It was Friday. Matt had been writing poems for Monika all week. Every time, when it came time to share, Monika would look it over, seem puzzled for a second, and then say it was clearly written for Sayori, even though Matt could tell by her hesitating that she knew something was up. At the current moment, he was just relaxing at his desk, taking an opportunity to watch Monika do whatever she normally does; at the present moment, that involved reading a book while sitting at the teacher's desk. Even just looking at her, it was hard to not get caught up in the little things: how her emerald green eyes flittered from word-to-word, or how she would occasionally flip to an earlier page— no doubt cross-referencing an earlier section to help her better understand the passage she was reading— before continuing on.
"You must really love her, huh?" Sayori seemed kind of upset, for some reason.
"Huh?" Matt didn't remember her even entering the room; he had gotten even more distracted than he thought. "I mean, I guess so?"
"Well, if you love her so much, why don't you ask her out?"
"She's the class star, and I'm a loser NEET whose friend had to drag him to a club full of pretty girls in order to get him to make something of himself. How much of a chance do you really think I have?"
"Well, you'll never know if you don't try." Sayori got up. "I'm gonna head home a little early today. Tell Monika I wasn't feeling well, okay?"
Before Matt could object, Sayori walked away. Perhaps he should ask Monika out, he reasoned with himself, especially given Sayori's current state. Going off of his memories of the last time he was in a similar situation to this, if nothing was done to address the issue at hand, it wouldn't end well for anyone.
The meeting was over. Natsuki and Yuri had left, each with their respective assignments; Matt had insisted on helping Monika and Sayori, much to Natsuki and Yuri's dismay. Even when Natsuki and Yuri managed to convince Monika to have him choose one of them, he stood firm. He was worried about Sayori, he reasoned, and he hadn't had much time with Monika, since she was usually busy with paperwork or whatever she happened to be doing at the time. Even now, as they headed home, Matt was sure Natsuki and Yuri were still griping to themselves about it, but it was just how things were going to be.
Still, at this present moment, he had something a little more pressing.
He waited for Monika to finish tidying the closet before speaking up. "Monika, can I talk to you about something?"
"I really have to get home," she replied, almost dismissively.
"Please? It's been weighing on me this whole time and it took a lot of effort to build up the courage."
"I have to get home, Matt. I'm sure it can wait until Sunday." She tried to push past him to the door.
"It really can't." Matt repositioned himself so he was between Monika and the door. "I need to talk to you about this before you do something you'll regret."
"Matt, please. We'll talk about it Sunday." No matter how hard she tried to push past him, however, he stood firm, much like he had in the previous argument.
Matt snapped. "Haven't you noticed there's no transition here?"
Monika stopped trying to push past him. "What?"
"Thursday— the second one— you tried to talk to me after the club meeting. Sure, it worked for a while, but eventually everything faded to black and next thing I knew, I was at home writing my poem for Friday."
Something about that seemed to rub Monika the wrong way. "What do you mean the second Thursday—"
"The second time around. After Sayori hung herself from her ceiling fan." He paused, as if to let that sink in for Monika. "That Thursday."
"Sayori's still alive. You're just being—"
"Cut the shit, Monika. I know you know none of this is real. I had to sit there and watch as a version of you without me cried her eyes out at the teacher's desk because she had no escape."
Monika was stunned. Was... was he self-aware? How?
Matt sighed. "Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but... there was this weird silhouette man who gave me a monkey's paw, and I wished for everyone to be happy. You know what happened? He got rid of me. And that seemed to work!" Even if Monika had wanted to get a word in edgewise— she was still too stunned to speak— he had found his rhythm now. "But after everyone else left, and you were all alone, you cried at the teacher's desk. So the monkey's paw gave me a second chance at the wish, and then I made it give me a second chance at everything. All of the poems I've been writing this past week? For you. Every last one of them. You may have tried to pretend they were for Sayori, but they were all for you."
Monika seemed puzzled by this revelation. "So?"
He sighed again, more to settle his nerves than for any other reason. "I'm just gonna have to say it, aren't I?" He grabbed Monika's hands and held them in his own. "Monika, I have been helplessly in love with you from the moment I first saw you in the club. At first, I thought I had no chance with you, but then I found out that the universe was deliberately made so we couldn't end up together. I used my three wishes to fix everything; now there's nothing in my way." He steeled himself before finishing his statement. "I guess all of this is to say, you are truly the light in my world. If you'll have me, I'm yours. Now and forever."
Monika was, again, left speechless. All she ever wanted was for the main character to return her affections, but to find out he rewrote the universe to make it happen? Something about that left her struck.
Matt shook his head and withdrew, mistaking her silence for an unspoken rejection. "I knew it was too good to be true. Sorry for wasting your time, I guess."
He turned to leave, only for Monika to spin him around and pull him into a kiss before pulling away. "Yes. A thousand times yes. A million times yes, even." They remained there, for a moment, basking in the afterglow of their new relationship.
Meanwhile, off to the side, invisible to the lovebirds, was a certain silhouette of a man. He smiled, insofar as a silhouette can.
Another injustice righted, another world fixed.
And the man opened Archive of Our Own, and posted the final chapter.