lovestruck | Maki Zenin

❝𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑❞

[short flashback & more angst 🤤]

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"So she's the one?" 

A large, muscular young man asked the crew of men in black suits in front of you. You were confused and shocked by everything that had happened - your stepdad taken in by the police, your mom and siblings leaving you alone in the house. sense.

And now, a huge guy stood right in front of you, surrounded by a few men who acted as bodyguards. Clutching your teddy bear tightly, you wished you could go back home and play with your stepdad again while your two older siblings helped your mother with household chores.

"Hello, you're [Name], right?" The dark-haired man crouched down to your height, giving you a soft look that offered slight comfort. "Y-yes..." You nervously responded.

"Your daddy instructed us to take you with us to protect you from your mother... so why don't you come over?" He asked while stroking your hair and smiling at you. You could smell the cigarette on his breath, which reminded you a lot of your stepdad.

The only thing you could think about was your dad. Not how your mother and siblings left you in the house and went to a different place; you figured that one day, they'd leave you with the man they hated the most.

"Why... why was my dad taken away?" You asked.

"Your dad didn't do very good things... so he told me to take care of you while he's gone, okay?" The man answered your question. You frowned upon hearing that your father wasn't a good man. Well , you knew it was true; of course, he was an abusive man. But you refused to believe most of it because of how well he treated you compared to everyone else - plus, you only saw him lay a finger on someone once or twice .

"Dad wasn't a good man?" You inquired with an even deeper frown.

"That's what the cops think..." He stood up straight and unlocked his car. "But your dad told me he wants you to move on from him and live your own life from now... which is why I'm here ." His bigger hand held onto yours.

"What's your name mister?"

"Toji Fushiguro, call me Toji."

Toji Fushiguro. A man whom you wished you never met at all - not that he was a bad person to you. Rather, he opened up a new version of you, a version you'd come to regret in years. A version of you that you wished you had never seen.

A monster.

"I'm not a monster, am I?" You asked Toji while looking down at the body of a man whom you had just murdered. Toji chuckled deeply to himself, tossing the cigarette in his mouth away and stuffing his hands in his pockets . He walked toward you and placed his large hands on your shoulder.  "Not at all, [Name]. Humans have a naturally violent nature in them... it's completely normal for you to kill someone, don't you think? After all, you wanted to kill him, didn't you?"

Toji was right in a sense. After killing, you often felt fulfilled and satisfied. But that feeling wouldn't last long as you felt bloodlust all over again. It had become some sort of an addiction – a very unhealthy one.

Things changed when you m et Maki. Aside from killing, Maki was one of the only people who made you feel at ease. You had never expected it to happen, but you had developed a detrimental obsession with her. You feared that one day she' d leave you for someone else. It would kill you every day when you saw someone looking at her or talking to her in a certain way.

The only way to solve that was by killing those people.

But you thought it was normal. After all, Toji didn't seem to mind that you were doing so. However, as time went on, you were slowly reaching your breaking point. Not only were you mentally absolutely insane, but your paranoia was also getting worse by the day.

"DON'T KILL ME!!"

The harsh cries of the young woman whom you had murdered for mistakenly thinking Maki was single and asking her out. The words she yelled at you that day rang in your head.

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!!"

Your brain replayed those words every single day. You had been completely brainwashed into thinking that what you were doing was right, and you tried desperately to convince yourself that you weren't in the wrong.

You were used to the names: crazy, freak, lunatic, insane, and all sorts. But being called a monster felt different. It was a word you had persuaded yourself you weren't for the longest time.

Your world was slowly crumbling around you, and you were struggling to bear the weight of your own actions. Furthermore, your secret wasn't a hidden secret. It was obvious to everyone around you that there was something you were hiding.

Maki not knowing your secret was the only reason you were alive.

"This is Maki. Maki, this is [Name], one of my high school best friends."

The very first time you laid your eyes on her, you instantly felt your heart throb. She was too good to be true, her beauty ethereal. You couldn't take your eyes off her ever since.

Your obsession began when you both started acknowledging your feelings for each other. Everything was about Maki; your mind was filled with only thoughts of her. You never wanted her to leave your side. You wanted her all to yourself.

Maki would never imagine that the "I'd kill for you" jokes were real.

You couldn't even look at yourself in the mirror without feeling guilty.

You weren't a monster.

You were far worse.