We're all monsters (a Tomie Kawakami x reader story)

Everything you need to know?

When you woke up, the man was gone. Tomie had indeed 'taken care of it', whatever that meant. Speaking of Tomie, she was awfully quiet.

She took the initiative to look through your bookcase and carefully picked a book that seemed to get her attention; At the Mountains of Madness, a novella by H. P. Lovecraft, A marvellous choice, really, but that didn't mean she'd escape from answering your questions.

It didn't look like she was going to initiate the conversation anytime soon, so you did. "Tomie, what's going on? Why are those people after you?" She sighed and kept reading. "Tomie?"

She snapped the book shut before looking in your general direction, not meeting your eyes.
"I have no idea!" She sobbed. It felt unnatural.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay, but can you please not lie to me? We haven't known each other for long, but we already went through so much together. I consider you a friend."

It seemed the floor suddenly looked very interesting to Tomie, her eyes lingering on the wooden surface, completely avoiding you.

"For six years, I was sequestered by my own sister and her... friend. They must've sent these men after me"

That did not feel like it was the whole truth. Regardless, you tried to push the conversation forward. "That's horrible, why would your sister do that?"

Tomie frowned "she was so jealous of me, it annoyed me to no end. I think I crossed a line by teasing her over it." That still didn't feel like the whole story, so you pressed on. "Why was she jealous?"

"I was prettier than her and I wasn't a social reject." She replied, smugly.

You sighed. This was going nowhere. "So, that's all? That's all there is to it?"

Tomie seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. She finally spoke ; "when I was only an infant, someone injected me with a disease. It drastically changed my appearance. It made me pretty. Unfortunately, it also makes people violent towards me."

She seemed like she was being honest, yet... You had never heard of a disease like that. It didn't seem possible. A disease that could change one's appearance and make people violent towards oneself?

Wait. that could actually explain the dead student that looked like her! Maybe she was afflicted with the same illness. It would also explain the sheer violence of the murder she was a victim of. Maybe she knows something about it.

"Did you hear about Tomie Kawakami?"

She froze momentarily, her eyes wide. She quickly regained her composure, but you noticed nonetheless. "I have heard of her. Why do you ask?"

"You look exactly like her, I know it's not a coincidence. Just tell me, please! I'm housing you, I have to at least know who you are."

She sighed. "You got me. The disease I was injected with was hers. After the incident, I started to feel a strong connection to the name "Tomie Kawakami". My actual birth name is Ayaka Nakamura. My sister, Yasuko, resented me ever since it happened."

"That really doesn't sound like a disease. How does science explain any of this? Why was this schoolgirl infected with such a thing??? .. what are you?" You were absolutely overwhelmed, but you tried to gain even more information in case it could be useful.

Tomie stared blankly at you for a second. "I don't know the answer to any of those questions, save for the last; I am Tomie."

It was a simple and vague answer, yet, it felt like the right answer. You were satisfied with it, anyways.

With that, she went back to her-... Your book. You were about to leave when Tomie called out to you: "So about that caviar and foie gras we talked about~"

You couldn't have stopped the giggle that escaped your mouth even if you tried. You looked at the clock; 9:43 am. "It'd be more appropriate to have breakfast, would it not? Oh! I know! We can go back to that cafe from yesterday!"

Tomie had the audacity to look disappointed, but nodded nonetheless. "It could be fun! Let's hope the deaf bri-ish man isn't there this time!"

"Tomie, he wasn't deaf, he was blind.."

"Oh, I wonder why his music was so bad then." She deadpanned.

You managed to hold in the laugh this time, but she still saw your struggle. "Let's just get going, shall we?" You extended an arm towards Tomie, which she took with a small smirk.

Things are never boring when she's around, that's for sure. No matter what was up with her, you truly considered her a friend. Surviving traumatic events together really does bring people closer.

**author's notes: I'm sorry for the shorter chapter, I really struggled on that one! I chose the Tomie from "Old and ugly" because I wasn't confortable with Tomie not having a canonical age. This Tomie is between 20 and 24, since normal Tomie is somewhere in high school age, so barely legal at best, which I did not like. This will be a slow burn by the way**