A/N: You can consider this chapter to be a prequel. Also, kinda bummed out now 'cause I got a really got idea for how I could've written this story but oh well...

Some of this chapter is taken from the video 'Yandere-Chan's childhood' (obviously).

My earliest memories…

I remember… hospitals. Doctors. Examinations.

I was… 'broken'. The doctors were trying to 'fix' me.

My parents tried to explain what was wrong with me. They tried to explain what made me different from other people. I didn't understand.

I heard the doctors admit they couldn't fix me. I would never be a normal person, or live a normal life.

As I grew older, I came to understand what was wrong with me. I saw other children become happy. Sad. Angry.

But… I never felt these things. I only felt… empty. Hollow. Incomplete.

My father desperately wanted to help me. But my mother… she was nothing like my father.

She wasn't worried about me at all. She said she was exactly like me when she was a child. She told me that one day, I would meet someone special. She told me that one day I would meet someone that would make me feel… complete.

My father did not want to listen to my mother's words. He wanted a normal child more than anything in the world. He tried everything to make me happy.

But... nothing worked.

At school, the other children mistreated me. They bullied me because I was strange to them. It was… inconvenient.

I was not scared of monsters or criminals. I never felt fear. I didn't understand what made them so scary.

"You freak!" a little girl yelled. Her friend dumped Ayano's school-books into a puddle. The both of them laughed and jeered.

Ayano didn't react at all.

"Are you a monster?" another girl asked. "You don't react to anything!"

The girls began to laugh again, but stopped when a shadow appeared above their heads.

"Monster!" they screamed. They ran away, crying out. Other children ran away as well, screaming in terror and leaving the playground behind. Ayano didn't even bat an eye.

"Well, what's this?" the monster asked, staring down at Ayano with its disgruntled figure. "Not scared, huh, kid?"

"Aishi!" a teacher yelled. "Run!"

Ayano stared up at the monster, eyes glazed over. It gave her a sadistic grin, preparing to kill her with ease.

"Ayano Aishi!" the teacher repeated. She raced over to her student, grabbing her before the monster did. She led Ayano away, the emotionless girl not even shedding a tear.

"I can't believe it…"

Ayano watched as her father slammed his cigarette into his ashtray, glaring out of her bedroom window.

"She almost died today," he muttered to himself, like he was going crazy. "Teacher said she was completely emotionless."

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Ayano asked, confused.

"You almost died!" her father roared, glaring at her. "Don't you understand, Ayano? There was a monster there and you almost let it kill you!"

Ayano didn't respond.

Her father kneeled down, shaking his fists… only to start weeping into his hands.

"I can't do this anymore," he sobbed. "I just want a normal daughter… a normal family…"

Ayano looked away, staring at the multitude of toys her father had given her in order to make her 'happy'. Nothing had worked. She still felt empty.

But… she didn't want her father to worry anymore. She didn't want him to be upset. She felt some twisted kind of pity for this sad, sad man.

So… she began to laugh. She laughed like she'd seen the other children doing, a joyful, cheerful laugh. Her father looked up, wiping his puffy eyes.

"Ayano, you're… laughing?" he asked, in disbelief. "You're… happy?"

Ayano nodded enthusiastically.

Her father gave her the biggest grin she'd ever seen, and wrapped her in his arms. "Yes! Yes! You're happy!"

Ayano kept fake-smiling into her father's shoulder as his tears turned to joy.

"Mommy," Ayano asked, getting her mother's attention.

"What is it, dear?" her mother asked, smiling down at her.

"Am I... a monster?" Ayano asked.

Her mother kept smiling. "Why do you ask?"

"The children at school say I am," Ayano said.

Her mother laughed. "Ignore them, dear. You're not a monster. You're something very special."

I pretended to be normal. That I was happy. We finally became a normal family.

But… I think my father knew, deep down in his heart, that I was only pretending.

I realised that if I wanted to be treated properly, I would have to act like the other children.

I started pretending to be normal, and the bullying stopped. I learned that everything was easier if I forced myself to act like a normal person.

"Hnng..." a green-haired girl muttered to herself. "Why does everyone keep ignoring me?"

"I know the answer to your question," another girl said. "The one you asked in class, that is."

The green-haired girl looked up, facing Ayano Aishi.

"The answer was 25," Ayano told her. "You just have to add the two numbers together."

Midori blushed. "You... actually listened to me...?"

Ayano nodded.

Midori grinned. "Wow... that makes me me feel all nice inside... what's your name?"

"Ayano," the girl answered, smiling.

"I'm Midori!" the green-haired girl replied. She gasped. "Let's be best friends!"

Eventually, I was pretending to be normal almost every hour of every day. I pretended to be friends with people. I pretended to have hobbies. I pretended to care when tragedy struck.

But it was all fake. I felt nothing. The only thing I felt… was emptiness.

As I grew older, I became resentful of my condition. I wanted to experience life like other people. I wanted to feel joy. I wanted to feel sorrow.

I tried doing anything that might cause me to feel something.

Guilt. Shame. Regret.

I wanted to feel something… anything.

"Please, stop! Please! I just want to live!"

Ayano stomped on the small monster, draining out its last breath. She stared at its empty corpse.

She still felt nothing.

But… nothing worked. No matter what I did. No matter how extreme, I could not feel… anything.

My mother's advice was always the same…

'One day, you will meet someone special. One day, someone will make you feel complete.'

I thought about these words all the time. It was the only thing for me to look forward to. The only reason for me to live.

Meeting the person that would fix me. Save me. Complete me. Give my life a purpose.

"Happy Birthday, dear!"

Ayano politely nodded at her mother. Midori and Kuu were on her right and left, respectively. Ayano's father pulled out a match, preparing to light the candles on the cake.

"Here's to 17 years!" her mother clapped, watching her husband light the candles.

"Whoohoo!" Midori cheered. "We're... hold on. We're not the same age anymore." She pouted. "Aww man."

"Technically, I am still 16," Ayano told Midori. "I actually turn 17 next week."

"Oh yeah," Midori hmmed. She grinned. "WHOOHOO! WE'RE STILL THE SAME AGE! FOR NOW!"

Kuu groaned, looking away.

"Hey," Midori said. "At least you'll be the same age as Kuu!"

Ayano didn't respond to that, instead staring at the birthday cake in front of her. Her parents were leaving in an hour, and this would be the last time she would see them for ten weeks. She tried to feel some kind of sadness, but... nothing. Even the thought of getting older did nothing to stir her emotions.

"Don't worry, dear," her mother gently touched her shoulder. "I met my special someone on my seventeenth. That means... sometime next week may be the day your life will change."

Ayano perked up, feeling some sort of hope for the first time in forever. "Is that true...?"

Her mother smiled. "Of course it is, dear. Have faith."

Then I found him…

And I realised something.

Yes, he was the one who made me understand. He was the one that made me understand what I need to do to save myself.

He was the one that gave me my purpose. My will to live.

I must become the strongest person alive.

I don't care what I have to do. I don't care who I have to hurt.

I don't care whose blood I have to spill.

I must not anyone overtake me.

I will fulfil my goal.

I will become the strongest.

… no matter how many people have to die.