The next morning, Monoma woke up with a pounding headache and he wasn't sure if that was because of the completely stupid conversation he woke up to, or because he hit his head on the coffee table while falling off the couch.

But to be clear the entire exchange was Album's fault. He wasn't sure how to blame Album yet, but he'd think of something.

Not only that, but the event had Daniel shining a flashlight in his eyes, apparently to see if his pupils dilated but Adrien said it was probably to blind him.

He didn't really care after the third set of fingers he had to count.

Not that he didn't want loving parents around, but he didn't miss this part.

Family squabbles, secrets, drama, Monoma lived for that. The awkward pauses of the dinner table as his imaginary parents probably contemplated divorce and long health checks.

He was okay missing out on that part of the deal.

And even though it wasn't discussed over dinner where Monoma could hear, his parents were probably still contemplating divorce. Honestly the very enigma that they had come to an agreement to get married was astounding. Of course he had to assume it was for a business deal because as far back as his mind could remember, his parents had only ever been concerned with business.

He really didn't think there was a family out there with parents who hadn't wanted to divorce at some point, even if they never went through with it.

He also couldn't fathom a family as seemingly perfect as the Chonice's. Of course they weren't the blue-collared family with a strong, upstanding father figure, the stay at home mom, and two little kids, a boy, a girl, and of course their dog, probably a retriever. Not the kind of family that looked perfect in a photo, but the kind that actually managed to be perfect in practice. Complete with long overbearing arguments that ended in proclamations of 'I still love you'.

It was quite frankly disgusting.

"Monoma," his called name interrupted his thoughts and he raised an eyebrow turning. "If we leave now," Daniel said, "I can drop you off back at home before work."

"Oh… that'd be great." Monoma smiled as a formality and then got ready to leave. Then they headed out to the car and started driving back towards Monoma's apartment.

The entire car ride was silent, and awkward, Monoma spending the entire time gazing out the window as if the clogged up streets drowning in trash were anymore interesting then the size of Album's brain.

When they pulled up, Monoma quickly hurried out of the car, muttering a quick thank you. But he left before Daniel could say anything else and just walked up the flight of stairs to his door number.

He took the key from under the mat, and opened the door, preparing himself for what he could be walking in to. However, it was just his apartment. The man was gone, Monoma assuming he'd left earlier that day.

So he closed the door and locked it, heaving a sigh of relief as he slid down the door frame. He told himself to breathe and just kind of forget last night's adventure.

Blushing slightly from both anger and embarrassment. Monoma groaned and simply sat on the floor, trying to forget.

It wasn't hard. Nothing eventful happened, except kissing Album, which, had felt nice in the moment, but now Monoma felt nothing but regret for it. If anybody anybody found out about him kissing a member from class 1-a of all classes his reputation would be ruined. Not only that but the fact that the member was Album of all people even though nearly everyone in school knew about their tense relationship and the ones that didn't just lived under a rock. He'd be completely ruined.

So Monoma just had to hope Album wasn't eager to tell everyone about what happened either. It was Saturday, but Monoma had never wanted the weekend to be over so badly. There was no rest for the weary. Monoma had to work today, pay the rent, do his homework. He was sure he could slide in a meal in there somewhere and maybe a couple hours of sleep.

Monoma checked his phone to see Kendo had invited him to go to the mall with her and some other classmates. He had been busy every time, and he'd told her so every time. But it made something stir in his heart to know she was still trying.


Album hated weekends. He liked that they were lazy and he had nothing to do. He hated that he had to spend two whole days with Adrien. He'd take Midoriya over him any day, at least he never purposely antagonized him. Speaking of Midoriya, he'd somehow gotten Album's number and was now texting him about homework problems Album hadn't even remembered they'd had to do.

He didn't respond. Midoriya would figure it out eventually and then maybe Album could press him to send a photo of his homework. Maybe the whole 'Midoriya somehow got my number' thing, would turn out to be more in his favor then Midoriya's. Which was a shame for him, because Midoriya probably paid Monoma or some shit to get his number.

He still wasn't surprised though when the actual truth came out and Daniel admitted he'd given it to Midoriya because he thought Album could use some friends. And he didn't question it, because it was honestly just like him to do something so sickeningly nice. Even if the gesture eventually got on Album's nerves because Midoriya was now asking if he wanted to hang out.

Finally he just decided to respond, Fuck no, stfu. He didn't get another text after that. He put the phone down and decided to go for a walk.

The weekend passed without anything happening, which was surprising, but not unwelcome. It was lucky, which should've been his first clue that something terrible, bizarre, or completely random was going to happen Monday.

Album went with bizarre, because it wasn't completely terrible, or random, but they did have a transfer, bumping class 1-a's number up to 22 which he knew was the highest count the school had seen in years.

And he wasn't sure why they'd decided to let this new person is.

But considering the weekend had been so peaceful.

They couldn't be good.

The only thing Album noticed was that she was a girl, because after he was too busy trying not to get noticed.

He didn't even catch her name. But she sat away from him, so that was good. He didn't even know why he was so apprehensive. But his gut told him this wouldn't end well, and he always listened to his gut.

Good things usually happened, when he listened.

He knew at one point he'd have to meet her, because if she was anything like the rest of this class he'd have to. He only hoped he would get to do it in a group so her full attention wasn't on him.

"So, what do you think of the new girl?" Album overheard Uraraka ask Midoriya on their way to lunch.

"She kind of scares me." Midoriya admitted.

"What? Why? I think she looked really nice!" Uraraka grinned. "I mean, sure her hair's a bit more colorful than most…" she paused. "But I didn't think anything about her personality was scary."

Midoriya stopped walking and toed the ground with his shoe, scuffing his feet along it as they stood there. His face was bright red and he finally said, "It's not her personality that scares me, or her hair, or anything. She's just…" he trailed off.

"A girl." Album heard a rough voice from across the hallway, to see Bakugou smirking at them. "She scares him because she's a girl."

"I'm a girl." Uraraka said turning back to Midoriya, "But you're not scared of me, right?"

"No… I just know you."

"What he means is, he doesn't have a crush on you cus you're his friend, but he's got a crush on the new girl cus he doesn't know her yet." Bakugou said, Midoriya went a darker shade of red. Album knew he should leave for lunch but watching Midoriya get called out was too interesting.

"Wait so you're saying that if I get to know a boy I'll be friendzoned?" Uraraka asked, frowning deeply.

"Yeah." Bakugou said.

"That's not true, Ochaco-chan! You just have to… you just have to…" Midoriya trailed off, unsure of what to say. Midoriya looked up and scanned the hallway, before his eyes landed on Album.

He cursed internally, knowing he should've gone to the cafeteria when he had the chance. "Album-san!" the little shit sounded relieved, probably because he was getting the attention off himself. "Your older than us, so you should know. If a girl and you start hanging out do you friendzone her?"

Uraraka's face smoothed over and she looked up at him too, "Have you ever dated anyone, Album-san?"

"Well, I mean… I don't know that much about girls either."

"What about age gaps?" Midoriya asked. "When's the age gap too big? Two, Three years? One?"

"Yeah! Would you date someone from our class?" Uraraka pressed.

"No…" Album paused to think of an excuse, "You all are still babies compared to me."

"But your only two years older." Midoriya pointed out.

"Well if I'm only two years older, stop treating me like I somehow have girls and dating and stuff completely figured out!"

"Well have you dated anyone?"

Album bit his lip, backed into a corner with no way out. "I did date one girl, but it was a long time ago."

"What was she like?" Uraraka asked.

"We were so young, I can't even remember. I do know we broke up though. She erm… probably shared her lunch with some other guy or something stupid like that." Album laughed it off and then quickly hurried towards the cafeteria before they could ask him anymore questions. It had been a long time since he'd mentioned her, and now he wished he hadn't because he felt sick to his stomach.

When he entered the cafeteria, he accidentally locked eyes with someone immediately after coming in. Her eyes were a stark neon blue, almost otherworldly, the same color as the tips of her hair. Album paused when he saw her, something clicking in his mind, though he didn't know what it was.

He was sure he'd never seen her before, but he already had a name for her. Like he knew her. He saw her eyes light up in recognition too. "Malcom!" she called and came over to him, a skip in her step and a smile on her face.

"Ila…" he murmured.

She tilted her head as she stared up at him. "It's been a long time."

That it had, so long he hardly remembered. And he definitely couldn't remember the last time someone had called him Malcom. That name had been lost a long time ago, both because it sounded wrong in his mouth whenever he said it aloud, and was something tying him to the past in a place he didn't want to be.

She'd said the name loud, people must've heard, but they turned back to minding their own business, which was more than Album had come to expect out of the up and coming hero students. "What are you doing here?" he asked, trying to dredge up long forgotten information about her.

"I've been looking for you for a long time, Malcom. And now I've finally found you. I saw you in the sports festival, but I wasn't sure how to approach you. I figured becoming one of your fellow students would help me talk to you casually." She looked down at her shoes, "I honestly didn't expect you to remember me." Oh Album remembered her, he could never have completely forgotten. Even though he'd wanted to for so long.

"What do you want, Ila. It's been a long time, and I'd prefer to leave the past behind now." He hated to admit it, but things had been going great for him lately. He didn't want something to mess it up.

"I had to wait until I was old enough, strong enough. But now we're going back."

"We?" Album asked. She nodded.

"All of us. You were the only one I couldn't find, but now I have."

"What do you want me to do." he grumbled.

"You know what I want. What we want, what you want. Come with us, we're going to burn it to the ground." Album didn't even have to ask 'burn what' to know. "No one's going to have to go through what we did again. Never again."

"And how long will this take."

"You know how far out it is. Probably days."

Album shook his head because unlike before, he couldn't just disappear for days on end. People would notice. "We're going this weekend, so you have time to think about it." She said. "But I think you should go, it would be good closure."


Monoma narrowed his eyes across the cafeteria at the girl he'd never seen before talking to Album. Only god knew why she was, considering Album was both stupid and rude. "What are you looking at?" Kendo murmured, looking over at where Monoma was looking.

"Nothing." Monoma grumbled.

"You're looking at Album and that new girl. Any particular reason why?" Monoma didn't answer. "You better not go over there just to be mean."

"Moi? I would never do that." Monoma said, smirking at her. She gave him an unimpressed look and sighed shaking her head. "However, I should properly welcome her to UA." Monoma glanced back over to see her putting a hand on Album's shoulder and he hated to admit it. But he nearly tripped going over to them he moved so fast.

Kendo got up and walked with him. "I don't need a babysitter." He said.

"I'm not your babysitter, I'm your friend. And as your friend I'm going to make sure you're not going to do anything you'll regret because you're jealous."

"I AM NOT JEALOUS." And covered his mouth, not having meant to say it that loud. Kendo only giggled.

"Sure, sure. It's not like you're the only person he's paid this much attention to since he got here, and now there's this new girl and he's had more than a one minute discussion with her?" Kendo sounded appalled. "Don't think I missed the side glances you've been giving them. Especially after she called him Malcom."

"She mistook him for someone else." Monoma grumbled.

"Then why've they been talking so long."

"I don't know." Monoma growled.

"Unless that's his real name, and you're the one who's been mistaken this entire time."

Monoma gritted his teeth.

"And it's… not like she's only been here for half a day and she knows his name. They're probably childhood friends, they probably had a romance."

"Kendo, shut up." Monoma hissed, and they fell silent because now they were too close to say anything.

"You're smiling too wide." He elbowed her, she kicked his leg, they both smiled through the pain.

"Album, and… oh I don't know you're name. You're new here aren't you?" Monoma said. Album and her stopped their conversation and the girl turned to him. Monoma didn't like her. He really. Didn't. like her.

"Oh, hi. My name's Ila." And she smiled kindly.

Monoma wanted to dunk that smile in acid. "Hi, I'm Monoma." He said cheerfully, ignoring Album's glare, "It's a pleasure to meet you." She nodded, still smiling. "So, why exactly did you call Album, Malcom hm? Did you get confused or…"

"Album? I suppose that must be an alias he picked, his real name is Malcom."

"Oh? Do you know his… full name?"

Album gritted his teeth and moved to stop her, but it was too late, "Malcom Amish Wong." Now who knows what Monoma could find out about his family, and their history.

"Malcom Amish Wong." Monoma said, the letters feeling foreign.

"Just call me Album. I changed it a very long time ago. And I didn't exactly want anyone to know my real name." especially Monoma.

"Oh." Ila looked sheepish and turned away, having the decency to look ashamed.

"We won't tell anyone, right Monoma?" Kendo clapped him hard on the back.

"We sure won't." Monoma said, barely able to keep his smile through the pain. Did she really have to hit that hard?

"But to know his name before he changed it, you guys would've had to have been pretty good friends before."

"Something like that." Album said. "Now, we should probably go, don't want to miss lunch completely."

Kendo nodded in understanding, but Monoma knew something was going on. There was something wrong with that Ila girl, something suspicious, and Monoma wasn't jealous, but he did have to find out what they were up to.

He knew Album, he was always involved in something, whether it be trying to murder his family, letting villains into the USJ, or getting blackmailed by yours truly.

And he could sense there was something afoot right now, and he would figure out what it was by doing what he did best. Being sneaky, eaves dropping on their conversations and such. Did he have time to do that? Not really, but Monoma didn't like secrets being kept from him, so he was going to figure out what it was. "Monoma, let it go." Kendo said as they walked back to their table.

"It's already forgotten." Monoma assured her, waving his hand. It might've been the biggest lie he'd ever told her.

But who could blame him? If he said he was going to pursue this she'd go out of her way to stop him and that just wouldn't do because he really didn't have enough time to eavesdrop AND deal with Kendo. So lies would have to do for now.

Besides, lies were okay if he was doing it to uncover the truth, right? And even if that wasn't the case he didn't much care. He was going to get to the bottom of this. And he wasn't going to let anyone stop him.


A/N Sooo, this chapter's a lil boring, but it's a setup chapter, so more will happen next time to, and it will be explained too since Monoma knows what's going on about as much as you do right now. Still, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and the girl's name is I-L-A, and you say it how its spelled. Hope you liked it, reviews are love, see you next time. Byeee!