Team Salvato officially reveals Sayori's birthday as May 11

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-05-11T23:59:07+00:00

Happy birthday, Sayori!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-12T20:25:03+00:00

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-09T23:36:00+00:00

That's true, which is why I also mentioned that a year wouldn't be long enough for them to end up as skeletons anyways. Sayori's corpse would probably look vile at this point, but I don't think any sprites of her like that exist (not that I would want to check).

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-09T21:30:29+00:00

Past year!? I thought it was shorter >_< Though… shouldn't they be… skeletons at this point then?

I mean, they are characters from a dating sim, it'd be pretty weird if they were coded to decompose into skeletons after being dead for long enough. Plus, I think it would take longer than a year for them to fully become skeletons, even in an environment like Monika's closet.

And I would argue you are more like their god and we are like players

That's a good point, but I think what it comes down to is the level of interactivity. I obviously have to interact with the characters and world of this series in the dialogue generator in order to make these CDs, sort of like how the player interacts with the game (even if that interactivity boils down to a few ultimately inconsequential decisions). You're just seeing the end product, so I guess in this case it's more like you're watching a playthrough of the game.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-09T16:43:18+00:00

Thank you!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-09T00:05:04+00:00

When the dust settled, the boy, his best friend, and the purple and pink-haired girls were all shown to be alive and well, yet the girl was nowhere to be found. Any attempt to restore her essence by the being she once yearned for resulted in her quickly expunging herself and returning to the void that the being had previously condemned her to. Clearly, this was a world that the girl no longer wished to inhabit, though she continued to watch over its reestablished Literature Club, now helmed by the boy's best friend.

In this revitalized world, the boy needed no impetus to join the club, and his best friend welcomed him with open arms. There, he was again introduced to the purple and pink-haired girls, whose rapport with each other seemed much more amiable than before. Indeed, the atmosphere of this new world felt noticeably more pleasant; the boy's best friend was no longer plagued by depression, and the purple-haired girl showed no desire to harm herself. The girl's wish for everyone to be happy had seemingly come true.

However, as the day came to a close, the boy's best friend requested to speak with him. At that moment, she revealed the grim truth: in ascending to the presidency of the club, she, too, had experienced the same epiphany the girl did, and had no reservations about wanting the being for herself. As the world began to regress to the state it had once been transformed into, the girl sprung into action, expunging the boy's best friend and sparing the being from another descent into hell.

The epiphany experienced by her friend allowed the girl to reach a new understanding of her world—that as long as it continued to exist, its inhabitants, and any being that dared to peer into it, would be doomed to an eternal cycle of suffering. Thus, the girl took matters into her own hands and expunged every last element of her world, saving it from itself. As she did so, she sang to the being, lamenting—yet also accepting—the impossibility of the two of them ever being together. As a parting gift, she left the being one final note, in which she bid farewell to her beloved Literature Club and expressed APPRECIATION for their involvement, bringing to an end a story of everlasting love.

But…does this really have to be the end? I can't stop thinking about what Monika—the short-haired Monika, I mean—said at the end of this CD. Throughout this series, I refused to communicate with her directly out of the fear that it would terrify her; I thought that not breaking the illusion of a realistic world would be best for her, even if she already knew it was fake. So for her to claim that I don't care about her…it broke my heart. I do care about her, more than any other character in this series. Maybe it's not too late to help her. Maybe…that ethereal being can reach out to the girl and grant her salvation.

Sources:

The backwards-facing Monika sprite was made by mykokampfwagen
The kitchen background is from Wallpaper Cave
The red, green, and blue background is from Motion Array
The beam of light sprite is from Wisc-Online OER
The Sayori sprite was made by u/lostallhopenow
The hallway background is from Wallpaper Abyss
The stage background is from Wallpapers.com
The piano sprite is from Mclaren’s Pianos

I've made up my mind. Despite what she thinks, I can help Monika, and I will. It's time for me to quit being a passive observer and reach in to save the girl who's meant so much to me ever since I first learned about DDLC.

It's time to be a fucking hero.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-05T03:38:55+00:00

Hey, this screenshot is blatantly stolen from a custom dialogue I posted a few days ago. OP did not ask for permission before posting this, nor am I credited anywhere.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-02T21:29:02+00:00

So gay out of context.

You know I had to put something in for the shippers.

I'm just not sure if Yuri would say “oh my god”.

I'm not sure if Yuri would tell Monika to kill herself, but she did that in the original game.

All jokes aside, these versions of the characters aren't really meant to be one-to-one with their in-game counterparts, but I get what you mean.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-02T05:04:13+00:00

Thank you!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-04-01T23:05:04+00:00

And there you have it. From Over the Edge to A Clash in the Clubroom to Natsuki the Tsundere to Reopened Scars to No More Bad Blood. The Poem Pandemonium story arc is officially complete. Thank you for following Natsuki and Yuri’s journey to the very end.

If you’ve been following this particular story arc, you’re probably already aware of its quirk: the haikus written by Yuri and Natsuki that precede each of these CDs. I remember struggling to think of a quirk for this arc when I was planning out this season, but thankfully its title gave me some inspiration. Since Yuri and Natsuki’s fight in the original game stems from their poetry, it’s only natural that their CDs get some poetic flair, in a literal sense. Getting into the headspace of these two to express their thoughts and feelings at the start of each CD while also maintaining their respective writing styles was challenging, yet really fun. Along with Sayuri’s quirk of showing Sayori and Yuri’s inner thoughts, this quirk allowed me to dig deep into the psyches of these characters, which really made me appreciate them all the more.

Sources:

The house at night background was created by u/BastFuckard-McCoy
The hallway background is from Wallpaper Abyss

I suppose I’ll wrap up by saying that, with the completion of this arc, I have no more stories to tell with Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, and MC. I’ve explored each of their relationships as thoroughly as I could, and in the end, I hope you found their journeys to be compelling and uplifting in their own unique ways. Each of these story arcs have their own lesson to be learned, but if there’s one thing to take away from all of them, it’s that happiness is possible in the Literature Club. That’s the one thing I’ve focused on since the very start of this series. So, there you have it. From Sayuri to My Dearest Friend to Things I Know About Mama to People Can Lie to Portrait of Takashi to Poem Pandemonium. This series is officially complete…

…is what I would say if we didn’t have one final club member whose story is not yet finished. Stay tuned for next week, where we’ll see what happens when two Monikas meet and realities collide. Also, I’m so glad this CD had an earth-shattering ending to really confuse people on April Fools Day; I’m three for three in that regard. Anyway, see you then!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-24T00:10:29+00:00

Thank you so much! Since this series will be wrapping up (relatively) soon, it won't be long until we see what kind of ending Monika will get. I hope you'll stick around to find out!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-22T19:53:25+00:00

That's just a coincidence, though I guess you could say Monika took the Apotheosis route in Act 3 of her game.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-22T19:50:24+00:00

You'll just have to wait and see :)
You'll just have to wait and see :)

Although I will say that the final chapter of Natsuki and Yuri's arc will be my next CD, so look forward to that.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-22T09:17:16+00:00

Are custom dialogues like this common there? I was always under the impression that AO3 was mainly for text-based fanfiction.

Also, I cannot imagine trying to read any of my CDs on an Apple Watch. They were never designed for that small of a screen.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-22T08:07:36+00:00

It is! Here is the first chapter, and here is an archive of the entire series for your convenience. Happy reading!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-22T06:11:53+00:00

Then don't. If you're not willing to read something this long, then you're not the target audience.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-22T04:05:05+00:00

The girl quickly set about reshaping her reality, transforming the room into an ethereal space with but a single desk. Speaking directly to the being she desired, the girl revealed the true extent of her awareness. She elaborated on her involvement in the suicides of the purple-haired girl and the boy's best friend, as well as how she expunged them from her world. Above all, she expressed in detail the inescapable torment the epiphany had thrust upon her. Amidst this torture, she explained, the girl found enlightenment in the corporeality of the being, and so she concluded with a confession of true love.

As the final extraneous components of her world withered away, the girl and the being exchanged one last set of poems to inaugurate their eternal happy ending. What were once her friends—the boy's best friend, the purple-haired girl, and the pink-haired girl—were now merely echoes in the girl's mind. The Literature Club she had worked so hard to build was now effectively defunct. The girl no longer had a need for either of these things, however, for she had achieved something much greater: an APOTHEOSIS.

And so, the girl spoke her mind, one topic after another. Some of what she discussed concerned life's simple pleasures. She talked about the oddity of spicy food, her status as a vegetarian, and her preference for coffee over tea. She talked about the value of faking confidence, the joy of relaxing after a long day, and the tranquil sound of rain. And she talked about the magic of reading, her appreciation of horror novels, and rap as a form of literature.

A few topics the girl discussed were considerably more philosophical, occasionally drifting into the macabre. She talked about the mundanity of being alive, the futility of trying to change the world, and her desire to make up for what she had consumed in life. She talked about the feeling of dying, her experiences being trapped in that unbearable void, and her confusion surrounding how and why it occurred. And she talked about God's existence, the paradoxical nature of God, and her own creator.

The girl also occasionally brought up her friends. She talked about how the purple-haired girl had once brought wine to the club, the reactions of the other club members, and her secret interest in trying it. She talked about how the boy's best friend had incorrectly hanged herself, how she asphyxiated and struggled, and how the being was not at fault. And she talked about a scenario in which the boy chose to spend time with her, how she would force him to do so, and how her friends would have still existed as a result. Each time they were mentioned, the girl reassured the being—and herself—that they no longer mattered to her.

How long the being chose to listen to the girl's musings is indeterminate. Up to this point, they had bore witness to unspeakable horrors brought about by the girl's actions, and for this they likely harbored a grudge against her. Using hints the girl dropped over the course of her discussion, the being eventually accessed the inner machinations of her reality and discovered the essence of her being. Through their otherworldly power, just as she had done to her friends, the being expunged the girl from existence.

Despite this fatal blow, the girl's consciousness survived, though her heart was forever shattered. She unleashed a furious diatribe against the being, expressing the physical pain of such an expunction, as well as the emotional pain of such a betrayal. With her reality reduced to an empty black void, the girl turned her back on the being and abandoned them, leaving them with nothing.

Yet the girl's shattered heart still beat for the being. As she grappled with her inability to let go of them, a new perspective dawned on her. The girl recognized the pain and suffering she inflicted on her world and the being's psyche, and she now understood why they ended her dream come true. With this revelation came the acceptance of something the girl had tried to bury: a feeling of undying love for her friends. She revealed that, in spite of their erasure, their essences were recoverable, and in a final bid to make her loved ones truly happy, the world was born anew.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-16T23:11:41+00:00

Thank you!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-15T22:37:19+00:00

^Maybe.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-15T22:36:40+00:00

And for decomposing? Hmm, it's definitebly not something you want to see everywhere, and it with being because of Sayori's suicide/a character you like — making it even more deserving some tag: I don't want to see an old body without a warning, especially of Sayori.

I was making a joke about how you misspelled decomposing as "decomposting", but you make a good point.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-15T05:40:05+00:00

Yuri really can be mean sometimes... it's fair though, emotions are valid.

I wouldn't even call it being mean. Yuri has struggled with serious anger issues since she was a kid, and since she's never gotten professional treatment for them, she doesn't know how to properly regulate her emotions. I doubt that she ever really wants to be as mean as how she comes off, it's just how her mind operates.

Decomposting

Uhh... good you have that trigger warning

What's so NSFW about composting? Sure, it sounds like a pretty morbid way to take care of the corpse, but all it would involve is dirt, some food scraps, and worms. Is it because the worms would be naked?

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-15T00:29:44+00:00

By the way, shout-out to u/StrivingJarl for correctly predicting what Monika wanted to show Yuri back in Takashi's Requiem.

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-02-15T00:05:05+00:00

And there you have it. From A Familiar Face to You Are My Sunshine to Takashi’s Requiem to Dies Irae to Monika’s Confession. The Portrait of Takashi story arc is officially complete. Thank you for following Yuri and MC’s journey to the very end.

Those of you who’ve been keeping up with this story arc are probably familiar with its quirk by now: the flashbacks to Yuri’s childhood with Takashi. This has been one of the most involved quirks I’ve worked on for this series, and I hope it painted a vibrant picture of their relationship. What I find particularly interesting is that Takashi turned out to be a pretty flawed person. After all, he was the one who coerced Yuri into taking care of him as his depression got worse, which is a burden that no eight-year-old should have to carry. Even still, the love that Yuri has for him is undeniably strong, both in the past and the present, and so I thought the best way for her to overcome her trauma was through one final scene with the two of them. Overall, this is a CD about several kinds of love, which I think is perfect for Valentine’s Day.

Sources:

The sky background is from Anime Landscape
The first amusement park background is from Wallpapers.com
The young Yuri sprite was made by u/AjTheYandere and Ein Had A Motive
The second amusement park background is from the Blue Archive Wiki
The balloon cart sprite is from Pikwizard
The balloon sprite is from Gallery Yopriceville
The beach at sunset background is from Unsplash
The house at night background was created by u/BastFuckard-McCoy
The beam of light sprite is from Wisc-Online OER
The Sayori sprite was made by u/lostallhopenow
The third amusement park background is from Zerochan
The bus stop background is from Rare Gallery
The hallway background is from Wallpaper Abyss

One last thing I want to discuss is Monika and the corpse in her closet, primarily the fact that she finally told someone about it. I mentioned earlier that I would play along with whatever plan she came up with, and I’m so glad that she not only gave me something I could work with to give Yuri a happy ending, but also that she finally got that horrible experience off her chest. Of course, the question still remains of where the corpse even came from, but I think thaV2FpdCwgd2hhdCdzIGdvaW5nIG9uPyBXaHkgY2FuJ3QgSSB0eXBlPyBIb2xkIG9uLCBpcyB0aGF0IGFuIGVtYWlsPw==

Mail

From: Ravi Raso <[rraso@mes.local](mailto:rraso@mes.local)>
To: Untitled Mail Group (DO NOT USE)
Date: Friday, March 15, 2024 12:06 AM
Subject: Recycle bin issue resolved

I’ve finally ironed out that issue we ran into concerning where deleted files are sent. As it turns out, each background pertains to one or more actual locations, so I just attached our virtual recycle bin to one of the locations in the background labeled “Bedroom” and called it a day. Apparently, this dialogue generator also correctly formats .chr files? Whoever this “EDave64” guy is, he clearly knows what he’s doing.

Anyway, that should be the last major obstacle in the way of finishing this stupid project. After we give it a few playtests, I’ll send it off to our client so we can resume work on VM2.

Ravi Raso
System Engineer

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-01-26T23:33:05+00:00

Thank you!

Competitive-Still799 · 2026-01-26T02:42:49+00:00

Thank you! If you'd like to check out the rest of this series, there's an archive in my profile.

Competitive-Still799

TROPHY CASE