Toga's POV

"I'm.. guessing you like either really girly things, or really goth things, yeah?"

"Aww, how could you tell?"

"Just a hunch... so lead the way."

"Thaaank you!" I flash a pearly smile up at the blonde kid, his name was Monoma I think? Ever since we split up together, he's seemed kind of out of it. I remember when I first arrived, he spoke to me like he knew me in the past... if what Touya is saying about this memory stuff is correct, it could explain why I don't remember this kid.

Either way, it depressed me to see him so.. sad and disheartened. His eyes were bereft and cloudy, even as he smiled down at me when he spoke. He was also reallyyy quiet. I've heard he's normally a very loud and obnoxious person... but he doesn't seem like that at all!! At least, not yet. Maybe..

Maybe I should try and remember.

"Soo.. Monoma," My voice is caught in my throat, I spoke without thinking so I wouldn't chicken out, but now I've completely stopped. He looked confused.

"..what is it, Toga?"

"I... wanted to ask you, what happened before I 'went missing'? What kind of person was I? Were we friends?" I ask him quickly and he seemed to freeze up. His movements as he walked incredibly stiff, yet no expression on his face ever showed the slightest amount of shock or nervousness.

"..yeah, we were. Before you went missing... you were a great student. You got high marks in every class, your teachers loved you. You had a couple of friends here and there, but mostly you stayed by yourself throughout your middle school years. You were also described as... odd by your parents." He looked blankly in front of him, like he was doing his best to collect old and tarnished memories that were near forgotten; like an old library book that was never checked out until today!

"Odd? How was I odd??" I know I did some pretty gruesome stuff as a kid, but I need to know the deets! The specifics!!

"Well, you showed a huge fascination in blood... whether it was animal blood, or human blood. Your obsession was to the point where you killed a baby bird just to watch the blood seep through the tears around it's neck.. you said it made you feel good.. and, since then, your parents distanced themselves from you. Their near absence made you angry, and you'd always snap at anything that made you slightly annoyed as a result. Whenever it was a kid, or an adult, you'd threatened to drain the blood from their veins and drink it yourself.. to slice open their pets and tear off their fingers.. pluck their teeth, their nails, clip their bones.. all to see a drop of blood. And only at the age of eleven is when you threatened all of this." Monoma explained in vile detail, but not hint of disgust was on his face. He was completely neutral to the subject.

"I may not agree with most people on this, but I know almost no one likes hearing the act of bloodletting! So why are you so unaffected?" I questioned. It's common knowledge that people don't like copious amounts of blood, even if they should! So why was this kid so okay with it?

"I am affected. I find it creepy and unsettling, and seeing you eventually turn into a villain... I realized how dangerous you were. You weren't just a kid with a sick sense of humour that knew how to get under people's skin, you were... a sociopath. Maybe even a psychopath." His voice was cold and sad, he spoke from the heart but didn't want it to be true. The tears threatening to spill from his eyes revealed that much about him. He didn't condone any of it, he just dealt with it.. but why?

"If you're really this uncomfortable because of it, why consider me a friend in the first place?"

"..because, you're still a good person. And I felt indebted to you. I was being bullied in middle school for my quirk, but you always jumped in to save me... whenever I had episodes related to the trauma my parents gave me, you knew exactly how to calm me down and never judged me for it. When I vented, you listened. You listened, you understood, and you helped. But, you also kept it a secret. I trusted you with my life, because, at that time, you were my life... you were all I had..."

"..Monoma-"

"-And then you left." The tears were falling down his face like snow in a blizzard. They never stopped dropping, never stopped creating, but.. he wasn't mad at me for leaving. Just.. sad.

"You were the only thing I had... and all of a sudden, you were gone. It took me so, so long to trust someone again... 3 whole years. To be honest, I still don't trust most people. There's exactly one person I trust aside from you... and even then, it took a while to get used to it..." He wiped his eyes.

"I just want you to know, I'm happy you're back. I don't know why you left, and I'm not mad that you did, you must've had your reasons. All the matters is you're here now, and we can.. rebuild our friendship!" He forced optimism with a smile on his face.

I have a reason, I had a reason. I owe it to him to explain everything... to tell him exactly why I left. Just seeing him like this is breaking my heart... there's more to this story, I can't remember it, but I feel it..

It feels like a cloudy, hazey feeling that's entering my mind.

Luckily, up ahead, I see a restroom.

"Uhm- excuse me for a moment, I need to use the bathroom!" I wave goodbye and run towards the room at full speed, opening the door and then slamming it shut. As soon as I do so, I trudge over to the sink and heave myself over it, the hazey feeling in my head now started to become a pounding headache.

"(What.. What's happening?)" I whisper to myself and grip both sides of my head, squishing them together as if it'll stop the pain.

The pain only gets mind-numbingly worse, so much so that I couldn't speak, but, it all stopped when I blacked out.

---

-(flaaaashbaaaack)-

"Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?! Stealing my fucking quirk like that?? What if I can never use it again, bitch?!" A boy's voice is heard, as well as a loud grunt and the sound of a body slamming into a locker.

"P-Please.. I don't steal quirks... it still works..." a weak and tired voice pleads. A condescending scoff is thrown in return.

"Whatever, that still doesn't mean you can use my quirk. Get your fuckin' own, loser. You're rich. Ain't ya? Maybe you can get your daddy to buy one??" The bully laughs uproariously.

"Don't.. talk about my dad... please.." Despite being humilated, with his pride shattered to shards, the little boy being picked on was still as pilot as ever.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I shriek at the bully as I see him grind his foot into the small of the blonde boy's back.

"Oh, it's the crazy bitch." He says with anger in his tone, but I could see the fear in his eyes.

"Leave him alone, or I will skin you alive and feed the fat to your mother." I deadpan and take a step closer, looking him up and down.

"And judging by the amount of fat on her body, it'll be enough to keep her fed the whole winter."

"Why you little-!" He charges towards me, but stops dead in his tracks once I pull out my pocket knife.

"Pfft- I-Is some sort of dinky pocket knife supposed to scare m-me? You're a girl, you wouldn't dare-!"

"-wanna bet?" Is all I say before I charge at him with my blade in hand, soon slicing it across his arm and taking a large chunk out of it, a bit smaller than the palm of my hand. The bully screamed in terror and pain, already running away.

"I'll get you for this, you fucking bitch!!" He scurried away and I put the knife back into my pocket, running over and kneeling down to the little boy's height.

"Hi! I'm so sorry that guy's such a jerk! What's your name, kid?" I smile as confortingly I can at his trembling figure and take his hand. He just stares at me and holds it for a while, relishing in the human contact that isn't as negative as what he's used to.

"I-I'm Monoma Neito... it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Monoma! I'm Toga Himiko! Hopefully we can be friends!"

---

-(another flaaaaashbaaaack)-

The trophies lined my wall. Filling every bookcase I had in my room. I traced the labels with my fingers and read them slowly.

"Junior Math Society, 1st place."

Mom and dad never showed up to that one.

"4th Year Spelling Bee, 1st place."

Neither did they make it to that one.

"Finals Chess Tournament, 1st place."

They purposefully didn't go to that one.

"Honors Fencing Match, 1st place."

I didn't even bother telling them.

I wiped my eyes before tears could properly collect and hoisted my bag over my shoulder.

For too long... for too fucking long have my parents made me question my own existence. Never even sparing a glance in my direction, never answering when I speak, never showing up to my shows or competitions... they never bought me anything, my room is sectioned off within the house so they don'teven have to be near me. For so long I've been nothing but ignored. Not once have they spoken to me, I barely even know what their voices sound like. I've tried so hard bot even to impress them... just to catch their attention, anything. For so many years I thought I was a ghost... I didn't even know I was a person, just a random, corporeal being living in this hellscape of a world where a child's own parents can act like you're a figment of their imagination.

I never knew I was real... until... I met him.

Monoma Neito.

I helped him... he was someone I helped, he's someone I love, and he loves me back. We live to support eachother through every Endeavor, nothing will ever change that... I will never forget him, even when I leave this place. This... wasteland.

I can't let him know what I'm about to do, he'll come after me and put himself in danger.

I open my door and walk out, both of my parents are sat eating at the dinner table. As I walk past, I don't even feel their eyes fix on me. Yet, somehow, when I step out of the door, I can nearly feel their celebration. The one burden in their life was finally gone.

They were happy.

But I know Monoma won't be.

He's so important to me... it will hurt the both of us for me to have to do this... but I have no choice. What else could I possibly do? Monoma talks to me about his problems, not the other way around!! I don't want to burden him with the responsibility of both my problems and his!! He'll find new, better friends... if he can love me, he can love others as well. I don't want to hold him back more than I already do with how unstable I grow day by day. I can barely look at myself in the mirror anymore without seeing an empty shell, a husk. I'm a 2-dimensional fogure whose only purpose and want in life is to taste the sweet and savory flavor of a victim's blood. No matter who it may be, my goal will be accomplished... even if I don't really want to hurt people.

I'm just a ghost.

And It will be like I never existed, and Monoma can be free of my psychotic burden.

---

-(End of flaaaaashbaaaack)-

Toga's POV (still)

I return back to reality after my black out and suddenly... I remember everything. All I needed was that trigger... that sinple thing to set me off. I owe Monoma my life! I remember everything! Almost none of it is pleasant, but still memories to remember nonetheless!!! I remember!!! I remember!!!!!

I race out of the bathroom with the brightest grin on my face, tears spilling relentlessly from my eyes as I race to where Monoma is standing. His looming and lanky figure, seemingly darkened just by his mood alone. He catches sight of me and is immediately confused, but he doesn't have the time to process his confusion before I completely tackle him in a huge, sending us both to the ground.

"Toga?!"

"I'M SORRY! I LEFT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING! I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO HURT YOU- TO THINK YOU MIGHT FOLLOW AFTER ME! I NEEDED TO FIND A PLACE SO I COULD EXIST! I FELT LIKE A GHOST, LIKE NO ONE COULD SEE ME- I COULDN'T TALK TO YOU ABOUT IT BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO BURDEN YOU! WITH ALL OF THE ISSUES WITH YOUR HOME LIFE ALREADY PILING ON TOP OF YOU... I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO HANDLE IT!!!" I sobbed grossly into his chest, and he hugged me back as tight as he could, I felt his heartbeat grow faster, as well as the whimpers as they escaped from his hoarse throat.

"T-Toga... I-"

"Don't say anything.. I know, I'm sorry.."

"...You could've talked to me about it, I would've handled it."

"There's a difference between saying you'll handle it, and actually having to handle it when the time comes. You couldn't have... you were too vulnerable, and I didn't want to take advantage of it or hurt you further... I'm just so, so sorry..."

"..please, don't apologize. Forget about the past. Forget about your parents, about my parents, we're together now. We're back. Nothing can seperate us now.." He sniffled. Pure joy filled my body at his words... but I remembered the position we were in.

"So uh... I'm not getting up for another hour at least. The clothes will have to wait."

"You know what? Fair."