Monaca Towa becomes best friends with Makoto Naegi!

Most people would agree that he could be a little too trusting and forgiving towards those with… less than kind personalities. While he acknowledged that his forgiving attitude could be seen as mere naivety; he truly believed that everyone should be given a chance at forgiveness.

Unfortunately, a certain someone took advantage of his kindness…

He held his now empty wallet in front of his head. All of his hard-earned money, gone in a single day…

He sighed and dropped down onto his bed. Despite the fact that he was pretty much penniless to afford anything, he at least didn't owe anyone any debts like Yasuhiro. It was a small comfort to him in a way.

"At least Komaru seemed to have cheered up now," he said to himself. "But I guess I won't be able to go out for a while now huh…"

There was an awful lot of noise coming from somewhere in the living room. Komaru was screaming about trash or something, and underneath all of that shouting, he could make out the voice of his new family member agreeing with whatever came out of his little sister's mouth.

Monaca. He had a hard time trying to discern his feelings on her. On one hand, she could be a sweet little girl who brightened everyone's day with her energy. But on the other hand, he had seen that other side of her, a side that seemed more malicious and...real in a sense? Maybe he should go to the living room, keep an eye on her so she wouldn't cause any trouble...

... But it was only one incident, right? She looked genuine when she promised him she'd stop causing any more "pranks", so why not give her a chance to prove it? She did come from an orphanage after all, so maybe she just needed time to adjust to her new home.

She managed to stop herself from yawning as she watched the credits roll. Right now she and her adoptive sister were watching an anime adaptation of "The Bomb Inside Her." It was lucky that her adoptive parents were out shopping, as her adoptive sister's feelings about the show were being vocalised throughout the house.

"I can't believe how rushed this episode is!" her adoptive sister 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!" she replied. She really didn't care about the show, but it was pretty amusing to watch the girl rant on like this.

"And we're up to episode seven already! 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?"

"Exactly! Oh, I wish the anime was longer so the characters can be properly developed…"

Her adoptive sister continued to rant for another five minutes about how the manga was superior to the adaptation, but she was forced to stop when she ran out of synonyms for trash.

Now that her adoptive sister had calmed down, it was time for her 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."

"Wh-What!" Her adoptive sister's face was starting to pale. "M-Maybe you were just hearing things…"

"Nope, Monaca definitely heard one."

Her adoptive sister's legs were trembling; she was worried that the girl would faint before she could prank her. Honestly, her adoptive sister must be very gullible if she believed that ghosts even existed. Oh well, at least she'd get some fun out of tricking her.

"Does Big Sis want to meet the ghost with Monaca?" she asked.

"H-Huh?"

"If we talk to the ghost, maybe we can get it to leave Big Sis's room."

"Y-Yeah! Maybe if I ask nicely, I can get the ghost to stop haunting my room!"

"Then let's go Big Sis!" She moved about five feet toward her adoptive sister's room before…

"W-Wait!"

She stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What is it Big Sis?" she asked. She forced a small smile to appear on her face. "Did you change your mind already?"

"It's not that…" her adoptive sister 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."

She was getting annoyed by the second at her, but she 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." Her adoptive sister blushed at her praise. "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 her adoptive sister headed off towards the kitchen. From her position, she could see her filling two glasses of water, and could hear the girl shouting out incantations that were very much random nonsense made up on the spot. Soon after the girl was moving around the house, taking an assortment of items with no visible connection to one another, and crafted from them what appeared to be "crucifixes."

"Here you go Monaca!" Her adoptive sister handed her a glass of water and wrapped a makeshift crucifix necklace around her neck. She looked very pleased with herself at what she had made. "With this, there's no way the ghost can possess us now!"

She stared hard at the crucifix; what the hell was this? The abomination around her neck had 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 of making a crucifix.

But her patience was thin at the moment, so she was going to save the critique on her adoptive sister'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!"

The two departed towards her target's room. Upon arriving at the door to her room, her target 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!" Now that her prank was so close to being pulled, she wouldn'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…" Her target took several deep breaths, the hand holding the doorknob shaking just a bit. "H-Here goes…"

Her target fully opened the door to her room and turned on the lights. They peered around her room, and aside from a few scattered things that littered on the ground and her bed, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Her target turned towards her.

"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. Her target twisted her body towards the source of the noise.

"I-It's coming from my closet!" Her target was moving as far away as possible from the closet.

"You see! Monaca was telling the truth," she said. She had to force back down the smile that was creeping onto her face. Seeing her look so scared was worth the wait.

"T-The power of Christ compels you!" her target shouted. She pointed her makeshift crucifix towards the closet.

… Nothing happened. The sounds continued to emit from the closet.

"I-It didn't work?!"

Of course it wouldn't. 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…" her target said. She tiptoed towards the closet; the hand holding the holy water looking 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 drained the colour from her face.

Red. There was red splashed across the inside of her target's closet. On the walls, on her clothes, it was everywhere. An awful stench was coming out from the closet, which caused her target to cover up her nose.

"U-Ugh…" Her target could only let out a whimper at the sight.

"B-Big Sis… look!" She pointed her finger at an object underneath her target's clothes. Her target peered at the object.

It was a human hand.

Her target let out a bloodcurdling scream.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard an inhuman shriek coming from his sister's room.

"What the… that sounded like Komaru! Don't tell me Monaca did something again!"

He once again dashed straight to his sister's room and barged through the door. He was greeted by the sight of Komaru lying down on the ground. Near to her was a glass cup, 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!" He dashed straight toward his unconscious sister. "What did you do to her Monaca?!"

"Calm down Big Bro," Monaca said. "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?" Monaca placed a finger under her chin. "Monaca doesn't remember making a promise like that at all."

"It was two days ago!"

"Still don't remember."

He was ready to argue with her until he was met with a rotten smell coming from his sister's closet. He peered inside; splashes of red had stained the inside, and what appeared to be a dismembered hand was underneath Komaru's clothes.

"I-Is that blood?" he asked.

"Nope! It's actually tomato sauce," Monaca answered. "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."

He 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 would take days to fully clean out. This had to stop now.

"Monaca," he 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," Monaca said. "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 looked like she was about to burst into tears. Maybe he should forgive her and… No! He couldn't go easy on her just because she'd start crying. She needed to learn that there are just some things that she cannot do freely to others!

"I know that you're very sorry Monaca," he said, his voice lowered down 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?" Monaca interrupted. 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," she continued. "Monaca is soooooo scared. What a joke! It's obvious that you don't have it in you to punish me, since you're so kind 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 him, 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."

She smiled. "But that's what makes them so great! 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 he thought about her words. The girl simply kept on smiling at him.

"Now that I pointed out the obvious, why don't you be a good big brother and take the blame for me, meow."

"… No," he 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," he continued, "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 he 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 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 seems his parents had 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?!" She screeched out loud enough for everyone to hear.

"W-Why did you slap yourself all of a sudden?!"

"To get you into more trouble of course." She was rubbing 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!"

His parents entered the room the moment he shouted.

"Monaca are you okay?!" his dad said. He rushed right over to her.

"We heard you cry out," his mum said. "What happe—"

She stopped when she saw Komaru's unconscious body on the ground. It was pretty strange that they didn't notice her much sooner.

"Wh-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…" She covered her face with her hands; sobbing noises were coming out from her.

"Makoto… is this true?" his dad said.

"Of course not dad!" he answered. "There's no way that I would ever do something like this to Komaru!"

He looked at his mum. He hoped beyond hope that his own mother would believe him over Monaca.

His mum had an unreadable expression; as if 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 placed down her hands to stare at his mum.

"We know our son very well," his dad said. "Makoto is too kind of a person to actually hit someone; I bet he couldn't even hurt a fly!"

"Ummm, thanks dad?" He wasn't sure whether that last statement was a compliment or not.

"Anyways," his mum continued, "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!"

"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 his 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 do. I'll go get the cleaning materials that you'll need. As for you Makoto, I want you to watch her to make sure that she does the work, okay?"

"Yes mum," he answered. "What about Komaru?"

"I'll carry her to the living room where she'll take a rest," his dad said. "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, his dad walked towards the unconscious Komaru and carefully picked her up. His parents departed the room, their footsteps becoming quieter and quieter as they headed toward the living room. Once the sound of footsteps could no longer be heard in the room, he let out a sigh. While it was nice that his parents believed him over Monaca, he still kind of wished that they supported him back at the CD incident.

Speaking of Monaca, she's unusually quiet after being scolded by his mum. That was until she started giggling.

"I guess your parents aren't as naïve as I thought…" Monaca said. "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, but then 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!" his mum shouted.

"Guess I'll be going then…" Monaca made her way toward the door. Just before she left, she said one last thing to him.

"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, she left the room.

A new source of entertainment? What did she mean by that? More importantly, what did that have to do with him?

He thought long and hard before he gave up. He had no idea what Monaca had in store for him. Whatever it was, it most certainly couldn't be good for him.

Monaca returned with the cleaning supplies. While he watched her clean the closet, he told himself to prepare for what was 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 him, 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 his 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? Just thinking about something so scary makes Monaca want to cry…" Was what she told his dad.

Her guilt-tripping proved to be successful. His dad gave Monaca an old phone that he 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," Was what his dad told her.

And that was when things started to go downhill for him…

He flipped through the channels on the TV, but there was nothing particularly interesting on any of them. He switched off the TV and stretched on the couch.

His parents and sister were currently out shopping. He would have liked to join them as well, but since Monaca wasn't interested in going out today, he was pretty much forced to stay behind and look after her and the house.

He sighed. Lately, he felt that he'd become Monaca's babysitter. It's not that he hated 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 him if she could use the kitchen right after his parents and sister had left the house. He said yes without much thought; partly because it was early in the morning and he was a bit hungry, and partly because her cookies tasted really good.

"Big Bro, the cookies are ready!" Monaca called out. He 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 up in a neat pile.

"Wow Monaca, these cookies smell really nice!" he complimented.

"Thanks, Big Bro! Why don't you take a seat so you can eat them?" Monaca said. She then pointed to a single chair propped right in front of the cookies. He sat down on the chair, picked up a cookie, and was ready to take a bite until…

"Wait. Don't you want to eat first Monaca?"

"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 she gave him placed him in high alert. Now that he thought about it, there was something off about the way Monaca's acting right now.

"Actually… maybe I shouldn't eat them," he said.

"Huh? Why doesn't Big Bro want to eat Monaca's cookies?" Monaca asked.

"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 him with a depressed expression.

"I'm still not buying it Monaca."

"Jeez, I never knew you could be so paranoid," she dropped her sad act. "I guess I have to prove to my paranoid Big Bro that I didn't put poison in the cookies."

Monaca grabbed 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! I guess I'll have to throw my hard work into the bin because that's what Big Bro thinks of my present!"

Monaca grabbed the plate, but before she could do anything else he 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?

He picked up a cookie, gulped, and took a bite out 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 okay 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. She had stopped her pranks on Komaru, and spending time with her might help him learn more about her hobbies and interests.

He 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 he was being honest, reminding him of a predator watching her prey. After eating about half of the cookies on the plate, he 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…" He got up from his 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 his bed before he collapsed.

He immediately fell unconscious when his head touched the surface of his bed. By the time he woke up, it was already evening. Sitting across from his bed with a smile on her face was Monaca.

"Oh! Makoto is awake now! Monaca was getting impatient at waiting for you to wake up."

"How long was I asleep for?" He rubbed his eyes as he tried to get up from his bed.

"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?"

Damn it, Monaca tricked him again!

"But why would you even do that?!"

"So I can do this!" Monaca took out her phone and pressed a few buttons before she held it to him. He hesitated before taking the phone and looking at the screen. What he saw shocked him more than being drugged.

"What the hell are these pictures?!" He couldn't describe what these horrifying pictures were, other than the fact that if anyone saw 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."

"Wh-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 forever 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."

He slumped to his knees; his face in disbelief at what he was hearing.

This couldn't be happening… He shouldn't have trusted Monaca when she said she didn't place anything in the cookies, and now he was going to be her slave forever? He 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."

"Wh-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 his 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 him. If anyone else saw it they would think it was an innocent smile on a cute child, but he knew better. For this smile hid nothing but overwhelming malice and cruelty toward the unfortunate soul it was directed at.

"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 his frozen hands. He stared at her with a blank expression as she made her way out the door.

"Why…" he muttered.

"Why what?" Monaca turned her body around to face him again.

"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?"

He nodded his head.

"Google it up shitlord."

A/N: Monaca's a little shit.