Monaca Towa goes through her daily life.

Geez, why was class so boring…

My eyes scanned the classroom to find some sort of entertainment, but it was futile. On my right, there were two windows that showed the outside of the classroom, where the gate of the school could be seen. On my left, two windows showed the hallway and the neighbouring class, the students in there looking ready to fall asleep. Either way, there was nothing of interest for me to look at.

I focused my attention back to the teacher. She was explaining a somewhat difficult math question to everyone. Not that it mattered to me since I was obviously the smartest person in the room.

Honestly, why was I forced to attend elementary school? The principal of Hope's peak was sooo stupid. I should have been in the Main Course while all these los—

"Monaca, why don't you answer this question?" a voice rang out. Oopsie, looks like I got caught spacing out.

"But teacher, Monaca doesn't understand such a hard question," I lied. "Maybe Nagisa can answer it."

"Fine then, but please don't lose your focus in class Monaca."

"Yes, teacher."

The teacher turned her attention to the blue-haired boy. "Nagisa, can you answer this question?"

Well, of course he could. That boy was the Li'l Ultimate Social Studies after all. If he couldn't answer this question then his parents need to be better teachers.

The blue-haired boy stood up from his seat and answered the question. "Very good!" the teacher said. "As expected of our top student!"

I could see him beam up a little at being praised. It was really laughable how much he wanted to fulfil people's expectations of him. Nevertheless, I might as well give him some praise.

With as much enthusiasm as I could muster, I clapped for him. "Good job Nagisa!" I cheered.

"Uh, thanks Monaca…" he said, a faint blush on his face. I almost forgot that the blue-haired boy had a childish crush on me. Not that I minded since it made him easier to be influenced. Soon after I started clapping, the rest of his classmates joined in.

"Way to go Nagisa!" a pink-haired girl cheered. She was called Kotoko if I remembered right. Whenever she was around Monaca she would always praise her, but underneath all that flattery Monaca betted the girl actually disliked her. She was known as the Li'l Ultimate Drama, but to be honest with you, she was not a good actor. Also, she was scared of the word "gentle," which I made great use of from time to time.

"Good job Nagisa… not that you care about my praise…" a creepy boy in a mask muttered. He was called Jataro, and he was annoying. He was such a creep because he liked it whenever someone said something bad about him, and it was all because his mommy didn't love him enough. He always wore a mask, and if you asked me, it was probably because his face was realllly ugly.

"Hmph, I could have answered it too if the teacher asked me," a red-haired boy said. If I recalled correctly he was called Masaru, and he was the Li'l Ultimate P.E. He was so full of himself and would always boast whenever he got the chance, and yet at home, his daddy would beat him until he was blue all over. What a loser.

All of them were Monaca's "friends"; at least, that was what she called them. Monaca only hung out with them because they had such horrible lives, which made them very great toys for her.

"Pfft, your brain probably melted inside that head of yours," the pink-haired girl said.

"It did not!"

A familiar scene unfolded around me. The scenario was always the same: the drama queen and show-off would argue with each other, the overachiever would step in to stop it but fail all the time, the creep would try to speak up but nobody cared what he had to say, I'd stop the fight like the good little angel I was and everyone would laugh in good spirits. I sometimes wonder how I got stuck in the so-called "troublemaker" class, but I guess that the school needed me in this class to keep it under control.

"How long are you guys going to keep at this? It's childish to fight over a comment."

"She started it!"

"Did not!"

"Nagisa is right; you guys shouldn't get angry at each other. Although if you were angry at me I wouldn't mind at all…"

Well, that was my signal. It was time for me to follow the script like every other day…

How boring.

It had been five minutes after school had ended, and yet here I was still waiting in front of the school gate. I looked around for my slave and spotted him approaching from the left.

"You took too long to get here Makoto," I said to my slave, his breathing rough when he arrived. It appeared he had run as fast as he could to get here.

"Sorry Monaca, classes were a bit longer than usual today…"

I examined my slave from top to bottom. Makoto Naegi, my "big brother." Everything about him was painfully boring. Everything from his personality to his fashion sense was so generic; his talent should have been the Ultimate Generic Student.

However, he had piqued my curiosity a little. I had expected his spirit to break from everything I'd done to him, and yet he hadn't made a move against me.

Hmm, maybe I'd been too lenient on him. I'd only made him do menial tasks I couldn't be bothered with, like homework or cleaning my room. Sometimes I made him do something he disliked for laughs, like eating dried mackerel, but nothing too bad. It wasn't because I cared about him; it would simply be bad for me if my slave rebelled because I pushed him too far.

"Since you were late I'm going to have to punish you."

"What! But I was late for only one minute!"

"I don't care; it's still one minute too long." My slave sighed, a common sight that never failed to make me happy.

"Alright Monaca," he said, and gave me a little smile.

Seeing that smile irritated me so much that I lost whatever satisfaction I had before. Why wasn't he broken yet?! Surely he had to be itching for revenge right now, but he was still acting so nice to me.

What was he planning? There must be some sort of ulterior motive for this. Was he planning to get the blackmail photos? Well, if he was then she was sorry to disappoint, but they were gone. She deleted them because frankly, they were too gross; her good reputation would be ruined if someone found them on her phone. There were no backups either; why would I entrust anything important to my toys?

Oh well. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Or in this case, it would.

"Hmph, your punishment just increased."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"You made Monaca mad, which is deserving of punishment."

My slave sighed again and began to push my wheelchair towards his home. While his hopeful attitude was annoying, I must admit that I get a lot of joy from tormenting him. Now then, I wonder what kind of punishment I should give him. Perhaps I should make him eat some dried mackerel…

… Nah, I guess I'd make him do my homework. It shouldn't be too hard for him; he should be done in about four hours. That left me to enjoy the rest of this afternoon for myself.

I had the perfect life right now and yet…

I feel like something was missing from it, some very important thing that could truly make me the happiest little girl in the world…

Eh, it was probably nothing.

Geez, why was class so boooorrrring…

It was another day in school, which meant Monaca was stuck inside this classroom for half the day. The subject this time was once again maths. Honestly, I didn't understand what was so hard about calculus. It was basic maths that I could do blindfolded.

But all of this boring stuff was going to disappear! In just one more minute a most joyous sound would be heard, indicating the start of my second favourite period in school.

The sound of the school bell echoed in the classroom, signalling the end of the class.

Hooray, it was lunchtime! Lunchtime was Monaca's second favourite thing in school; the first being the homeroom period. Monaca was really popular in the classroom, so people would come to her to talk about anything. Whether that was dreams for the future, students in school they had a crush on, family issues, or students they really hate, Monaca would always lend an ear. You never knew when stuff like this could be used in the future.

But first off, it was time for lunch. The students who were serving the class dressed themselves up in the mandatory white sanitary outfit and cap along with a hygiene mask, leaving the classroom to deliver the food. The rest of us were tasked to rearrange our tables into groups.

Pushing tables was simply a waste of time for me, so with a bit of flattery, I managed to get a couple of students to do all the work for me. While they were busy, five table trolleys carrying the food had arrived in the classroom and were lined up at the front.

I managed to get a look at today's menu while watching all the students lining up to be served. The menu today was meatballs and miso soup. It wasn't my favourite, buuut I guess it wouldn't hurt if I get a bit more extra.

I waited until all the students were lined up first before I could enact my plan. I didn't want any pesky teacher pets telling on me to the teacher. When it finally came for me to be served, I placed a smile on my face before approaching the serving boy.

"Umm, can I have a bit more meatballs?" I asked the boy serving, with the most charming smile on my face.

"Sorry Monaca, the rules say students only get three," the boy replied.

"But we're friends aren't we? Can't you make an exception for me, pretty please?"

The boy shook his head. Hmph, Monaca was getting a little annoyed at the boy's resistance to her, but that was okay. She always came prepared when dealing with simple annoyances.

"If you give me extra, I might help you with your crush."

That definitely got his attention, as the boy made quick glances to his sides to ensure no one was listening before whispering, "Really?"

"Yep, I'll put in a good word for you," I said, my smile beaming with confidence. Now that he had taken the bait, all I had to do was reel it in. "I'll tell her what a kind, smart and generous person you are if you just do what I ask."

"You promise?"

"I promise!"

The boy had a big dumb smile on his face when I told him this. I wonder what kind of face he would make if he knew that the girl he was crushing on despised him. I would have felt bad if the situation wasn't so funny. Oh well. Monaca would fulfil her side of the deal, as she always kept her promises.

If it suited her of course.

"So, do we have a deal?" I asked the boy. After a few seconds of hesitation, the boy finally gave in to my demands. I gave him a slight nod of approval and a thank you before departing. I made deals to the other serving students as well and was rewarded with an extra bit of soup, vegetables and even another carton of milk. Feeling satisfied with my successful manipulation, I headed towards the table where my "friends" sat.

A red-haired boy at the table took notice of me as I approached. "You're finally here! What took you so long?"

"Sorry Masaru, I was just getting extra lunch," I told him as I arrived.

"What, no fair! How come I didn't get extra?!"

"Well first of all," a pink-haired girl interjected, "Monaca is totally adorbs while you're not."

"I don't need to be adorbs to receive extra," the red-haired boy replied. "My coolness is the only thing that matters."

"As if a perverted idiot like you could be cool."

And just like that the pink-haired girl and the red-haired boy began to argue. I ignored them and situated myself next to a blue-haired boy. The boy was ignoring the commotion happening in front of him, preferring to read the physics textbook in his hand. Such a diligent worker, his parents must be soooo proud.

I made myself comfortable at the table. Once everyone had gotten their food and sat down, we all said a quick "thanks for the meal" before eating our lunches. As I was eating, the boy next to me was sneaking a glance at me every minute. Did he think I was blind?

It annoyed me, so I decided to chat with the boy to get him to stop. "What're you reading there Nagisa?"

"Just some book my parents gave me," the boy replied. "They want me to get a perfect result on the next test."

"But you always get perfect scores. Honestly, your parents should give you a break."

My comment made the boy smile a bit. "Thanks Monaca, but I don't think my parents give a damn about my health."

"Since when have adults ever cared about us." Our conversation attracted the attention of the pink-haired girl; the mention of parents had stopped their annoying chatter. "The only things they care about are themselves."

"Kotoko's right for once," the red-haired boy piped in. "The only things adults do in this world are to hurt us kids when we don't do what they want!"

"Or wish that you were never born, even if it's a good reason…" a creepy boy in a mask muttered. Monaca had actually forgotten he was here the whole time she almost flinched when he spoke.

The red-haired boy continued to talk as if he didn't hear the creepy boy. "I'm never ever gonna become a mean adult! I'm gonna become a hero to all kids around the world and fight against them all!"

The blue-haired boy let out a sigh before speaking, "Here you go again with all this hero nonsense. This isn't a game you know; a single kid can't fight against every single adult on this planet."

"Of course I know that! That's why I'm having you guys back me up!"

"Oh brother, I think Masaru's brain had actually melted," the pink-haired girl said. "Oh Lord, please grant us a miracle and unmelt Masaru's brain!"

"My brain is perfectly fine!" the red-haired boy spoke back, slumping down in his seat. "But you're right… As if kids like us have the means to fight back against adults."

The red-haired boy had a gloomy look on his face, and an awkward silence hung in the air. Not that I mind though; I like it when I could have some peace and quiet. The silence, however, seemed to have an effect on the blue-haired boy. Before long he added, "If such a means does exist… then I guess you would need me to help steer you the right way."

This cheered up the red-haired boy somewhat. "Really Nagisa? You really mean that?"

"Of course I do. Besides, I doubt you would go far without me anyway."

"As if I need any help from you!" Despite saying that, the red-haired boy seemed to be happy that the blue-haired boy cared. Now sounding like his usual annoying self, he said, "But I guess having someone like you would make things easier. After all, every great hero needs a wise sage to back him up."

"Looks like now he's back to his old self again. Even though he's a hero just because he won at rock-paper-scissors," the pink-haired girl said. "And don't forget that you have the help of this totally adorbs fighter!"

"And the help of the priest too… If you actually want me in the group," the creepy boy in the mask muttered.

"And Monaca will be your helpful mage!" I said. "With our combined strength, we can overcome any obstacle! The Warriors of Hope will fight against the tyranny of adults, and provide a hopeful future to kids around the world!"

I really didn't mean that though, as if a couple of kids could change the world. Even saying such a thing made me sooo ill I almost barfed.

But I could understand why they wish for such a foolish dream. They were raised by possibly the worst adults in the whole wide world. To ignore their hopeless situation they'd delude themselves with hope; that a miracle would whisk them away to some paradise on Earth. Even Monaca used to think like that once upon a time.

But reality was so cruel; no knight in shining armour would ever come and rescue them from their fates. In the real world, you had to be ruthless to get what you want, or else you'd be used, to be thrown away like trash when you become worthless. I wouldn't let such a fate happen to me again.

I surveyed the people around the table, now discussing what they would do if they had the power to change the world. If they had only realised that I was using them, then I would have felt some iota of pity. Oh well, I didn't feel bad for using them. They would do the same to me too if given the chance.

After all, nobody was ever truly good in the world. People do kind acts only to stroke their own ego, or if they had something to gain from it. That was why Monaca could happily trample down anyone she pleases with no regrets; it was only natural.

Buuuut, if there were truly selfless people in the world, people who were truly good to the core well…

I would like to meet them.

"How was your day at school Monaca?"

My adoptive father asked me this question just as I was about to take a bite out of my dinner. Couldn't he have asked me at a better time?

"Today was a fun day for Monaca! She got to eat lots of delicious food today and talk lots and lots with her friends!" I replied with a smile.

"Well, that's good to hear. What about you two?"

"Eh, today was perfectly ordinary for me," my adoptive sister replied. "Well except for when the P.E teacher got arrested. But anyway, I bet Makoto has some interesting stories today as usual."

"Well not exactly…" my slave said. "That is unless you want to listen to how Yasuhiro got stabbed by Hifumi."

"Um, why exactly did he get stabbed?" my adoptive mother questioned.

"It's a long story."

"Well, I guess you should cut to the chase and get straight to the point of the story Big Bro!" I joked.

Despite how awful my pun was, and how maybe it was a biiiit inappropriate to joke about my slave's friend getting stabbed, chuckles could be heard from the various members around the table. Even my slave chuckled at that bad pun, which surprised me.

Now, Monaca said that there was no such thing as truly selfless people and that everyone looked out for themselves. But…

The Naegi family might juuuust be a bit close to being those people.

The attitude they had towards me was sooo strange. When I said a joke it never failed in making the room laugh. When I smiled they would say I look adorable. They were so kind it was almost unbelievable.

Of course, there had to be some ulterior motive behind all this. She had first assumed the parents adopted Monaca because they had no kids, and so wanted her to fulfil that sad pathetic void in their lives. But as it turned out, they already had two kids.

So then I thought they wanted me to replace their kids because the son and daughter were both failures in life, buuuut that also turned out to be wrong. The daughter was doing okay in school while the son was in one of the most prestigious schools in the whole of Japan.

Maybe the whole family were a group of abusers, perfect on the outside but ugly on the inside. Nope. There were no beatings, no creepy masks, no IVs and no "acting." They treated Monaca as if she were their own child. Even after testing their patience by pulling a few pranks here and there my punishment was only a mild scolding and a few chores to do.

No family could possibly be this perfect, and yet I had not found any sort of flaws in this family. The father and mother weren't cheating, no one was smoking or drinking, and no one jaywalked on the street!

So! What! Gives! Why did they adopt me when their life was so perfect?!

There was another possible reason for this. Maybe, just maybe, they took me in because they felt sorry for me…

… Kya kya kya kyaaan! What a splendid joke! I should be the Li'l Ultimate Jokester for coming up with that. Such a reason was ridiculous that I immediately discarded it when it popped up in my head.

Eventually, Monaca's big brain thought up the perfect reason why the family adopted her. It was obvious once she ran through the events that led to her adoption.

Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived in an orphanage.

She was the smartest, funniest, and of course, the cutest kid in the world, and yet her dumb family had abandoned her as a baby. They most likely abandoned her because they were jealous of her, and because they were really stupid.

Despite being abandoned by her stupid, stupid family, she still grew up to become a well-adjusted child in society. It was a big achievement, for the orphanage she grew up in was… less than stellar.

For you see, the orphanage she grew up in was Hope's Peak Orphanage. To the public eye, the orphanage here was the perfect place any orphan could be in, a place with limitless access to any educational tool around the world thanks to funds from the Steering Committee. There was even a chance to be a student at Hope's Peak Elementary School, provided you are smart enough to pass their tests.

Of course on the inside, it was faaaaar from perfect. The orphans here were treated as nothing more than test subjects. Orphans who failed to pass the tests to enter Hope's Peak Elementary School were cast aside by the staff, and given only a minimal amount of food and care to ensure they survived. Even passing the tests wasn't better, as more tests would be given until you trip up and join the rest of the failures.

The girl had watched many orphans try to convince prospective adopters about their situation, only to lose their chance at adoption in the ensuing damage control by the staff. They would then be subjected to punishment, not too harsh that the bruises couldn't be hidden, but just enough that they wouldn't try it again.

She held no sympathy for them. Why would she anyway? They were a bunch of idiots if they really thought their word would beat the reputation of an orphanage with years of good publicity.

The only way to successfully escape from this place was to suck it up and endure it. Not that the staff would make it any easy for you. The staff would make you undergo "special training," physical or otherwise, to ensure you didn't spill the beans on them once you were out. Adopters who try to adopt an untrained child would be given many convincing reasons on how the child was "unruly," that they were unready for adoption for now, and be directed to orphans who were trained enough by the staff.

Now for the girl, her situation at the orphanage was a bit of a special case. The carers of the orphanage seemed to all universally despise her no matter how much she obediently followed their orders, as if her very existence was an insult to them. They would intentionally sabotage any attempts at her being adopted, and would give her more "special training" than any of the orphans.

The other orphans treated her no better. They would mock her with childish insults, steal her stuff when she wasn't looking, and spelt her name as "Monaka" instead of "Monaca."

Everybody in the orphanage was against the poor girl, but there was no need to worry, for the girl remained as positive as a photon! There was one place she could go where no one would harass her, the dumpsters.

Yeah, it wasn't the nicest place for me to be, but I had to make do okay.

Anyways, the dumpsters were the only place where the girl's creativity could run wild. Her days would be spent building crude inventions from the trash, drawing them in her diary, and thinking of the applicable ways they could ruin a person's life.

Yep! She was definitely happy by herself with her works of art. She obviously didn't care if the carers scolded her and the orphans mocked her for smelling like garbage. She knew she was better than everyone in her heart, so she didn't need any worthless friends.

And yet, the girl sometimes took a detour from the dumpsters to stare outside the orphanage gate. She would look at the houses, at the families that gave her a look of pity when they spot her staring, and watch them go about their daily lives. She would look at their children, and wonder if had her idiotic family kept her, would she be like them, so happy and normal?

Not that she did this out of loneliness, of course, that would be dumb. This was merely her clever plan to guilt-trip parents into adopting her, and that was the truth.

And boy was she glad she kept doing it! For on one of those days when the girl would stare outside the orphanage gate (again not out of loneliness), a miracle happened.

By a stroke of luck, her future adoptive father and mother were standing near the gate, holding shopping bags and talking so sweetly to each other that it was sickening.

On that beautiful sunny day, the parents noticed the girl staring at them from the gate. The mother approached her out of curiosity. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

"Monaca was going to play a game," she lied with a smile. "She's going to count the number of times someone litters out on the street!"

"Oh… Well, that's certainly an interesting game. I take it your name is Monaca?"

"Yep, Monaca is Monaca!"

"Why don't you play with the other kids Monaca?"

"Believe it or not, Monaca is a student at Hope's Peak Elementary School despite her circumstances. The other kids leave me alone so I can study hard for school. She doesn't mind though, really."

Even though the lie flowed out flawlessly from the girl's mouth the mother didn't look convinced at all. "Doesn't that make you feel lonely at all?" she said.

The girl felt flustered at the mother. Why was this random stranger so concerned about her? Her true feelings were perfectly hidden beneath her cheerful facade, so why was she still questioning her?

"I'm fine really," the girl said, her growing annoyance at the woman's pestering hidden behind a cheery tone. "Monaca really, really loves staying at the orphanage, so don't worry about a thing."

"Is that so?" The mother kept standing there behind the gate, watching her with that look of pity she had seen so many times. The girl was getting impatient; she wanted them gone as fast as possible before one of the carers spotted her at the gate.

"Would you like us to adopt you Monaca?" the mother said.

And with those words, the girl's thoughts came to a halt. Did she hear what the woman said correctly?

The girl regained her composure. "No, it's okay. Monaca is fine to stay a little while in the orphanage."

"Are you sure? My husband and I would be happy to adopt you," the mother said, gesturing to her husband who smiled at the girl. "To be honest… We were thinking of adopting you for a while."

That last part got the girl's attention, but before she could ask any questions…

"May I help you?" a carer behind her said. The girl cursed in her mind; one of the orphans must have notified the staff about the conversation here.

"We're looking to adopt Monaca here," the father replied.

"Oh. Well if that's the case allow me to help you." The staff member opened the gate to allow them in. "Please come this way."

The parents and the girl were led towards the main office of the orphanage. While the staff member was all smiles towards the family along the way as they talked, there were a few dirty looks towards the girl when the family's attention was diverted elsewhere.

It was beginning to look more likely to the girl that she'd be receiving "special training" regardless of any explanation she provided. Oh well, it wasn't like they could do much to her anyway. A couple of months ago during her training, she tricked her carers into thinking they had broken her legs. Not wanting this incident to get out, and because of budget cuts, they'd just put her on a wheelchair and called it a day.

The bad news was that the girl would have to act crippled for the rest of her life…

But the good news was for the lucky family that adopted her, they would get free access to the disabled parking! So overall it was a win-win situation for the girl and her future adoptive parents.

A few minutes of navigating through the school led them to the main door of the main office. A soft "come in" was heard inside, signalling the staff member to open the door and usher them in before closing it.

"How may I help you today?" the director of the orphanage greeted, sitting behind a desk with her hands clasped in front of her. She was a tall, slender woman with glasses, who whenever the girl saw would always wear a suit no matter what the weather is. The girl gave her the nickname "Miss Jellyfish"; not because she had no brain, but because of the amount of crap the woman spewed out daily.

"We're here to adopt Monaca," the mother replied.

"Oh, is that so?" Miss Jellyfish gave a small smile towards the girl, but "appearances can be deceiving" as the saying goes.

"Please, have a seat."

The parents sat themselves down in the seats facing Miss Jellyfish, while the girl hung around near the back of the parents. The girl didn't have any hope that she would be adopted this time, especially since this was the sixtieth time this scenario happened.

"Have you had any experience in adopting a child?" Miss Jellyfish asked.

"No, but we have done all the necessary prerequisites," the mother answered. "We've done the necessary paperwork and training, and our house has been checked and approved by members of your staff."

The mother handed in some paperwork for Miss Jellyfish to look at. The girl was a bit impressed at how prepared they are. She felt even a teensy bit hopeful things would work out.

"I see," Miss Jellyfish said, flipping through the papers one by one without a second glance. "I guess there's nothing else but for you to take Monaca to her new home."

And so the parents took the girl to her new home and they lived happily ever after!

"However, I would not recommend adopting her for now."

Well, not right now.

"What do you mean?" the father questioned.

"While Monaca here may seem to be innocent, she has exhibited some… troublesome behaviour in the past," Miss Jellyfish lied.

"What kind of behaviour?"

"Just last week, her presence around the other kids had caused several cases of fighting to occur. When asked by the staff all of the kids said that Monaca had directed insults towards them."

Now that wasn't alllll true. They were the ones who started it first; it wasn't her fault that they started crying when she said their parents were waiting outside.

"Not only that, she is a notorious liar and is known to steal from the other kids."

Actually, they stole her things first, so she was merely taking back what was hers. She might have also "borrowed" several more items from them, but hey, it was a dog-eat-dog world.

"She also burned down a dorm."

… Okay, I had nothing for that one.

"That is quite troubling…" the father said, looking at his wife with concern.

The girl's itsy-bitsy hope vanished. Once parents had heard about her unsavoury attributes, which by the way were greatly exaggerated, they always became discouraged.

Then one of two things would happen: one would be Miss Jellyfish recommending them to adopt a child that had been broken, or two where the parents would say "We'll think about this and get back to you" which they never did.

But when all seemed lost, the mother surprised the girl for the second time.

"While those are some major concerns we would still like to adopt her," the mother said.

"Are you sure?" Miss Jellyfish replied, her calm expression cracking a bit until it reverted back. "Perhaps if you take a look at the other children you wou—"

"While I thank you for the offer," the mother interrupted, "from what you have told us, it seems that Monaca had been nothing but trouble in the orphanage."

"Well yes, bu—"

"So judging by that, perhaps allowing us to adopt her would be the better option? If Monaca was provided with love and support maybe she'll be able to change her ways."

"I assure you, our facility is more than qualified at providing the care that Monaca needs."

"It doesn't really sound like it."

The mother and Miss Jellyfish started to dispute over what was the best option for the girl. With every passing minute, Miss Jellyfish was looking less and less happy it was hilarious to the girl.

Minutes turned into hours and hours into days. The two argued and argued until billions of years passed and the Earth was swallowed by the sun. The End.

Okay, they only argued for two hours. But to the girl, it might as well be an eternity.

"Perhaps we should discuss this tomorrow?" Miss Jellyfish said upon noticing the time. The girl could see the toll the conversation had on Miss Jellyfish if the bags under her eyes were any consideration.

"There's no need for that. I've got nothing else planned for today," the mother replied, who looked quite confident compared to Miss Jellyfish. She actually looked pleased with Miss Jellyfish's tired face, placing her further in the girl's good graces.

"For the last time, I must insist that you consider other kids for adoption. We at the orphanage frankly consider Monaca unfit for adoption."

"Well, I insist that you let us adopt her."

Another dispute occurred. It was starting to look like the conversation would take another two hours, until the mother stopped mid-conversation.

"Actually, maybe you're right. Perhaps we should discuss this another time."

"Yes we should," Miss Jellyfish said, a relieved sigh emitting from her mouth. "Perhaps next week we can discuss this further?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. It would give me enough time for me to think of what I can write on my blog."

"I'm sorry?"

"Well you see I was planning on writing about my experience at your orphanage once we adopt Monaca," the mother said, with a smile that seemed very devious to the girl. "I was going to write all about how we went through no trouble with our adoption here, but I might need to reconsider that."

Now you see the only thing Miss Jellyfish cared about in her non-existent heart was her job. Over the many years that the orphanage was in operation, she and previous swarms had always ensured the orphanage's reputation was spotless to the public. Any criticism of the orphanage had a bad habit of… disappearing along with their critics.

Now Miss Jellyfish could just dismiss them. I mean, what could a single mother do against the orphanage?

But she didn't, and it wasn't until the girl was adopted that she found out why. For you see, the mother's son was attending Hope's Peak Academy, and because of that Miss Jellyfish's fictitious hands were tied. There were really only three possible scenarios she could take.

Option one would be to let them go and risk a single bad blog post to blemish their spotless reputation, all but guaranteeing that she'd be fired.

Option two, let them go and call up their cleaners to hopefully persuade the mother to keep quiet. The situation would more than likely escalate beyond her control, which would still end with her being fired.

Or option three, let them adopt the girl and keep tabs on the family. The risk of being laid off was still there, but now it wasn't guaranteed.

She very wisely chose option three.

"Perhaps we could test how well Monaca behaves in a family environment…" Miss Jellyfish replied. "On the condition that we schedule regular house visits, to ensure she is treated well of course."

The girl doubted the house visits were for her benefit, but the mother accepted the conditions. "That sounds reasonable."

"That's great. All that's left is to pick a day to deliver Monaca to her new home."

"We can take her today if she wants."

The mother looked towards the girl for confirmation. As if she was going to say no to that.

"Monaca wants to go right away!" the girl said. "She'll go grab her stuff!"

The girl gave a big smile to Miss Jellyfish, causing her to twitch a little. All she had to do was spill the beans to her adopted family about allll the dirty little secrets at the orphanage and Miss Jellyfish could say bye-bye to her career.

But the girl didn't, because she wasn't dumb. She heard nasty rumours about what the Steering Committee did to their hit list, and to be frank she didn't want to confirm if they were true.

And with that the girl exited Miss Jellyfish's office to get her belongings, all the while rubbing it into the orphans that she was getting adopted. In all honesty, she could have left all of her belongings right there in the orphanage; but the thought of the orphans in despair was too good to pass up.

After that, the girl got in her adoptive parent's car and blah blah blah, we all knew what happened next. So I guess it was time to end this flashback.

And so here I was, enjoying a nice family dinner with my adoptive parents. I bet you were all dying to hear the answer to why they were so keen on adopting me, so let me spell it out for you.

They knew who my real family is.

It was so simple, Monaca felt stupid for taking this long to figure it out. That was why the mother was so insistent on adopting me. Perhaps they were hoping to fetch a high price if my real father gave a damn about wanting me back. Treating me so nicely must be a part of the plan too, most likely in order to control me better. I must give props for their acting; they hide their true colours much better than me.

This whole charade was simply too perfect to be real. Oh well, even if it was real it wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later my adoptive family would leave me and I'd be left all alone again.

Yep. In the end Monaca would be abandoned anyway, so before that happened she'd have as much fun as she could. Monaca was going to use them to meet her real family, and then she'd show them her utmost gratitude for abandoning her.

… But y'know, despite the fact that my parents were faking their kindness, and that they were going to abandon me in the future, and that the daughter was dumb, and that my slave was as useless to me as always, and that he still hadn't finished my homework due tomorrow…

A small part of me enjoyed this fake life of mine, just a tiny bit.

A/N: So uh, May will be a busy month for me, so updates are going to be rare from now on.