Afterword #4

Okay, I promise I won't change the name of the story anymore (maybe?). Anyway, I wasn't planning to do another afterword until further down the story, but considering that I just finished the 100th chapter celebration arc and the 3rd anniversary is here, I figured why not. Funny enough, another afterword was one of the many potential Chapter 100s I had in mind but I'll get into that later.

Anyway, let's get to it.

Prelude

To be completely transparent, I was really excited to dive into Act 2 while I was working on the last few summer vacation chapters. I had finally achieved the status quo that I was working towards since the beginning and I couldn't wait to tell more stories after the fact. But the moment I finished Afterword #3, I was bummed to figure out that there were no ideas to back up that excitement. All I had were two goals: Avert the "Friends who never hang" trope and get the Literature Club a clubroom but, other than that, utterly nothing.

So for an entire month, I couldn't think of a single thing to write until I decided to use that to my advantage. The thought of what the story would be like going forward and how the future was unknown; I translated those feelings to the story with some of the characters wondering what they were going to do from now on.

Something else that made starting Act 2 hard was that I just obtained the status quo I just obtained and I was wary of doing anything to jeopardize that. But at the same time, I knew that the story would be boring if I just continued to do the same thing over and over.

I eventually compromised with myself and evolved to a mindset of worldbuilding and naturally pushing the characters story forward with the world which first led to…

Maliza/Mali

Before I completely evolved in that mindset and was still in "I may have to completely jeopardize the status quo right away" phase, I came to conclusion that a new character would do that.

At first, I was apprehensive to the idea because I already had three other main OCs other than Shujinkou and I already felt like I was starting to make too many with Rei. I do remember distinctly saying, "This is the last one."

So, I got to work working on a new character, but Mali was not the first result. The first result was to be a sort of rival debate team member for Monika that tried to "steal" Shujinkou away from her. Though her attempts wouldn't work because Shujinkou had absolutely no interest in her, less so because he knew what she was trying to do. She would have eventually fallen for him for real, but she would have had no chance.

But I didn't go with that concept. I wanted someone a lot more distinct from the other characters. That's when I got to thinking, "You know… a lot of the characters are relatively nice. I need someone who's the complete opposite of that!"

That's was the origin of Mali's conception, but I didn't want to stop there. I wanted her to be even more different so I decided to make her a year younger than the others. Along with that, I decided she would have the face of an innocent school girl, but even that couldn't hide her maliciousness. She's aware of that, and instead uses her fake innocence to compliment her malicious words.

Now originally, I planned on having Shujinkou and Mali having a heart-to-heart that would put an end to her malicious ways, but I didn't go that route. I said that she needed to be the complete opposite of the others and I felt like that would be redundant at this point so instead I had her stop terrorizing the school because she found something else to put her focus on.

Overall, Mali is an observant and clever 1st year student under Shujinkou's care who also serves as a malicious wild card to everyone around her.

Her Senpai/Kōhai relationship with Shujinkou was also coincidence in regards when I was creating, especially in regards to referring to him as the former. Really, it wasn't until I was writing the last few sentences of her first meeting with Shujinkou that I realized that she could call him that. But instead of using it in a loving, respectful or… a certain obsessive manner, her use to it is akin to nicknaming a pet.

She also has nicknames for the other characters, but I haven't gotten the chance to reveal them yet since she hasn't really talked to anyone other than Shujinkou for the most part.

Behind the Scenes

Chapter 75: Start of the Second. Like I stated above, the theme of chapter is thinking about the future while also serving as a return to school after summer vacation ended. I had the class schedule changed so there could be breaks between classes and introduced Shujinkou and Kiyoko's homeroom teacher. Didn't get a chance to use her yet beyond this chapter, but she's available if I need her.

Also, I didn't mention above was that I considered that with the change in schedule, there would also be a shuffling of students. The main cast would have been in the same class, but I was wary of that idea. If they were together all day then I would have had to work harder to come up with reasons for story plots that demand they be apart. With that in mind, I decided not to implement that idea.

Chapter 76: Strictly Confidential. After finally getting into my worldbuilding mindset, I decided to introduce an incoming problem that will affect the school while also revealing the secret Hiro revealed to Sayori during the Selfish prequel chapters.

Originally, the chapter was going to focus solely on Hiro and the reveal of her secret relationship but it wasn't that long. I was looking for something to fill the other half of the chapter which turned out to be another inspiration leading to the creation of Mali.

Like I just stated, I wanted to introduce a conflict for the school to face which happened to coincide with my desire to make a malicious original character and boom, Mali. Which leads to-

Chapters 77-80: Order vs. Chaos. The titles are a reference to Shujinkou and Mali's roles across these chapters. Mali was a prankster that created chaos while Shujinkou was drafted to help bring order back. Of course, that wasn't going to be an easy task for Shujinkou.

I decided not to waste any time showing what Mali was capable of and dedicated the first half of Chapter 77 to the types of pranks she could get away with over the next few days. The second half was dedicated to her meeting Shujinkou for the first time. Though she had an innocent face befitting her face, Shujinkou could feel her malicious intent and noted her fearlessness when faced with Fuyu "President Mode". She would then say what would calm Shujinkou down just to set him up for the next chapter.

Continuing into Chapter 78, I continued to have Mali not waste any time. She wasn't going to play the long game with Shujinkou, instead she was going to quickly and effortlessly make his life a living nightmare just to get him off her back as soon as possible.

It was during writing this chapter where things changed with my plans with Mali. Like I said, I originally had another ending to this story but this chapter was where things branched into a different narrative.

At first, the end scene with Mali attempting to make Shujinkou look like a peeping would have worked and naturally Shujinkou would be sent to Fuyu's office. She would have cleared him of any charges but he would have had a bad reputation following the event. This was also when Shujinkou would have discovered that Mali's actions could get her expelled and would decide to fully take the blame for the locker room incident.

Somehow (I didn't exactly know how I would get to this point) Shujinkou and Mali would end up trapped in the gym storage room with no way to contact the outside world. There would have been some back and forth which would eventually culminate with Mali trying her hardest to understand why Shujinkou would take the fall for her when she's been nothing but cruel to him. Shujinkou simply would have told her that he doesn't want her to be expelled despite how she treated him nor does she want to consider her an annoying responsibility.

His response would have touched her heart and from then on she would have joined the Literature Club, be kinder to him only and stated her desire to win him away from the other girls.

I found that ending to predictable and I was personally enjoying Mali's current character so I decided to go another route. The rest of the short arc would be Shujinkou trying desperately to stop Mali from terrorizing the school.

Chapter 79 was Shujinkou deciding to borrow Sayori's plan that lured him to the Literature Club, but Mali quickly saw through it. However, she decided to go along with it to see what he had planned. Naturally, I could not resist having her prey on the club's infatuation with Shujinkou or Sayori mentioning she had briefly considered the possibility of Shujinkou being the only male member of the club would help convince him to join. But overall, it also allowed me to show Mali effortlessly ruining Shujinkou's plan of bring her to an environment that would allow him to convince her to stop her pranks.

Funny, I was starting to wonder whether or not I was making Mali too effective as an antagonist. How could Shujinkou solve this crisis without compromising any morals? Alternatively, the question could be "I made Mali too powerful! How the heck do I bring an end to the crisis that doesn't seem way to out of nowhere?" Fortunately I came up with a solution that worked with her character which unfolds in-

Chapter 80. I did originally plan that Shujinkou would invite Mali to her house, but instead I came up with Natsuki's opinion on the idea and agreed with it. It was right after I decided that I could kill two birds with one stone and introduce Kiyoko's residence.

Where she lives was inspired by where Yoh Asakura from Shaman King lived as a teenager, which was a funny thought to me considering they were both calm and casual individuals.

But anyway, I turned the visit into a hangout and ended it with Mali privately confronting Shujinkou. It was then that Shujinkou theorized that Mali may not like people while Mali discovered that Shujinkou really is as "innocent" as he had presented himself, something she found interesting enough to shift her focus to.

This ending was a compromise to me. This way the conflict could be resolved while I could still have Mali remain a malicious character.

Chapter 81: Senpai's Kohai. Basically serves as an epilogue to the previous arc while prepping the evolution of the Literature Club.

Chapter 82: Student President. Still wanting to show off the many facets of this story's world, I decided to give Fuyu and her life sometime in the spotlight. It was when I was writing this chapter that I decided to introduce Fuyu's insecurity regarding the relationship she and Rei has while also showing another part of her job: help guide students when they're in distress. It also allowed me to show that Monika finds Fuyu a viable person to confide to.

Chapter 83: Kohai's Gift. Like I stated above, I started prepping the eventual evolution of the Literature Club in Chapter 81. There was one defined goal I had for Act 2 and considered it happening in Chapter 75 was the club getting their own clubroom.

I was constantly thinking to myself how they would get it without nepotism as Fuyu had to be fair to all clubs until I remembered that I now had a character that didn't have any qualms doing whatever it took the find a clubroom for the Literature Club. It was also a chance to show more of what Mali was capable of doing while creating a scenario that would give Mali some validation to pulling another prank.

I was originally planning to show what Mali did to Nese that freaked him out so much, but I then figured it would be best left to the imagination. Of course, Mali wasn't going to just hand over the clubroom for free, she needed to get something out it.

Initially, it was going to be admittance into the club but I changed it to her wanting a kiss from Shujinkou. Shujinkou struggled with the idea of doing so, but he also knew that his friends wanted a clubroom and the chance may not come again anytime soon, so he decided to go through with it, unaware of that watching him do that would hurt them. I did originally plan on them actually sharing a kiss, but I decided that Mali would actually keep him from actually doing so, essentially trolling everyone and keeping her unpredictable role intact.

Chapters 84-87: Shujinkou's Turbulent Weekend. Probably otherwise known as "The Chapters where Shujinkou kissed many girls over one weekend". I honestly wasn't planning that but it happened. But to start, I put the club's reaction to Shujinkou nearly kissing Mali in this section instead of the last chapter because… I think rule of cliffhangers, keeping the audience guessing and leaving things open were the reasons why.

Anyway, these chapters were basically the girls responding to the action in their own way by confronting Shujinkou in their own ways. Some are understanding while hiding their jealously, some are blunt with their feelings and some decide to give him space.

There really isn't much to say beyond that. I could add that I wasn't initially planning to give Sayori a segment as she would be the most understanding, but I then realized that it would be a good opportunity to explore her mindset, her thoughts on the past, worries of the future and overall, her true feelings. Since that was the case, I had to make most the epilogue a perspective chapter.

Chapters 88-90: Expanding the Club. I felt like I couldn't put this subject off any longer; were Kiyoko and Rei going to join the club or not? So I made Chapters 89 and 90 about that question.

Chapter 89 was basically a joke chapter with Shujinkou being foiled by coincidence after coincidence when it came to asking Kiyoko. When he finally got a chance to, she decided she would have to think about it. But the chapter also allowed Shujinkou to acknowledge that while he was on good terms with Kiyoko and Rei, he wasn't particularly that close to them and would decide to rectify that the next chance could, which leads to the next chapter.

I always knew Chapter 90 would be a tough one to write. I know I'm a person that needs a thesaurus sometimes, but even I knew that "Rei silently stared at him" or "Rei blankly stared at Shujinkou" at every turn would be mind-blowing levels of distraction. So I figured it would be best to write it as a perspective chapter.

Anyway, this chapter was a good opportunity to show more of Rei's development and Shujinkou keeping his word of trying to earnestly befriend Kiyoko and Rei. The last part to change back to third person though considering what happened. I struggled time and time again throughout the sotry when it came to the question "Should Rei speak in this chapter?" I felt like it was a good time, but I also wondered whether that meant I lost my silent and mostly unemotive character of the story.

Chapter 91: Serendipitous. I went into a bit of a slump after the last chapter. No matter what, I couldn't think of what to write next. So I was just lazing about, hoping the next idea would come to me and that's where I got the completely random idea that was this chapter.

Something I found completely strange for this one though it I put more work into a short one-shot chapter than I probably should have. I created a back story for this universe and its characters, the main conflict for the protagonist and a bunch of twists for something I was sure I would have only written once.

This wasn't a backdoor pilot for anything; it was just some random fun while I was in a slump.

…And yet it ended being a backdoor pilot. I've kinda actually made a spin-off from this story with two chapters called "Fantastical Reality" but I personally think that I should have waited for reasons I may discuss later in this afterword.

Chapter 92: Reditus. A kinda sorta return. I had enough of something to address whether Rei would speak from now on and some dialogue with Mali, but that was it.

Chapter 93: A Brief, Yet interesting Meeting. This was the true return. I posted a notice that I would take a break and I ended getting inspired just a few hours after posting it. I was back in world-building mode and decided to introduce a brand new school that could potentially serve as a rival for the school our protagonists attend. But also it-

Chapters 94-99: The First. These next few chapters along with the previous ones served as lead-ups to Chapter 100. I was wondering what I could do for the last few chapters before the 100th chapter and I decided to let Monika take the spotlight for them. It also allowed me to tackle another defined goal I had for Act 2: Averting the "Friends who never hang" trope. I didn't want that so I decided to show Monika having a moment to interact with each member of the club. I even used to perspective switch to introduce her older cousin Claudette and show off her personality.

Unfortunately I had a problem after I finished Chapter 97. Chapter 99 was always going to be a Monika's perspective chapter, but I did my math wrong and realized that I had no Chapter 98. I ended up haphazardly coupling together a prequel chapter that, now that I think about it, was a slightly different, abridged version of a prequel arc I never got to finishing.

As for Chapter 99, I kind of realized that by spending the last few chapters visually showing her interactions with the people in her life and having a prequel chapter didn't really leave me with much to write. Sorry for the short chapter.

But with these chapters out of the way I could finally move on to the Chapter 100.

A New Reality

I believe this part of the story deserves its own section.

Lead up to Chapter 100

To be honest, I didn't start thinking about Chapter 100 until after I finished Shujinkou's Turbulent Weekend. I remember thinking, "It's the 100th Chapter; of course I have to do something special for it." The problem was, I had no idea what I could do. What could I do to make the 100th chapter in a mostly light-hearted slice of life story special?

That question has haunted from Chapters 88-99. I couldn't decide what to do. At one point I thought maybe I can do another afterword but there were already three of them which made me feel like it wouldn't be special enough.

When I came up with Chapter 91, I considered making that Chapter 100, but I kinda thought that such a story could potentially be expected and I really wanted it to be an out of nowhere surprise. Thus I made it Chapter 91.

But the concept did give me an idea: "What if I made an anthology of alternate universe tales?" It would have been three stories in one chapter. I immediately realized after that that it would be a massive wall of text. I thought I could mitigate the problem by spreading it out into three chapters, but the 100th chapter specialness would have been gone by then.

I also considered showing Rei's backstory. I've had that swimming around my head since her creation but I have yet to put it into writing.

There was another idea for the 100th chapter I had, but I didn't think I had enough time to properly set it up.

Eventually, I was at Chapter 99 and was scrambling for anything. I wanted to make Chapter 100 special but I couldn't think of anything to save my life.

I was lost until one day I was just staring at my desktop. My mind was going back and forth with ideas until I laid my eyes on a certain file titled " ". It was at that moment, I was thinking how the Monika I wrote was different because I had to write a non-antagonistic version of her. Then I recalled her talk in the game about what happens when the game shuts down and the overall meta-ness of the game and that's when inspiration struck.

What would happen if Monika somehow ended up in the fanfiction? So I moved the character file to my documents folder (cause I was that into the idea) and got to work.

Honestly, ideas for this story have been all over the place that I don't know how I can properly structure this section without it being a wall of text, but here goes.

Two Meta: Preface

I should probably preface this before moving forward. Other than Monika arriving in the fanfiction and a few plot points, a lot of Two Meta was written on a chapter by chapter basis, so… I have a lot of unused concepts that were never implanted.

But I'll mostly discuss that in its own section. For now, I will only defer to any changes to the plots of the finished chapters. (Referring to plots I decided to go with instead of something completely different.)

Two Meta: Monika's Arrival

The name of the following chapters was in reference to the meta nature of the story I was about to write and the fact that there were two Monika's existing in one space. The meta nature of the story was also why I changed the title of the story from "My Reality" to "A New Reality" when I got started; the new name referring to Monika exploring a brand new reality.

So finally had an idea, but then I had to think how I could start it. I quickly decide to write a seemingly normal chapter with a twist in the end. That's also why I didn't add a "Part 1" label to the fist chapter of the tale, as to not spoil this would be a continuing story.

Writing Chapter 100 was kinda difficult because of the twist. I had make things seem normal while giving small hints that something was wrong such as Monika wearing her school uniform on a non-school day, never referring to Shujinkou by name and being amazed by what the fanfiction has in it. At the end, the twist would be revealed and the story could truly move forward.

The next challenge was to find an explanation that would allow the characters in the fanfiction to accept that there was another Monika in their story. I had to do a little research regarding twins and facial reconstruction to see if those were feasible explanations for the protagonists to believe first.

The next thing I had to deal with would be a naming convention between the two Monikas. I considered giving the visiting Monika the label "Game! Monika" but then I remembered comic books naming conventions and gave her "Monika Prime".

Two Meta: Meeting the Literature Club

Naturally, this had to happen but I wasn't too sure how to do it. I'll acknowledge that there wasn't many interactions between Monika Prime and the Literature Club, I did have an idea that wouldn't have made it a problem, but it got scrapped.

Two Meta: Shujinkou's Visions

There needed to be a conflict and Monika Prime being the main antagonist would too obvious, so I needed something else to serve as the conflict at first. At first, Shujinkou's visions were just going to be of the original game due to Monika Prime's arrival and would be his only reaction, but then I decided to take it a little further and have him see other things and eventually have an out-of-body experience.

But even just going with the original idea, Shujinkou's visions were a subconscious reaction to his own growing self-awareness. That subconscious self-awareness was also what made it hard for Monika Prime to read his thoughts from past chapters and manipulate his memories. She only was only successfully once due to Shujinkou being overcome with despair over Monika's erasure.

However, a part of him was still able to remember because of his growing self-awareness.

Two Meta: The Date

This was an inevitable event. Though I always planned for there be something for Shujinkou and Monika Prime to do, I didn't expect me be bold enough to make it a date at a fancy restaurant.

The restaurant was actually something Monika Prime had created just for the occasion but didn't bother with the exterior due to her thinking no one would care for a description on the outside and had Shujinkou cover for that part.

I certainly didn't think at the beginning that Shujinkou would finally figure out that his friends "may" be infatuated with him. But I guess I figured if he didn't put two and two together after going on a date with an alternate version of one of his friends, then he would have been too oblivious even with his self-depreciation.

Two Meta: Part 1 Finale

There's not really much to reveal about the finale. There was that scene that Shujinkou shared with Karizu. She's an original character I created for one of my own personal stories and as one can tell by her words, she isn't exactly human.

Essentially, Monika Prime's first attempt to repress Shujinkou's memories not only made him experience the entire story of Doki Doki Literature Club, but the state he ended up in allowed him to make contact with someone from another fictional world.

Two Meta: A New Reality

I figured with reality warping in play, I could finally show the source of Shujinkou's personal issues. I could finally fully reveal what I've been hinting at for over since the beginning. If only I felt like I had more time to properly show it.

Either way, I've been hinting a Hiroko whenever I can since the beginning of the story. She was always part of the reason why Shujinkou was down on himself, the other being his father. Now they were both back in his life and he had a brief moment to experience the life he always wanted.

Two Meta: Kidnapping

Honestly, the part where Monika Prime got kidnapped was just me having fun. The idea of her being deprived of what she wanted while being put in such a situation was too funny for me personally not to do.

I really couldn't have the event unfold that seriously due to the fact that Monika Prime was never in any real danger. She could have solved the situation at anytime but she was interested to see how it played out and perhaps due to some guilt.

I also figured I could show a bit more of Fuyu and Rei's relationship while once again showcasing the abandoned school building.

Fun fact: I was considering on introducing such a location early on in Act 2 which would have served as the Literature Club's clubroom/building.

Two Meta: Closure

So at this point of the story, I felt like it was starting to wear out its welcome. Maybe it was just me, but it did feel like it was starting to drag on, so I decided to head into the endgame instead of dragging it out more.

I had Shujinkou regain his memories of the original timeline and also revealed what happened to Monika and her meeting the Sayori from the original game. After some encouragement, Monika would decide to return to the story as Shujinkou had to come to terms with his past and his guilt.

I was also going to show more flashback chapters regarding it, but I already felt like I was dragging the story so I instead inserted some context clues regarding his childhood and a glimpse at his sister's mindset.

It was because of the perspective switch that Shujinkou could finally forgive himself and apply the lesson he learned to his second confrontation with Monika Prime.

I didn't conceive Two Meta to also serve as the end of Shujinkou self-depreciation arc and when the story started heading that way, I planned on Hiroko convincing him to stop hating himself. I eventually changed my mind after Shujinkou regained his memory because I felt like that would be redundant and because I personally felt like Shujinkou would finally be at a point that he himself would realize that he shouldn't.

Two Meta: Finale

I didn't think the main conversation between Shujinkou and Monika Prime would be that long, so I was shocked that it was a bit lengthy.

There have been some changes in regards to this chapter and its placement, but in regards to the finished product; the only change I made was his reaction to finding out he was a fictional character.

Originally, he was going to take it in stride considering that everything he's been through lately effectively made that the only logical conclusion. However, I thought it would be more funny if he had the reaction he did have. For a moment, he had a mini breakdown from that making sense before realizing what kind of story he's been in this whole time. He finally had an explanation for all his predicaments and finally had the answer to his question: "How do I find myself in these situations?"

Other than that, this and the last chapter was relatively straightforward for the most part.

Two Meta: Unused Concepts

Ah, there were so many ideas that went unused in this story arc. Some were:

1. I didn't know how I would have gotten there, but I originally planned the finale to be the Literature Club confronting Monika Prime for… something but the barriers between worlds broke down and several villains would have arrived in theirs. Everyone would then use their knowledge of manipulating the medium to empowered themselves and engage in a massive battle royale.

Shujinkou himself would also start geeking out over how he was firing every Kamehameha and just replicating fighting move he's ever seen growing up.

2. Remember the whole Disneyland thing. Yeah, I was going to play that straight at first. It would have been Monika Prime's attempt to keep Shujinkou from thinking about his visions while also giving Monika one last good day before erasing her.

Everyone would have been there and there would have been a scene of everyone attempting to play an ocarina that Fuyu had brought along with her.

The next day, Monika would have woken up to no one acknowledging her existence and would have played out similarly to the finished product.

3. The original plan after the events of Two Meta Finale was for the next few chapters to be returning to the events of the old chapters but Monika Prime inserting herself into her counterparts and the other Literature Clubs roles during any "Doki Doki" moments with Shujinkou. This would in term make his relationship with the other girls weaker and he may not have even met Kiyoko, Rei or Mali. I also would have revealed what happened to Monika sooner too.

I eventually scrapped the idea because after reaffirming Monika Prime's character in this story, that wouldn't make since and would have been a successful direct retread of what she was doing in the game. Not to mention not really adding much overall.

4. Along with the top, originally when Shujinkou discovered what Monika Prime had done and came to terms of what could happen if he confronted her over this, I had the idea of him seeking Mali out to help him.

In this timeline, Mali had never met Shujinkou and would be curious why he sought her out in the first place. Shujinkou would have just revealed the truth and also tell her of the things she had done in the original timeline. It would have done nothing to convince her, but she would have still been interested nonetheless.

The plan would have been to force Monika Prime to reveal that she did have the ability to warp their reality so she couldn't deny it when Shujinkou confronted her.

I nixed this idea for two reasons. The first was because Shujinkou wouldn't have gotten someone else involved when dealing with a reality warper as that would have put them in potential danger. The second was that if Shujinkou did seek help, it would more likely be him seeking consultation rather than putting Monika Prime in a situation that would force her to edit reality.

Overall, too out of character for Shujinkou.

5. There would have been scenes of Monika and Sayori Prime going through the older chapters with the latter noting how close the fanfcition Literature Club had become throughout the story. It would have led to Sayori Prime adding that fact to her appeal to Monika Prime and pointing out that their Literature Club could be that close too.

6. Monika wouldn't have been thrown out of the story and instead joined Shujinkou in confronting Monika Prime regarding… something and it would have led to Monika Prime suffering a reality warping mental breakdown.

7. This part I'm really sad I had to cut out since it was one I was really looking forward to.

Originally, when Shujinkou accidently knocked Monika Prime out of the story's reality, it would have been shown what he was doing. More specifically, he would have to chase Monika Prime through various fictions where he would just always miss her.

Despite not wanting to, I really felt like I had to. I was starting to feel like the story was dragging and interest was waning and, to be honest, it wouldn't have served the overall story. It would have been fun, but it would have been meaningless padding.

Still, I liked the idea so I made sure Shujinkou still had the adventure, just without Monika Prime constantly running off and it happening off screen.

8. Originally, Chapter 122 was going to be different at the start. Instead of opening on Monika Prime's point of view, Monika and Sayori Prime would have finally made it to the present of the fanfiction and landed in Sayori's room. Monika then would have restored Sayori's memories and would have done the same for Natsuki and Yuri. It was also during her doing this that they would have discovered that Shujinkou was missing. Monika would have used the connection to him that allowed her to renter the sotry to guide them to her home and discovered the portal Shujinkou accidently created.

Meanwhile, Shujinkou would have directly arrived to the castle Monika Prime ended up at and, after some exploring, met up with Fantastical Reality's version of Mali. She would have revealed that Monika Prime was encased in a giant crystal and told him that he would have to find three shards around the castle to free her. This would have led to a few hazardous escapades, but Shujinkou would have gathered the shards and brought them to the crystal encasing Monika.

But instead of freeing her, it would have transformed the prison into a giant monster that Shujinkou had to defeat. Naturally at first Shujinkou could do nothing but run until he ran into his reality's Literature Club and Sayori Prime. Lacking any time, Monika would had to give a vague explanation to explaining how everyone could edit reality in a fanfiction which would have led to a fight similar to the original planned ending.

Halfway through the fight, Shujinkou would have accidently opened a portal that sucked out of the spin-off universe and would have returned near the end with Metal Gear REX, leading to a battle of two towering foes.

Wrapping Up

So glad the Two Meta saga is finished. I enjoyed writing it, but I felt locked into to only one storyline and I was pushing myself to release chapter after chapter so it wouldn't wear out its welcome, which in turn ended up with me neglecting other fanfics I was working on (Reason why I said I shouldn't have uploaded Fantastical Reality yet). I also knew that Shujinkou and the Monikas would take up most of the spotlight, but I didn't think that every other character would be shafted that much. I just couldn't find much for them to do.

What else could I add…? I just know I'll come up with something I really wanted to mention once this is posted…

Oh yeah. I remember saying that I originally conceived Shujinkou to be a person who would compare his situations to various fictional properties he was a fan of. Seems like I unintentionally added that back to his character without realizing it until I was writing Two Meta.

What else…?

There's also the new name of the story. Actually, when I was finishing Act 1, I was thinking whether or not I should alter the title with each new act but I decided against. I changed the name to A New Reality to reflect the meta nature of the next story arc. Our Reality was Shujinkou's idea; his way of saying that it doesn't belong to just one character.

Um…

I think that's all I have; nothing else to really say other than I'm drained. Those last three chapters really drained me emotionally and I did them all back to back. I may need some time to recuperate but every time I mention that I'm suddenly struck with information.

Oh well, thanks for reading and thank you for letting me get away with shifting away from the slice of life chapters. It was always a concern of mine when writing the Two Meta chapters, so thanks.