The Monster of the Monomo Family

“Kaito! Kaito!” A faint voice said in the distance.

Kaden had run over to Kaito, and turned him around to face him. He had got the win by default, as a result of Kaito fainting, but he really did not want it. Not like this, at least.

“Kaito! Kaito! Kaito!” Sounded again.

Kaden was now frantically shaking Kaito in an attempt to wake him up. He was sure his Solid Air Bubble had not hit him. It couldn’t have. Yet, somehow, Kaden felt like this was his fault.

“Kaito! Kaito! Look!” A small Haido called out, holding out her closed hands.

An even smaller Kaito looked up at her as she held her hands in front of him. He looked intently at her hands, wondering whatever could possibly be hiding in there, as she slowly opened it. Kaito jumped back and shrieked, as what she revealed was a big black spider. Haido cackled, and Kaito started crying.

“It’s not funny!” He sobbed. “I don’t like them, they’re monsters!”

“They’re not monsters,” Haido corrected him, “they’re just misunderstood.”

She nodded confidently, but her smile faded when she realised Kaito did not stop sobbing.

“Hey, if there was a real monster I’d protect you from it,” she said, trying to sound comforting, “you know that right?”

Kaito thought for a moment, then mumbled,

“You’re just saying that.”

Haido seemed slightly disappointed at his words, but scooted a bit closer after letting the spider leave her hand.

“I’m your big sister, so I’ll always protect you.”

She wrapped her arms around Kaito, who stopped crying. He let out a small “hmph” but put his hands on Haido’s.

“I'm sorry for scaring you.” She said softly.

They sat together for a moment, while Kaito calmed down, until a woman called from inside the big, old-looking house behind them.

“Children! Dinner is ready!”

In stark contrast to the children, the woman's dark hair was neat and sleekly tied in a bun. She was very tall and thin, and seemed to have a permanent look of disgust on her face.

Kaito and Haido stood up to enter their house, but their mother stopped them.

“You look filthy” she said sternly, pursing her lips, “go clean yourselves before you sit at my table.”

“Yes mother.” Haido nodded, pulling Kaito, who was still wiping away some tears, along by his hand.

As they made their way up the creaking staircase, another kid passed them. He was much taller than them, with big round glasses, which made his eyes look like they were bulging. When he noticed Haido and Kaito, the kid’s face contorted in a disgusted sneer, but when Haido hissed at him, he practically fell down the stairs, trying to get away from them.

“Does Pers not like us?” Kaito asked sincerely.

Haido decided not to answer, and kept walking.

Once they were in the bathroom, Haido put Kaito on a wooden box, near the sink. He himself wasn't big enough to reach it. She grabbed his hands silently and started washing them.

“I can do it myself, I'm nearly seven.” Kaito pouted.

Haido didn’t say anything and continued to absent-mindedly wash Kaito’s hands. It seems she only processed what he had said after she was done cleaning them.

“That’s right, your birthday is next week!” She exclaimed.

“Do you think mother will get me a present this year?” Kaito asked softly.

Haido hesitated for a moment, before answering.

“I'll get you the best present ever.” She said confidently as she formed a wide grin on her face, showing all of her sharp teeth in the mirror.

Kaito smiled back at her reflection and nodded.

As she was washing her own hands, Haido’s eyes suddenly widened, as if she had just remembered something really important.

“You might be getting your power soon!” She said excitedly, shaking Kaito a little, who was still on the box in front of her.

Kaito, however, did not seem to share in her excitement. She quickly and frantically waved her hands to dry them, splashing droplets of water everywhere, then turned Kaito around to face her.

“What’s wrong baby brother?” She asked in a mockingly serious tone.

Kaito looked down.

“What if my power will be weak?” He asked sombrely. “Mother will be disappointed if I'm not as strong as the others.”

He started fiddling with the buttons of his shirt.

“Nobody will ever be as strong as your big sis.” Haido said as she booped his nose. “But I’m sure my baby brother will come very close.” She added, ruffling Kaito’s hair even more.

Kaito seemed slightly consoled by this, though notably still worried.

“Are you done yet? What is taking so long?” The tall woman said sternly, having appeared in the bathroom opening.

“Sorry mother.” Haido said quickly, as she lifted Kaito off the box and pushed it to its original place with her feet.

The woman clacked her tongue, annoyed, before heading back.

They made their way downstairs, where they joined a group of thirteen other children, all of various ages, around a large rectangular table. Haido made sure that Kaito said next to her, by scaring off one of the bigger looking kids that sat in “his place”.

“Maggot…” she said under her breath, as the boy sat down somewhere else, looking rather fiercely at Haido.

All the kids proceeded to sit neatly around the table, with the tall woman at the head. Quietly they started eating their dinner, which consisted of green mush, next to an almost indistinguishable beige mush. The complete silence was only occasionally broken by someone clinking their fork on a plate.

Then, one of the kids spoke up, out of nowhere.

“Mrs Monomo?” She asked quietly.

“Call me mother.” Mrs Monomo said sternly, without even looking at the child.

“M-mother,” the kid quickly corrected herself, “I have finished my plate, may I excuse myself?”

She looked down at her mostly empty plate. Mrs Monomo didn’t react, and kept eating her own food, which looked suspiciously less mushy. The kid sank back into her seat defeatedly, looking like she was fighting hard to hold something back.

After everyone was done eating, Mrs Monomo stood up.

“All rise and get ready for bed.” She said coldy.

Everyone did as they were told and rose.

“Except for you.” She added, looking at the small girl that spoke up before.

She gulped and sat back down quietly.

Kaito and Haido lived in an orphanage, though they themselves were not orphans. Their father, who was better known as the hero Viridian Fortitude, had built the orphanage before they were even born. Neither of them had any memory of him, since he passed in battle, when Haido was merely one year old. From the stories of the older kids, Haido could gather that the place got a lot gloomier when Mrs Monomo started running it. Not that the other kids talked to them much. They hated the both of them, claiming that they were obviously mother’s favourite. Not realising that this was in fact the complete opposite of the truth. Mrs Monomo was extra strict of the “filth” her husband had left her.

The next day, Haido started devising her plan “Operation Birthday Boy”.

She started by carefully observed Mrs Monomo, noting down her schedule to find the perfect time to sneak out. While the schedule changed per day, Haido had found a few opportunities that overlapped. Finding this out, however, took a few days, but she now had a solid plan.

On August 10th, three days before Kaito’s seventh birthday, Haido decided to put this plan into action.

“I’ll be away for a little bit tomorrow,” she told a sleepy Kaito that night before bed, “I’ll be back fast though, okay?”

“Okay…” Kaito yawned, before dozing off to sleep.

Haido softly patted his head softly, before going to her own bed, where she waited.

She waited a few hours, laying uncomfortably in her bed, before she decided it was ready to go. Hurriedly she climbed out of bed, careful to not wake anyone. Slowly, she crept into the hallway, towards Mrs Monomo’s study. Haido took a deep breath, before cautiously opening the door.

“Anything for my darling baby brother.” She told herself, as she sneaked toward a drawer, containing Mrs Monomo’s wallet.

She pulled out a needle, with some difficulty, having not yet developed her power that well, and started picking the lock that was on it, when suddenly the light turned on.

Shocked, Haido turned to the door, with a guilty look on her face. There she saw Mrs Monomo, accompanied by Pers.

“It’s not what it looks like.” She said, awkwardly.

Haido struggled wildly, as she was dragged by her collar, downstairs, out the door, and into the shed.

“You’ll stay here!” Mrs Monomo said furiously, her lips pursed tightly.

“What? For how long?” Haido pleaded.

“Until I let you out!” Mrs Monomo snapped back.

“What is this a prison?!” Haido complained.

“I’ll make you wish you were in prison, you filthy rat!” Mrs Monomo retorted, slamming the door shut.

“I have to be back tomorrow! I promised my baby brother I would be back quickly!” Haido cried behind the closed door.

There was no response.

Defeated, she slumped down to the shed’s cold floor.

“Pers... I’ll kill that maggot…” She said darkly, leaning against the door.

The following days, the door was only opened when Mrs Monomo shoved Haido’s mush in. Haido kept pleading to go out and see Kaito, but Mrs Monomo did not say a word to her. Before she realised it, it was already the night of August 12th. The night before Kaito’s birthday.

Haido laid uncomfortable on the hard wooden floor. In only a few hours Kaito would turn seven, and she didn’t have the present she promised him, nor had she even shown her face to him. She couldn’t bear to think how Kaito must be feeling now.

Suddenly, she jumped up, and shook her head confidently.

“I have to do it.” She mumbled to herself. “For him.”

She pulled out a needle, and started picking the locked door.

“Even if I get in trouble, it’s worth it for him.”

After a while of picking at the lock, the door slowly crept open. Haido took a deep breath, sneaked towards the gate and started climbing it. She had done it.

She ran towards the nearest city, where she knew there was a toy store. The road was deserted. The time had to have been around 23:30, thought Haido, sleepily rubbing her eyes, as she stood in front of the store. She was eyeing a small teddy bear, that stood behind the window. Haido nodded decisively and pulled out a needle from her arm. Carefully, she walked closer to the window and started carving out a small circle in front of the teddy bear.

Slowly but surely she got through. She put her hand through, and a deafening alarm started ringing. Panicked, she nabbed the teddy bear as fast as she could and then bolted away.

She arrived home out of breath, looking behind multiple times, to make sure she wasn’t followed. Looking up at the house, she noticed that the light in their room was turned on. Haido gulped, as she slowly walked closer.

“It’s worth it for him.” She thought, as she carefully opened the door.

“I don't care if I'm in trouble, as long as Kaito is happy.” She reassured herself.

What she was expecting inside was a very angry mother. Instead, she only heard screams of terror and growls, coming from upstairs. She didn't hesitate for a moment and rushed up the stairs, to the bedrooms. The door was open, and Mrs Monomo stood on the outside, peering into the room.

“Kaito!” She yelled out, as she ran over to where Mrs Monomo stood.

Standing above Kaito’s bed stood a huge monster. From the shadows, only its narrow, glowing yellow eyes were visible. Four heroes were in the room, two of which were protecting the children, the others trying to detain the monster.

Haido let out a silent gasp and dropped the teddy bear to the floor.

“No, no, Kaito can’t be–” she thought, tears forming in her eyes.

“Kaito!” She cried out.

The monster growled at her, making its immensely large teeth show. She tried to run forward, but Mrs Monomo stopped her.

“Stay back child. Let the heroes handle it.” She snarled. “I’ll deal with you later.”

Despite the ordeal, she seemed surprisingly calm.

One of the heroes took out a spear and stabbed the monster in its big hairy claw. It cried out in pain. It’s glowing eyes darted across the room and landed on Haido. It growled once more.

Then Haido saw it. The eyes, they were…

“K-Kaito?” She called out.

The monster growled.

She pushed her way past Mrs Monomo and ran towards the nearest hero.

“Please stop, that’s my baby brother!” She cried.

“Move kid, it's dangerous.” The hero said, throwing a ball of electricity at Kaito, who howled in pain.

“Stop! Please!” She yelled, but the hero ignored her.

Instead, another hero grabbed her from behind and started pulling her backwards.

“No,” she thought, “I have to do something. I have to save him.”

She bit down hard on the hero’s hand, upon which she let her go with a shriek. Haido quickly threw a large needle in the shoulder of the spear-wielding hero. Without a moment’s hesitation, all the heroes turned on her. They tried to grab her, but Haido had covered herself in spikes now. She huddled into a ball, like a metal hedgehog.

Seeing the heroes advance on her, something in Kaito snapped. He let out a thundering, guttural growl, and without thinking, swiped at the heroes. Three of them flew backwards, into the wall. They laid unmoving.

Kaito stood in shock, but the last hero didn’t hesitate. She grew her arm, until it was barely smaller than Kaito’s. Before she could attack, Kaito grabbed the spiked ball that Haido was huddled in, and busted open the wall. The cool night air and moonlight swept in, illuminating the horrified looks on everyone's faces.

Kaito looked back on the children, the three motionless heroes, the lonely remaining hero, and Mrs Monomo. He let out one last sombre growl, before jumping out of the house.
Kaito ran, as far as he could, with Haido cradled in his huge paw. He didn’t know where he was going, just that he needed to get away. As far away as he could.

At last, when he was too exhausted to keep moving, he collapsed forward and turned back into a small, shivering boy. Haido opened her eyes and looked around. Kaito broke out in tears.

“Kaito, are you okay?” Haido called out, when she saw his body in ripped up clothes.

She hurriedly crawled over to him and held him in her arms.

“I’m a monster.” Kaito sniffled into her shoulder.

Haido shook her head, but was unsure of what to say to him.

“Those heroes,” Kaito cried, “I killed them. They’re dead because of me.”

“We don’t know that for sure.” Haido told him, even though she also assumed this was the case.

“Besides, they got what they deserved.” She said darkly, clenching her fist tightly.

“Don’t say that.” Kaito wept.

“I’m scared…” He said, holding on to Haido even more tightly.

“You’re safe with me,” she assured him, “I won’t let anyone lay a finger on my baby brother again. Ever.”

Kaito slowly opened his eyes, to see the worried faces of Kaden, Amene, Satoku, and Haido.

“Where am I?” He mumbled sleepily.

“The hospital wing,” Amene answered, “You’ve been out for a few hours.”

He hazily looked at all of them again.

“Big sis…” He said.

Without a word, she wrapped her arms around Kaito. Kaito wrapped his arms around her, softly.

“I think it’s time for us to leave.” Amene said, almost as hazily as Kaito.

“What, but he just woke–” Satoku exclaimed, but Kaden dragged him outside the room with him.

“I’m sorry,” Haido cried once everyone had left, “I know you’re strong. Stronger than me, even. I just…”

“Thank you.” Kaito said softly. “Thank you for being my big sister…”

That was all either of them could muster to say.