can almost see Sayori's house."

And on top of that, we must find a solution in just 3 minutes? No way!

Ethan: "I'm hating even more the 'gods' who literally turned our problems up to eleven more and more."

Seriously. If yesterday was like 'medium difficulty', now it's like 'infernal' difficulty...And to make it worse, there's the big unknown factor that is the letter...

Monika: "I can understand your feelings but there's no use blaming anyone now...Okay, let's focus. We must reach a consensus quick. I propose I first try to make Natsuki believe the lie. If it fails, then I will tell them they are characters inside a game...or a very realistic simulation and that their personal problems were amplified. I won't say anything about you though."

I can't think of anything better.

Ethan: "Okay. Let's go with your plan. I can't think of anything else...I will leave it to you..."

I add a short moment later:

Ethan: "To be honest, I don't feel really good right now...I'm feeling light-headed...Do you mind if I rest a bit on the sofa?"

Even thinking was difficult now. This morning has been terrible. As soon as I woke up, I had to rush to Sayori's house, then I experienced the most terrifying event I have ever seen. Then I fell and fractured my arm and then I still had to force myself to think of the laws of this world as well as making plans...Saying I'm just tired would be a huge understatement.

Monika: "I have a better idea. Let's go to the sofa~"

I follow her.

She sits on the sofa and pats her thighs... to signal me to lie my head on her legs?

Is she offering me a lap-pillow?

Ethan: Uh...I'm supposed to lie down on the sofa and rest my head on top of your thighs?"

Monika: "Y-yeah, it would be better, wouldn't it? If you're feeling light-headed then you should lie down so that the blood flows more easily into your brain...and you can also rest your fractured arm on your chest so..."

Ethan: "I understand. No need to justify yourself, I don't mind it. In fact, I appreciate it...Well, we already slept together so...how could I mind a lap-pillow? Ahaha."

Monika: "Ahaha yeah, you're right..."

I slowly lie down on the sofa and carefully let my head rests on her lap, while checking any adverse reaction from Monika.

Monika's lap is so comfy...And warm...If only I could just give up my fight and be with her...

She then tentatively begins to pet my head. I'm a bit reluctant at first but I quickly let go of any embarrassment and resistance.

We stay silent for some time, enjoying the present moment. I gradually let go of the intense stress that plagued my thoughts since this morning. I can feel the tension in my muscles progressively going away.

Monika: "Do you remember last night, before we..."

And then the doorbell rings through the house.

Monika doesn't move an inch and instead tells Sayori and Yuri to go inside from where she is. I move my head to the direction of the door. I try to get up but Monika's loving hands encourage me to stay on her lap.

Natsuki and Yuri enter the piece. The only thing I can tell is they seem at least very surprised.

Natsuki is the first one to speak.

Natsuki: "You better have a good explanation for making us...Oh..."

I see her eyes noticed my arm.

Natsuki: "What happened to Ethan?. And where is Sayori?!"

Yuri: "I-I would like to know as well..."

They are staring between me and Monika. Uh...I feel like Yuri is staring more intensely at us....and not in a good way...

Monika takes a deep breath before speaking.

Monika: "Regarding Ethan, he fell down in the stairs earlier and probably fractured his right arm. He's feeling very tired now so please let him rest. Sayori went to the nearest drugstore to buy medicine for him. However, his fall isn't the main reason I made you come here..."

Yuri and Natsuki are coming closer to us.

Yuri: "Natsuki told me it was extremely urgent and was even a matter of life and death..."

Natsuki: "You know we had to skip school to come to here?! Jeez... I don't even want to imagine what my dad would do when he will find out..."

In the game, even during Act 2, her dad has never beaten her, at least, the game never showed Natsuki's injury. But here Natsuki's abuse variable is equal to 11...Her dad might even kill her.

They are now in front of the sofa, looking at us.

Monika: "What I'm going to tell you may look crazy but please trust me..."

Natsuki: "Look Monika. If we didn't trust you, we wouldn't be here in the first place. Come on, spit it out already."

Monika looks at Natsuki, pauses one second and then moves her regard to Yuri. She is looking at them straight in the eyes.

Monika: "Okay. Natsuki, you know that I often gave you special artificial flavors to make your cupcakes..."

Natsuki: "Hold on a sec, what artificial flavors? You never gave me anything. I always bought the ingredients myself to make my cupcakes."

Shit. As we feared, Natsuki's memory doesn't remember anything about aroma! It doesn't seem like she's going to believe Monika!

Monika: "W-well, I did, don't you remember? For example, Monday, just before the club ended, I gave you two vials of a new aroma for yesterday's cupcakes and your family."

Natsuki becomes perplexed. I can see her doubts are growing.

Natsuki: "You..you did? I don't remember it but...now that I think about it, I don't remember well what happened on Monday... "

As Natsuki's uncertainty increases, white noise suddenly rings and my view becomes distorted.

Natsuki: "Why...Why I can't remember...?"

And it's not stopping. In fact, it's increasing.

I hurriedly raise the top part of my body to sit down on the sofa to be ready to move quickly if anything happens.

The overwhelming fear I felt when I saw Sayori's glitch surges back.

But I manage not to panic yet.

Monika: "It's OK Natsuki! Forgetting things happens to anyone! Don't worry about it!"

Yuri: "M-Monika...I can't remember too about what happened Mon-Monday...Wh-why...WHY?"

The scene is getting more and more messed up and the background noise is louder and louder. The world is becoming more and more unstable!

If the characters realize their memories are fake and that the world is a simulation, it might even crash the world! We MUST do something, now!

Ethan: "Monika! Give them more information about Monday and tell them they can't remember because of the drugs, quick before the simulation becomes critically unstable!"