When Matt woke up, he was still in the Literature Club classroom. He looked down at the monkey's paw in his hand; it signaled 2 wishes remaining. The bell rang, signaling the end of school, and sure enough, in came the Literature Club members.
Yuri was first— oh, thank the Link main, she was alive. She sat down at her normal desk and opened her book.
Natsuki came in after her, immediately going to the closet as was her custom.
Then, Sayori— had Matt forgotten Sayori? Oh, boy, he definitely remembered her now. She came in and started chatting with Yuri about Portrait of Markov.
Finally, Monika, completing the quartet, rushed into the room; she had probably lost track of time practicing piano. She took her usual spot at the teacher's desk.
All of this action left Matt with a burning question, however.
"You're not actually here."
Well, that was the answer, even if Matt didn't expect to hear it. He turned to see the silhouette man from earlier. "What?"
"Well, if we're being technical, you were never here. Never could have been, as a matter of fact." He pulled a newspaper from under his arm, unfolded it, and offered it to Matt.
Matt took the newspaper, and read the section he had been pointing to. "Matthew Aaron Charles, age 10, of Hanamura village, passed away April 26th, 2013, from injuries sustained in an accident involving a drunk driver. He would have turned 11 on May 10th." He paused. "So I'm dead?"
"Well, again, not to get all technical on you, but at this current moment you're in-between timelines. Kind of like me, in a sense. You're still here, in the moment, but as far as they're concerned," he indicated the club members, "you passed away 8 years ago."
"Oh." Matt thought it over for a second. "But how does this keep everyone happy?"
"It's quite simple, really. If you die 8 years ago, you never live to your last year of high school. If you don't make it to your last year of high school, Sayori never invites you to the club. If Sayori never invites you to the club, Monika never catches feelings for you. Without her crush on you, she has no reason to hurt any of the club members. Nobody is hurt, and, ergo, everyone is happy."
"Ah."
The meeting time passed faster than Matt had ever remembered it passing. The girls all said their goodbyes and headed home, but Monika stayed behind; as club president, it was her job to make sure everything was in order and lock up. After a while, however, she sat down at the teacher's desk, buried her head in her hands, and just started crying.
On reflex, Matt walked over to her, before remembering he can't actually interact with her. He turned to the silhouette man, silently pleading for some sort of answer as to why she was crying.
"Well, she still had the epiphany. She knows her world is fake. But now, as far as she's aware, there's no possible way out. So it's just being stuck with no way out of a terrible situation."
Something within Matt clicked; whether it was seeing the normally well-composed Monika bawling her eyes out at the teacher's desk, or the nonchalant attitude of the silhouette man, he didn't know. "Does she look happy to you?"
"Well, not particularly, but—"
"And what, do tell, was my wish?"
"...For everyone to be happy, but—"
"Well then, the monkey's paw didn't really grant my wish, then, did it?"
The man's retort was caught in his throat, as the ring finger of the monkey's paw slowly rose from its curled position; the monkey's paw now signaled three wishes remaining. However, Matt felt a sudden push as
Matt and the silhouette man were back in the clubroom it all started in. Yuri's body was still slowly decomposing on the floor.
Matt patted himself, almost as if to assure himself he was real again. "Hah! See? Even the monkey's paw agrees, that didn't fulfill my wish."
"But— it's impossible to make everyone happy while staying within the rules of the universe! The best possible solution was to take you out of the picture!"
"I have an idea. Go over how that was supposed to fulfill my wish again?"
"Well, if you had died 8 years ago, you never would have lived to your last year of high school. If you didn't make it to your last year of high school, Sayori never could have invited you to the club. If Sayori never invites you to the club, Monika never catches feelings for you. Without—"
"WAIT!" Matt stopped the man in his tracks. "...Monika had a crush on me?"
"Well, insofar as you represented the reality she seeked to obtain—"
"And if I dated her, then nobody would have gotten hurt?"
"...Well, yes, but—"
Matt sighed heavily. "I wanted to date Monika in the first place! ...I just figured, y'know, class star, good-looking, she was probably out of my league." He looked down at his feet. "Especially since I'm some lame NEET who has to be dragged into a club of pretty girls in order to do something with his life."
"Well, that's the thing. According to the rules of the universe, the MC can't date the class star club president. Her love for you has to at least appear unrequited, so the universe can do all the things it was meant to do." The man sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "If you could date her, that would kind of ruin the whole thing."
"Heh." Matt held up the monkey's paw. "Good thing I have a tool that can change the rules of the universe."
"It's still not going to work. The universe doesn't just change its rules on a whim—"
"Don't care." Matt sighed. "First wish: the rule that the MC can't date the club president? Struck."
The man sighed. "Sure, whatever, so be it."
"Second wish: After I use my last wish, I want to be sent back to the very beginning. Tuesday— the first time— when Sayori and everyone else is still alive."
The man sighed louder this time. "I'm telling you, it's not going to work—"
"It's not your job to tell the magic paw what it can and can't do."
"Ugh... so be it."
"Final wish: when I wake up on Tuesday morning, I want to remember everything. All of this timeline mumbo jumbo, all of the events that led up to this moment, and what I have to do to make sure everyone is happy."
The man gave Matt a stern look. "Final warning, you insolent child, it's—"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it already, you think it can't be done. Just say the magic words and send me on my way."
"Ugh... insolent child. Have it your way. So be it."
As soon as the silhouette man said those words, Matt felt himself growing more and more tired. He attempted to keep his eyes open for another second, but it was too late.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Matt groaned as he rolled over and looked at his alarm clock, which read 05:30. He sat up, getting ready to start his day, when he noticed a rabbit's foot on his nightstand. Rabbit's foot... monkey's paw. Suddenly, it all came flooding back to him: the first time through, Sayori's death, the second time through, Yuri's death, the silhouette man, the failed wish fulfillment, his new task, everything.
He took the rabbit's foot with him as he got ready for school; something told him he would need some luck for the days to come.