This is set in a world where Ann lives in a future as a cacophobic Ann that hates ugly looking people.
Some people might notice that this is a rewrite of a previous story that I uploaded earlier today than deleted. For more on this, go to the end of this chapter, where I'll explain this in detail.
Anyway, Thanks, and please enjoy!
...
Ann Takamaki...
With your beautiful western blonde hair, and blue eyes...you are the superior beauty.
For ages now, I've been watching you, Ann...
I've been watching from behind the scenes, witnessing the abuse you've suffered. You have no idea how angry it's made me...to see those inferior scum bully you; to see them abuse you over your superior genes, your superior beauty.
It's been torturous to prevent myself from interfering...
And perhaps you don't even know I exist—But I love you, my sweet Ann.
I love how you are what is better amongst this trash around you. These people with their black hair, and their ridiculous facial structure—their eyes are all wrong, and their bodies aren't right. No, their genes are inferior—their genes don't deserve to exist.
But you, Ann...your genes are wonderful...
Absolutely wonderful...
And for you—in the name of revenge for all the harassment you've had to suffer through, in the name of the suffering you've gone through, and so you can truly understand how wonderfully superior you are to them all...
I'm going to do what must be done...
And then, when it's over, I will be the final sacrifice for you—The final sacrifice on the long road to beauty superiority.
It was a regular day for Tohru—She had woken up, as per usual, and had made Ann her breakfast. Ann had spit it out, and beat her for making it taste like shit. Then Tohru had spent the rest of the day reminding herself of her beauty inferiority.
The little girl lived with the beautiful Ann as her slave. She was a typically average, but typically dull looking little girl, who the gorgeously exotic Ann had stumbled upon one day, and had decided to kidnap, to use as her punching bag; a punching bag for revenge for all of the abuse she has suffered in the past.
For the people who had abused her were inferior to Ann's beauty—her blonde hair and blue eyes. And now she wasn't insecure over the fact; now she upheld the fact.
As per usual that day, Tohru had nothing else to do—she deserved nothing else to do. She was a walking failure; she didn't have the superior beauty, and that was why she lived; to be a failure who lived in harm and despair. That was what she deserved—it was what her physicality marked her as.
Her lack of beauty marked her as deserving no happiness—and her poor frame, underwhelming face, her dull black hair, marked her as a subhuman scum. This is what Ann had taught her—and by now, it was something that the little girl didn't even think about. Perhaps in some distant part of her mind there was a semblance of self-pity, some desire for something better for herself, but that was so distant that it wasn't worth troubling herself over.
"I'm going out," Ann tells Tohru. She examines her own reflection in the mirror, checking her face up close, "hey, I don't normally ask this, but..."
She turns to girl, and puts her arms out, as if to say 'go ahead'.
"...What do you think, Tohru? Do I have it all together today?"
The girl looked at Ann for a moment, before simply nodding her head.
"You always have it together, Takamaki-san..." she says, "you are exceptionally gorgeous. You are the most beautiful woman in this entire country."
Ann scoffs.
"What was that...?"
"S...Sorry...I-I meant, Madam Ann..."
"Hmph...Anyway, I guess those eyes of yours are still working, then, huh?"
"J-Just about..."
Something of a mini-miracle, given how much Ann liked to beat her face in—It was what that little goblin deserved, after all, and it was fun for Ann to let out her hatred for ugly looking people on the genetic failure.
"Anyway, Tohru, I want to remind you that you're not allowed to eat or drink today," Ann says, while turning back to the mirror. "So don't even think about it okay?"
Tohru put a hand to her stomach as it begins to rumble. She hadn't eaten in days—and even the little she did eat barely managed to keep her in a very healthy state. She was becoming malnourished, and she was as skinny as a rack—her skin was sagging, which didn't help with her look any...
But then again, as Ann had explained to her before, that was the entire point. Since she was naturally not as beautiful as she should be, this was her punishment; to mark herself as an ugly goblin for the rest of her life.
"Takamaki...I-I mean, Madam Ann...I..."
The girl clenches her eyes shut.
"C-Can I...p-please eat...?" she begs, "I-I feel...dizzy...m-my stomach hurts, and I'm having problems with my bowel movement..."
As the girl rambles on, Ann barely seems to be paying attention. She just continues to admire her own reflection.
"A-And...I feel as though if I don't eat soon that I'll...faint..."
Ann smirks. Her reflection is visible in the mirror to the girl, even with her back turned on her.
"You say that like I'd give a crap."
"..."
"So what if you faint? Not like I have to deal with it," Ann continues, "I'll just come home, find you laying there, and then use my power to bring your pathetic ugly little backside back."
The dull little girl knew that this woman didn't care about her suffering—Hell, she knew that Ann actively sought to make her suffer as much as possible.
And she also knew she deserved it for being both a physical disappointment. But even so...
"B-But, I feel...so weak..." the girl mutters out, "I...I-I don't know if I'll be able to do chores at this rate..."
Ann thought for a moment, before eventually just letting out a sigh.
"There's some bread and milk in the fridge," she says, while putting on her lipstick, "if you want it, go to town."
"R-R...Really...?"
Ann shrugs.
"Sure...I mean, it's kinda out of date, and probably mouldy, but you know..."
The dull girl didn't care. She didn't care if it was potentially lethal to drink and eat it. She simply wanted to put something inside of herself—she was so desperate for it, that before she knew what she was doing, she had already bowed at the superior—
"T-Thank so, so much...! This is more than a subhuman like me deserves, but thank you...!"
Then, despite her better judgement telling her that Ann would consider it a reason to punish her in some way, made her way to the kitchen at a brisk trot.
Ann simply watched the girl, before scoffing.
"(Stupid abortion. I hope you get ill and feel like shit.)"
...
As Ann had claimed, the bread and milk was, indeed, mouldy. The milk gave off a stench that indicated it should be kept away from the mouth, and the bread was covered in green parts. However, the girl was desperate—and she also knew that the western superior would not let her die, thanks to her power.
It was due to this reason that Tohru, the dull little girl, went ahead and downed the whole thing.
With the bread—which she ate plain and dry—she tried her best to pick around the mouldy parts. Although that didn't leave much for her to eat...
Nevertheless, by the time she was done, the girl felt bizarrely full. She barely ate, and barely drank, so she had conditioned her body to go without food and drink.
That was why, when her gut began to ache, and she started to feel the need to be sick, she convinced herself it was just the effects of taking in food and drink after so long. But she couldn't hide away in that lie for too long—
Soon it became increasingly clear that the milk she had was doing a number on her. Her mind, at the time, had been so fogged over by dizziness, that she had lost all sense of reason. That had made it easier to make the decision to consume the mouldy food and drink in the first place.
Tohru soon found her mind beginning to blur so much, that she was barely aware of herself anymore. Before she knew what was happening she was laying on the sofa, with nothing in her conscious mind. She wasn't aware, she wasn't present, she was just a thing that felt—a thing that was suffering.
Ann had taught her not to whine, not to cry, not to whimper; for this was everything that she ever deserved. This was everything that she needed; for she came out with the wrong body, and she came out with the wrong face. She came out with the wrong genes; she lacked the superior beauty that Ann possessed, the beauty that had gotten Ann harassed by the scum at her school out of their bitter jealousy.
She came out with underwhelming beauty—she didn't deserve anything but this.
"...I'm sorry...I-I don't have your beauty..."
The little girl cried, but she didn't know what for.
Inside of her was a pain—but it wasn't the pain of self-pity, nor the pain of self-loathing; no, it was the mere pain of being born as who she was. It was the pain of disappointing Ann; it was the pain of being a useless ugly looking "person".
So detached from pity, but so overflowing with guilt.
That was what pained the heart of the little girl—the guilt of herself, the guilt of who she was. The guilt of not having silky blonde hair, the guilt of not being gifted with naturally blue eyes.
The guilt of her body type, and the guilt of who she was—
The guilt of her lack of value.
The guilt of it all was overwhelming—The guilt she felt, on behalf of Ann and her superior genetics.
The guilt that made her pain and suffering nothing but a footnote to a larger, deeper soul-crushing, heart-ripping sense of overwhelming burden of existence—the burden of existing as only a purely dull girl, with a dull face, a lacklustre figure, and dull black hair.
The burden of the crushing disgust that she was.
Nothing but regret and disappointment—A living disappointment was her existence.
Time turned to nothing but trepidation. The world around her was nothing but a vessel.
Her soul felt ripped from her body—Like it wasn't a part of her anymore.
[ POV – Ann ]
Ann came back home that evening, to find Tohru laying on the ground, seemingly close to death. She didn't care of course—she found the sight funny, in fact.
Well, "funny" isn't the right word. But it was what sprang to Ann's mind; funny. It was funny how things had somehow turned out like this. But she felt more sickened.
Nevertheless, all of that disgust was able to be let out via the torture she subjected the little girl to. That torture was a necessity—
It was ALWAYS going to be a necessity, if there was no superior beauty in a person.
As she looked down at the girl, Ann began to remember all of the abuse she suffered in her past—how she had once been so different, so insecure about not being like everyone else around here.
But now she was free—freed by her understanding of her superior beauty.
"Stupid goblin..."
Ann scoffs down at the piece of waste as she stepped over its body.
Making her way to the kitchen, Ann began to make herself a little snack. As she did so, she took notice of the fact that Tohru had drunken almost half of the carton of gone-off milk.
"Damn, she must've been seriously desperate..."
Ann smirks.
"Oh man, this amount of off-milk could kill her..."
Not that she'd let that happen—No, she wanted to keep the little girl around as her punching bag. She made for a good...thing to let it all out on, when her hatred for ugly scum was consuming her. And it was consuming her quite a bit right now...
After moving into the main living room with the bag of mixed-candy in her hands, Ann sat down onto the sofa, and began to casually eat them.
On the ground beneath her feet, Tohru seemed barely aware—Although she seemed to register Ann's presence, at least. Her sight was wavering, though, and it was difficult to tell if she was looking at her, or just looking in her general vicinity.
Nevertheless, Ann looks down at her, and scoffs.
"Hey, goblin. You feeling bad, or something?" she mocks.
Unseen, but still present, is Ann's typical pink aura. Consorting around her body, it begins to pull itself towards the little girl. Wrapping her in it's power, it suspends the girl in a state where she cannot die.
"(Man, I bet she'd LOVE to die right now, wouldn't she? Escape her misery...her endless suffering. Hah. No way am I going to let THAT happen, though.)"
Ann stands onto her feet, after popping a sweetie into her mouth. She towers over the young girl, with her hands on her hips.
"Get up," she commands.
Tohru doesn't respond—She barely seems able to respond.
Ann just scoffs though. If she wasn't going to do what beauty commanded of her, than this inferior cunt didn't deserve any leniency.
"I said. GET. UP."
The girl makes an effort this time, from the looks of it. With what, Ann could imagine, was a herculean assertion of effort, Tohru managed to stumble her way onto her feet. She clasps at her own gut, her torso hunched over, as though it's painful for her to so much as stand up straight.
Ann just smirks to herself, before casually shoving her over.
"Oops," she facetiously says, while the little dull girl falls to the floor again. As she does, she hits her head on the side of the table. Not that Ann gives a shit.
The little girl begins to sob as she rolls around on the ground.
"Get up again," commands Ann.
Tohru seems to try and get up straight away—but fails, and just stumbles back down onto her back.
"Useless fucking bitch," Ann spits down at her, "for fuck's sake, when I—no, when BEAUTY tells you to do something, you DO IT."
Ann knells over, looking down at her physically useless off-spring.
"Hey, non-beautiful scum, I want you to tell me something...what are you...?"
The girl's voice comes out as a slurred mess—as per usual.
"...A...mistake..."
"And why are you a mistake?"
This time, Tohru doesn't speak. She instead weakly points to herself—or, more specifically, she points to her black hair.
"Your hair?"
Ann shrugs.
"I guess that's one of the reasons, sure..." she says, with a smirk, "you and your type will never have my silky blonde hair, will you? Okay, what else?"
Tohru weakly points to her own eyes.
"Yes," says Ann, with a nod, "your eyes aren't a beautiful blue, like they should've been, are they...?"
The little girl doesn't respond, but Ann is sure that she already understands anyway. This is just to drill the point squarely into her head; to make sure she continues to know her place and understand.
"And what else about you marks you as wrong?" Ann continues to ask.
Tohru points weakly to her side, just below her hip.
"...Wrong...body..." she slurs out.
"Yes, it is," replies Ann. Ann leans back up into a standing position, and folds her arms. "You've got nothing to you at all. When I was your age, I was already forming into the beautiful woman you see before you right now..."
Ann shakes her head.
"Okay, final question...Do you understand how vital it is for you to never be granted freedom or happiness?"
The little girl slowly nods her head.
"Good. I'm glad."
With that, Ann leant over again, and forced the girl up onto feet. She glared into the barely conscious eyes of the girl.
"I want you to know something, non-beautiful-scum...You are special..."
Ann smiles at her, in a congruously affectionate way—But behind the smile lies Ann's true intent; she didn't care about this little cunt. No, she only cared about using her.
"Yes, you are special from how useless you are...Because, you see, I've got something I'm planning..."
Ann can register a sense of curiosity in the girl's eyes.
"It'll be something truly spectacular...Something that will change the world forever..."
Ann toss the dull looking abortion to the aside, in the direction of the sofa. The girl flops down onto it.
"Blonde silky hair...Beautiful blue eyes..."
Ann strut casually towards the mirror, and begins to examine her reflection—the beautiful, almost goddess like woman that stared back at her was so mesmerising that she couldn't take her eyes off of her—off of herself.
"The perfect body, the perfect look..."
Ann smirks, as she tilts her head over her shoulder, to address Tohru.
"It'll all become the new normal...and you will help me to achieve that."
Ann turns back to the mirror, as her expression turns dark—unable to prevent itself from contorting with emotion, as she thinks of all the ugly people in the world—how she thinks of those who don't possess her perfect beauty.
All the scum in Tokyo who abused her over it.
"Yes...you will all pay for what you've done to me..."
Ann casually pulls out a mask—a mask that she hasn't worn in quite a while.
"And to do that, I'm returning back to my old world..." she says with a smirk, as she puts on the mask, "I'm going to meet them all again...Those old friends of mine...Whether they wish to or not, they'll help me achieve my dream..."
Ann turns back around to face Tohru. She stares pointedly at her for a moment, before marching over, and forcibly dragging her up onto her feet.
"And you're coming with me."
She smirks down at the little girl.
"Tohru...It's time for you to meet the Phantom Thieves..."
To be continued in chapter two!
[ As I said in the beginning, I originally uploaded a version of this story that was very anti-Japanese. I deleted the story, because in retrospect I realise it comes across as too racially focused. I mostly just angled it that way because it neatly fit into Ann's character arc, but I don't think it ties too neatly into the actual intent of the story nor it's intended ideology. I do not support racism. I do not think beauty traits are inherently tied to race. I was just trying to angle the story through that to make it easy to grasp, but that was a bad idea on my part.
I'm gonna be angling this story more on a focus on broader beauty traits, while also incooperating elements of Ann overcoming the abuse she suffered for not being "Japanese enough" (blonde hair, etc), while primarily focusing it on the idea of highlighting beauty traits. ]