Monaca Towa becomes best friends with Makoto Naegi!
Most people would agree that Makoto Naegi can be a little too trusting and forgiving towards those with… less than kind personalities. While Makoto acknowledges that his forgiving attitude can be seen as mere naivety, he truly believes that everyone should be given a chance at forgiveness.
Unfortunately, a certain green-haired girl took advantage of that kindness…
Makoto was lying on his bed, holding his now empty wallet in front of his head. The incident with Komaru's album has left him pretty much penniless. Still, even though he has almost no money at all, he was still one hundred percent richer than Yasuhiro. It was a small comfort for him in a way.
"Komaru seemed to have cheered up now," Makoto said to no one in particular. "But I guess I won't be able to go out for a while now huh…"
Meanwhile, the perpetrator of that incident was in the living room with Komaru, watching an anime adaption of Komaru's favourite manga, "The Bomb Inside Her". Their parents were currently out shopping, so it was just the three of them inside the house. It was lucky that they were out of the house, as Komaru's feelings about the show were being vocalised throughout the house.
"I can't believe how rushed this episode is!" Komaru cried out. "Yumi's and Shota's interactions were far too short, and the transfer student arc was finished in just one episode! They had all that build up only to lead to this?! That was a waste of a character don't you think?!"
"Monaca totally agrees with big sis!" replied Monaca, who really didn't care about the show.
"And we're up to episode seven already!" continued Komaru. "How are they going to adapt Yumi's dilemma in choosing Shota or Motomoto with only five episodes left!"
"Maybe they should have made the anime longer?" suggested Monaca.
"Exactly! Oh I wish that this anime was longer so the characters can be properly developed…"
Komaru continued to rant for another five minutes about how the manga was superior to the adaptation, until she was forced to stop when she couldn't think of another synonym for trash. Now that she stopped, it was time for Monaca to start her next "fun" prank.
"Hey, big sis? Monaca needs to tell you something really important."
"Oh? What is it Monaca?"
"I think I heard a ghost in your room."
"W-What!" Komaru's face was starting to pale. "M-Maybe you were just hearing things…"
"Nope, Monaca definitely heard one."
Komaru's legs were trembling; Monaca was worried that she would faint before she could prank her. Honestly, the girl must be very gullible if she believed that ghosts even existed. Oh well, at least she'll get some fun out of tricking her.
"Does big sis want to meet the ghost with Monaca?" Monaca asked.
"H-Huh?"
"If we talk to the ghost, maybe we can get it to leave big sis's room."
"Y-Yeah!" Komaru let out a breath, colour returning to her face. "Maybe if I ask nicely, I can get the ghost to stop haunting my room!"
"Then let's go big sis!" Monaca moved about five feet towards Komaru's room before…
"W-Wait!" Komaru's shout stopped Monaca in her tracks.
"What is it big sis?" questioned Monaca, turning to face her gullible target. She forced a small smile to appear on her face, "Did you change your mind already?"
"It's not that…" Komaru answered. "But shouldn't we prepare for this if something goes wrong?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, like, what happens if the ghost suddenly tries to possess us! We would need to have some sort of protection to prevent that from happening."
Monaca was getting annoyed by the second at Komaru, but nevertheless played along with it.
"You're exactly right! Monaca didn't even think if something like that were to happen. You're soooo smart big sis."
"Awww, you don't need to compliment me that much," said Komaru, a slight blush on her face. "It's the role of the big sister to protect her little sister after all."
"So, what does big sis have in mind?"
"Wellll, in the movies the exorcist always carries some holy water and a spiritual talisman, like a crucifix, when dealing with ghosts."
"Do we even have anything like that?"
"We can improvise right? I'm pretty sure we can use plain water and something that resembles a crucifix. Wait right here while I prepare!"
And so Komaru headed off towards the kitchen, where she filled two glasses of water and blessed them with whatever incantation she can think of. Next, she looked around the house for whatever materials she could find to make her crucifixes. When she was satisfied at her craftsmanship Komaru returned to Monaca.
"Here you go Monaca!" said Komaru, handing Monaca a glass of water and placed her makeshift crucifix necklace around her neck. "With this, there's no way the ghost can possess us now!"
Monaca stared hard at the crucifix, what the hell is this? The abomination around her neck has the basic design right, but the figure on the cross was a different matter entirely. The body proportions were all wrong: the arms were too long, the legs were too short, the body was too thin and the less said about the face the better. A blind person would do a better job at making a crucifix than Komaru.
But Monaca's patience was thin at the moment, so she'll save the critique on Komaru's art for another time.
"So we can go now right?"
"Yep, that's everything. Let's show this ghost what happens when you mess with us!" proclaimed Komaru, and the two departed towards her room. Upon arriving at the door to her room, Komaru opened it a bit with her free hand and took a peek inside.
"I-It's a bit dark in here… maybe we shoul–"
"It's too late to back out now big sis!" interrupted Monaca. Now that her prank was so close to being pulled, she won't let her target make any more detours, "Don't you want the ghost to leave your room? It's now or never!"
"Y-Yeah…" Komaru took several deep breaths, her grip on the doorknob tightened. "H-Here goes…"
Komaru fully opened the door to her room, and turned on the lights. She peered around her surroundings, and aside from a few scattered things that littered on the ground and her bed, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. She turned towards Monaca.
"Well Monaca, I guess you must have imag–"
There was a noise in the room. It was faint, but it sounded like a cat scratching on a piece of wood. Komaru twisted her body towards the source of the noise.
"I-It's coming from my closet!" Komaru exclaimed, walking backwards to place as much distance between her and her closet.
"You see! Monaca was telling the truth," Monaca said. She had to force back down the smile that was creeping onto her face, seeing Komaru look so scared was worth the wait.
"T-The power of Christ compels you!" shouted Komaru, pointing her makeshift crucifix towards the closet.
…
Nothing happened, the sounds continued to emit from the closet.
"I-It didn't work?!"
Of course not, thought Monaca, no way a dumb sentence like that would work on an actual ghost.
"You need to open the closet big sis!"
"Huh?! B-But what if something comes out and attacks me!"
"Don't worry, Monaca will protect you with all her might!"
"Y-You promise?"
"I promise!"
"O-Okay… I'll trust you on this…" said Komaru. She tiptoed towards the closet, the hand holding the holy water ready to throw the entire glass if anything jumped out. She reached out for the closet door, stopping just within reach, and started counting down, "Three… Two… One…"
Komaru threw open the closet door, and what she saw made her blood turn cold.
Red, all she saw was red splashed across the inside of the closet. On the walls, on her clothes, it was everywhere. An awful stench was coming out from her closet; there was no mistaking it, this was blood.
"U-Ugh…" Komaru could only let out a whimper at the sight.
"B-Big sis… look!" Monaca cried out, pointing her finger at an object underneath Komaru's clothes. Komaru peered at the object.
It was a human hand.
Komaru let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Makoto was startled out of his thoughts when he heard an inhuman shriek coming from his sister's room.
"W-What the… that sounded like Komaru! Don't tell me Monaca did something again!"
Makoto once again dashed straight to Komaru's room and barged through the door. He was greeted by the sight of a fainted Komaru lying down on the ground. Near to her was an empty glass, its contents leaking out onto the floor. Monaca was examining Komaru with a smile on her face, her right hand holding a tape recorder.
"Ooopsies! It seems that my prank scared her a little too much…"
"Komaru!" shouted Makoto, dashing straight towards his unconscious sister. "What did you do to her Monaca?!"
"Calm down big bro," reassured Monaca. "I just played a little prank on her that's all!"
"A prank?! But you promised that you wouldn't do anything like this again!"
"Did I?" said Monaca, placing a finger under her chin in a thinking gesture. "Monaca doesn't remember making a promise like that at all."
"It was two days ago!"
"Still don't remember."
Makoto was about to argue with Monaca, until he was met with a rotten smell coming from the closet. Makoto peered inside the closet, finally noticing the red splashes that stained the inside, and what appeared to be a dismembered hand underneath Komaru's clothes.
"I-Is that blood?" questioned Makoto.
"Nope! It's actually tomato sauce," Monaca explained. "Monaca sprayed lots of it for her prank, and so it might take a little while to clean it all up."
"What about the hand?"
"It's a fake that Monaca took from her school's science lab."
Makoto let out a sigh. While no one was seriously injured from Monaca's prank (apart from Komaru's mental state), she made a huge mess in Komaru's closet that will take days to fully clean it out. This has to stop now.
"Monaca," Makoto said with a stern voice, "you need to stop this right now before someone gets hurt for real!"
"Jeez big bro you're being mean again," said Monaca. "Can't we just forget about this and continue on with our life?"
"No! This is the second time it has happened, and you lied to me when you told me you'll stop."
Monaca's eyes were watering as her voice started to crack, "I-I'm sorry… M-Monaca is very sorry, so please don't be mad at me…"
She looks like she's about to cry, Makoto thought. Maybe I should forgive her and… No! I can't just go easy on her just because she'll cry. She needs to learn that there are just some things that she cannot do freely to others!
"I know that you're very sorry Monaca," said Makoto, lowering his voice to a soft tone. "But there are some things that are just too far to do. If this happens again I'll have to–"
"You'll have to do what exactly?" interrupted Monaca. The sad act from before was gone in a flash, now she observed him with an amused expression, "Are you going to punish me?"
"H-Huh?"
"Oh no, the big bad Makoto is going to punish me," continued Monaca. "Monaca is soooooo scared. What a joke! It's obvious that you don't have it in you to punish me, since you're sokind that you'll never resort to violence. Why don't you let this go okay?"
"I-I'm not joking! If this continues I'll tell–"
"Tell who, your parents? You're going to tell your parents on me? Are you trying to get into comedy Makoto?"
"What do you mean?"
Monaca wagged a finger at Makoto, making a little tsk-tsk sound before explaining, "It's not good to rely on others Makoto, especially on adults. They think they're soo smart, that they can spot when someone tries to pull the wool over their eyes. But as my last prank demonstrated, they're as dumb as they look."
Monaca smiled, "But that's what's so great about them! Monaca is just a weak, stupid, pathetic little girl. What can she do against the adults who are clearly smarter and stronger than her? It's only fair that if they fall for my tricks, they deserve to be used by me. So let me ask you a question, who are your parents going to believe? Will they believe big brother Makoto who broke his little sister's CD? Or will they believe sweet, innocent little Monaca? I'm sure you already know the answer to that."
There was silence as Makoto thought on Monaca's words. Monaca simply kept on smiling at him, taking his silence as him admitting that she was right.
"Now that I pointed out the obvious, why don't you be a good big brother and take the blame for me, meow."
"No," Makoto finally answered.
"I'm sorry, I thought you said no when you meant to say yes. Can you repeat that for me?"
"You're right that my parents sided with you on that day," continued Makoto, "but I don't think they are as gullible as you make them out to be. You may think you know everything about them, but I was with them longer than you. I hope– No, I know that they'll side with me over you!"
It was only for a split second, and even then Makoto doubted if what he saw was real, but Monaca's face was filled with rage at that moment. When he blinked, he was met with a still smiling Monaca. There was no hint at all that she was ready to murder him a second ago.
"Oh really?" Monaca replied. "You sure are full of hope Makoto."
There was a loud sound near the front of the house. It appeared that Makoto's parents have arrived back from their trip to the shops.
"What great timing!" Monaca exclaimed. "Why don't we see who's right, even though it's obviously me."
Monaca raised her hand… and slapped herself hard on her left cheek.
"Oww! Why did you do that big bro?!" Monaca screeched out loud enough for Makoto's parents to hear.
"W-Why did you slap yourself all of a sudden?!"
"To get you into more trouble of course," said Monaca, rubbing on her left cheek where a very red handprint was visible. "Also, I'm going to let you clean up Komaru's closet. Is that alright?"
"Of course it's not alright!" Makoto exclaimed, just as his parents entered the room.
"Monaca are you okay?!" said Makoto's dad, rushing right over to her to check up on her.
"We heard you cry out," said Makoto's mum, "what happe–"
Makoto's mum stopped when she saw Komaru's unconscious body on the ground. It was pretty strange that they didn't notice her much sooner.
"W-What on Earth happened here?!"
"Monaca played a pra–"
"Big bro Makoto played a horrible prank on big sis Komaru!" Monaca interrupted. "He convinced big sis Komaru that there was a ghost in her room, and when she opened the closet, she fainted when she thought there was a dismembered hand in there! Monaca told big bro that he shouldn't do something so cruel to big sis, but big bro responded to Monaca by slapping her…"
Monaca pointed at the red mark on her face, "Can you see the big red mark on Monaca's face? Big bro slapped Monaca so hard Monaca is worried that it won't ever come off…" Monaca covered her face with her hands; sobbing noises can be heard from her.
"Makoto… is this true?" said Makoto's dad.
"Of course not dad!" answered Makoto. "There's no way that I would ever do something like this to Komaru!"
Makoto looked at his mum, hoping that his own mother will believe him over Monaca. Makoto's mum had an unreadable expression, like she was thinking deeply for an answer to a hard question. Finally, she let out a sigh.
"Monaca… it isn't nice for you to lie to your own parents like that."
"Huh?" Monaca uttered, the sobbing gone as she placed her hands down to stare at her.
"We know our son very well," said Makoto's dad. "Makoto is too kind of a person to actually hit someone; I bet he couldn't even hurt a fly!"
"Ummm, thanks dad?" said Makoto. He wasn't sure whether that last statement was a compliment or not.
"Anyways," continued Makoto's mum, "I can understand that you might get a little bored around the house, but terrorising your own sister to relieve your boredom is unacceptable! I want you to clean Komaru's room as an apology."
"B-But it really was Makoto!" Monaca whined.
"There's no point in lying to us Monaca. I want you to start cleaning up your mess by yourself and that's final! Do you understand?"
Monaca stared at Makoto's mum for a few more seconds, "I understand," she said. There was no hint of anger or of any other emotion on her face.
"I'm glad that you understand Monaca. I'll go get the cleaning materials that you'll need. As for you Makoto, I want you to watch Monaca to make sure that she does the work, okay?"
"Yes mum," answered Makoto. "What about Komaru?"
"I'll carry her to the living room where she'll take a rest," responded Makoto's dad. "When she wakes up, I want you to apologise to her Monaca."
Monaca nodded, still staring at his parents with that blank expression.
Looking satisfied with Monaca's response, Makoto's dad walked towards the unconscious Komaru and gently picked her up. Makoto's parents departed the room, their footsteps becoming quieter and quieter as they headed towards the living room. Once the sound of footsteps can no longer be heard in the room, Makoto let out a sigh. While it was nice that his parents believed him over Monaca, he still kind of wished that they would have supported him back at the CD incident.
Speaking of Monaca, she's being unusually quiet after being scolded by his mum. That is, until she started giggling.
"I guess your parents aren't as naïve as I thought…" said Monaca. "It must be so nice to have such wonderful parents who love their children. I bet that they would never abandon you, am I right?"
"I guess?" he was unsure for a bit why Monaca was asking such a question, until he remembered her circumstances. Now he felt a little bit sorry for her.
"Now that I've been caught, it'll be much harder for me to pin the blame on you. I guess this is what I get for being a brat…"
"Monaca! I got the cleaning supplies!" Makoto's mum shouted from the living room.
"Guess I'll be going then…" said Monaca, making her way towards the door of Komaru's room. Just before she left, Monaca said one last thing to Makoto.
"You should be careful big bro… Monaca has to find a new source of entertainment now that she can't play any of her pranks…" and with that, Monaca left the room, leaving Makoto alone to ponder about her final message.
A new source of entertainment? What did she mean by that? More importantly, what does that have to do with me?
Makoto thought long and hard before he gave up. He had no idea what Monaca had in store for him. Whatever it is, it most certainly can't be good for him.
Monaca returned with the cleaning supplies, and while Makoto watched her clean the closet, he told himself to prepare for what's to come tomorrow.
Tomorrow came.
…
Nothing happened.
The day after tomorrow.
…
Nothing happened.
The next two weeks.
…
Nothing happened.
It had been almost a month since Monaca had made that statement to Makoto, and yet she had done nothing towards him that could be considered harmful. She also seemed to have stopped playing her pranks for good this time, although it took a couple of days for Komaru to forgive her. Monaca also got a new phone after asking Makoto's dad, and when asked why she wanted a phone in the first place she said that it was for emergencies.
"If Monaca gets kidnapped, how will she be able to call for help?" Monaca answered. "Just thinking about something so scary makes Monaca want to cry…"
Monaca guilt-tripping Makoto's dad was successful, as he agreed to Monaca's request. He gave Monaca an old phone that Makoto used to own, and taught her how to use it.
"If you're ever in trouble, just use this phone to ring us or Makoto and we'll come help you," said Makoto's dad.
"Thank you very much!" Monaca said, and hugged him.
Now that Monaca got what she needed, she can finally start her revenge.
Makoto was sitting in the living room, alone in the house with Monaca. He was flipping through the channels on the TV, growing bored since there was nothing interesting on. His parents and sister went outside to buy some things, and when he asked if he could go outside for a bit his parents declined him, asking him to stay behind and look after Monaca.
Makoto sighed. Lately, he felt that he'd become Monaca's babysitter. It's not that he hates looking after her or anything; he just wanted to have some free time outside of the house from time to time.
Speaking of Monaca, she was inside the kitchen baking some cookies. She had asked Makoto if she could use the kitchen right after his parents and sister had left the house. Makoto said yes without much thought; partly because it was early in the morning and he was a bit hungry, and partly because Monaca's cookies taste really good.
"Big bro, the cookies are ready!" Monaca called out. Makoto got up from the couch and made his way towards the kitchen. As he got closer and closer, the scent of the freshly baked cookies got stronger, making his stomach rumble. Once he made it to the kitchen, he saw a smiling Monaca, and next to her was a table with a plate of cookies stacked neatly on it.
"Wow Monaca, These cookies smell really nice!" complimented Makoto.
"Thanks big bro! Why don't you have a seat so you can eat them?" said Monaca. She then pointed to a single chair propped neatly in front of the cookies. Makoto sat down in the chair, picked up a cookie, and was ready to take a bite until…
"Wait. Don't you want to eat first Monaca?" asked Makoto.
"Don't worry about me! Monaca isn't hungry anyway, so feel free to eat all of Monaca's delicious cookies!"
"Are you sure you don't want an–"
"Just. Eat."
The forceful tone that Monaca gave him placed him in high alert. Now that he thought about it, there was something off about the way Monaca is acting right now.
"Actually… I don't feel that hungry at the moment. Maybe I'll eat them later?" suggested Makoto.
"Huh? Why doesn't big bro want to eat Monaca's cookies?" Monaca questioned.
"Wellllll…"
"Is big bro suspicious of Monaca? Does he think Monaca might have placed something inside the cookies, like poison?"
"P-Poison?! Don't tell me you actually placed that in the cookies!"
"So it is true! Big bro really does think Monaca placed something in her cookies! That's just like Makoto; he always assumes that Monaca is up to no good."
"So you didn't place anything in the cookies?"
"Of course not! Monaca was just very excited about seeing big bro eat her cookies. Monaca just wanted to do something nice for big bro, so won't you accept her gift?"
Monaca looked at Makoto with a depressed expression.
"I'm still not buying it Monaca."
"Jeez, I never knew you could be so paranoid," said Monaca, dropping her sad act. "I guess I have to prove to my paranoid big bro that I didn't put poison in the cookies."
Monaca took a cookie from the plate and took a big bite out of it. She made a show of chewing the cookie, making it seem like it was the most delicious thing in the world, before swallowing with a loud gulp.
"See, Monaca is still alive after eating a cookie, unless big bro somehow believes that Monaca ate the cookie that wasn't poisoned?"
"That's still a possibility…"
She took another cookie and ate that one as well, "Do you still mistrust me?"
"… Yeah."
"Fine then! Don't eat Monaca's delicious cookies! Monaca just wanted to do something nice for you and this is what she gets! Monaca guess that she'll have to throw her hard work into the bin, because that's what big bro thinks of her present!"
Monaca grabbed the plate, but before she could do anything else Makoto finally gave in.
"W-Wait! You don't have to go that far! I'll eat your cookies okay!" It would be a waste of food if she dumped the cookies, and besides she wouldn't really poison him right?
… Right?
Makoto picked up a cookie, gulped, and took a slow bite of it, ready to spit it out if he tasted anything funny. Apart from the sweetness he tasted nothing else from the cookie.
"I… guess you were right Monaca, I'm sorry for doubting you."
"That's ok big bro. We all make mistakes sometimes, some more than others. Monaca understands that she can be a teensy bit untrustworthy due to past events, but I hope that after this, we can build a wonderful relationship by spending time together! "
That might not be such a bad idea, thought Makoto. She hasn't done anymore pranks to Komaru, and spending time with her might help me learn more about her.
Makoto started to eat the cookies on the plate after finishing the one in his hand, while a joyful Monaca simply watched his every move. Her stare… was quite scary if Makoto was being honest, reminding him of a predator watching her prey. After eating about half of the cookies on the plate, Makoto let out a big yawn.
"You look tired big bro, why don't you take a rest? Monaca will finish the rest of the cookies on her own."
"Y-Yeah…" Makoto said, and got up from the chair. He walked towards his room, every step becoming harder and harder due to the increasing fatigue he was feeling. When he finally managed to open the door to his room, he had to rush to the bed before he collapsed.
This is strange; I never felt this tired before when I woke up… was the last thought that came to Makoto before sleep overtook him. When Makoto awoke from his sleep, he was surprised to see Monaca examining him nearby from his bed. He was even more surprised to see that it was already evening.
"Oh! Makoto is awake now! Monaca was getting impatient at waiting for you to wake up."
"How long was I asleep for?" Makoto asked as he got up from the bed, rubbing his eyes.
"About eight hours."
He jumped right out of the bed, "Eight hours! How could I fall asleep for eight hours without waking up?!"
"I drugged you of course! Monaca took some sleeping pills in the bathroom and placed them in several of her cookies. Don't worry; I made sure not to put too much in. Aren't I thoughtful Makoto?"
Dammit, Monaca tricked him again!
"But why would you even drug me?!"
"So I can do this!" Monaca took out her phone and pressed a few buttons before she held it to Makoto. Makoto hesitated before taking the phone and looked at the screen. What he saw shocked him more than being drugged.
"What the hell are these pictures?!" Makoto can't describe what he was seeing, other than the fact that it was horrifying and if anyone see this, his life would be ruined.
"Pretty neat right? Monaca had to borrow big bro's computer to create these pictures, so big bro had to go into a nice long nap in order for Monaca to do her magic. You really shouldn't write your password and stick it onto your computer Makoto, or else something like this would happen."
"W-What are you going to do with these photos?"
"I'm going to blackmail you of course! From today, Makoto is going to spend some quality time with Monaca as her slave for ever and ever until he dies! Oh, and don't bother trying to delete them from my phone, as Monaca made multiple copies and sent it to a few trusted individuals."
Makoto slumped to his knees, his face in disbelief at what he was hearing.
This can't be happening… I shouldn't have trusted Monaca when she said she didn't place anything in the cookies, and now I have to be her slave forever? Makoto regretted ever thinking that spending time with Monaca would be good.
"Hmm, what should big bro, I mean Monaca's slave first order be?" Monaca said. "I know! My slave's first order should be to give his entire room to Monaca."
"W-What! B-But where am I going to sleep now?!"
"I don't know, in Komaru's room, or on the couch? Maybe you can sleep on the streets? Monaca doesn't care as long as big bro gives his room to me, or else…" Monaca leaned very close to Makoto's face that their noses touched. "Monaca might have to tell some of her acquaintances to send the photos to the headmaster…"
Monaca smiled. It was a smile that terrified Makoto. If anyone else saw it they would think it was an innocent smile on a cute child, but Makoto knew better. For this smile hid nothing but overwhelming malice and cruelty towards the unfortunate soul it was directed towards.
"I'll give you some time to pack up everything before you leave, so you better start right away!" Monaca took back her phone from Makoto's frozen hands. Makoto looked at Monaca with a blank expression as she made her way out the door.
"Why…" muttered Makoto.
"Why what?" questioned Monaca, turning her body again to face Makoto.
"Why are you even doing this…?"
"Oh? Does Makoto want to know why Monaca is like this? Do you want to hear her backstory, and learn of the events that caused Monaca to turn into such a bad girl?"
Makoto nodded his head.
"Google it up shitlord."
A/N: Monaca is a little shit.