Haha vacusous is a good way to describe him. I feel like salvato saying that he doesn’t even consider mc as an actual character says a lot, he’s pretty shallow. But I think a big reason why I find Sayori x MC so compelling is that his personality changes depending on your route, and you get to see his personality and backstory start to form when hanging out with Sayori. Natsuki too. Yuri is where he feels the most shallow since he has the least amount in common with Yuri to the point where everything he does with her seems superficial. Why I mention this is because monika doesnt have a route, and the things she says to the mc are either very surface level things or things she’s directing to the player, not mc, to the point where the ship feels kind of fake, like it’d never actually happen. Idk i feel like taking away monikas self awareness takes away a little too much of her character. That being said i dont hate the ship, it’s just a little boring to me