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Honestly, in this world, it's a small wonder Monaca's nearly insane.
She's always loved despair. Loved it ever since her birth, when her parents must have introduced her to her older brother.
He must have been waiting for them to deny it. To say 'April Fools!' and allow everything to return back to normal.
That was the first day Monaca knew she wasn't wanted.
Is all of this just a cry for attention?
Maybe. Maybe she just wants someone to sit down and take note of her, the younger Towa child nobody's ever given a damn about before. Not like she expects there to be some sort of epiphany, where her parents will welcome her back into the fold.
So she sits, and plays quiet like a good little girl, while with each word she shatters deeper inside.
She's not the only one broken.
This comes as a strange sort of surprise to her when she meets four other children who seem to be shattered along similar fault lines.
There's Masaru, a boy trying so hard to be strong, even though he's just a weak child inside.
There's Jataro, a boy hiding his true self behind a mask, so convinced he's ugly even though he's not.
There's Kotoko, a girl who's lost all of her sense of self to men she never wanted.
And there's Nagisa, a good little boy who tries so hard to gain affection he'll never receive.
She relates to Nagisa, then. Both of them appealing to parents with hearts cold as stone.
"You're a good leader, Masaru."
He's the easiest to play. He's so simple to understand, so easy to manipulate, like putty in her hands. He'll do whatever she says.
"Really?" he asks, eyes sparkling with a hint of the childlike innocence they once held. "Thank you, Monaca!"
Each smile is a fresh reminder that what she's doing is right, and she lives for them.
"Eew, Jataro!" she teases, eyes crinkling in faux humor.
She hopes Jataro knows they're just teasing him. He's nice, really. And not nearly as ugly as he claims.
(So what if she doesn't cry when he dies? She never really has cried for a long time anyway. Just staged tears, made to garner sympathy)
Kotoko Itsugi hates her.
She's not blind. She can tell it.
So she'll push her buttons. Use her trigger word as a weapon.
Because Monaca Towa is nothing if not manipulative, and she'll do her damnedest to keep it that way.
Nagisa is confusing, sometimes.
He's smart but blindly loyal. He'll stare at her with longing eyes, but never actively defy her.
He is an enigma, but an enigma she can control.
So she'll use him. She'll control and play with him until she can win.
What she feels for Junko Enoshima can only be likened to a type of love she's never felt.
Her older brother is a scumbag, she knows. He's the kind of guy who'd be arrested for downloading stuff on his computer, but nobody gave a crap because of his last name.
Now maybe he's dead.
But Junko Enoshima is the big sister she always wanted. Junko cares. Junko is as manipulative and cunning as she is, and someone she can truly look up to.
So she helps bring despair to Towa City. She helps continue the tragedy, and smiles with each body they find.
It's another body that isn't Junko's.
Because even if Junko is dead, she'll always be in Monaca's heart.
Just like a true big sister should be.