A/N: Heya guys and gals, just a short story about Ryuko's time at Ox Boarding School, taking place six months before the anime starts. This story will be maybe 6 chapters at most, just a bit of a play-around of what Ryuko's life at her Boarding School might've been like. It shouldn't be taken seriously, so relax and enjoy!
Boarding Schools Aren't Much Fun
By TwiddledSpire
Chapter 1: With Love, Isshin Matoi
The bell rang and the students stood up and left, except for one. She was a bad-tempered girl who had grown up without proper parenting and had become perhaps the fiercest and most feared student on campus.
The top name on the blackboard gave her name, a frustrated scrawl of kanji spelled out 'Matoi Ryuko', and the names of other students, aspiring delinquents were currently being hunted down by the teacher and thrown into the detention room one by one.
A 'Watanabe Junichi' was thrown into the room face first and went sliding right across the room, his supposed partner in crime 'Hashimoto Daichi' was unceremoniously thrown in after. Both picked themselves up with a grunt and visibly shrunk when they saw the black haired girl sitting by the window at the back of the room, a dark scowl on her admittedly attractive face.
Daichi nudged his friend to sit as far away as possible from Ryuko and they nervously sat at the front near the door.
A few more students were thrown in until each name was crossed off the board. With a triumphant cry the hulking PE teacher strode over to his desk and slammed one foot down on the chair and leaned his weight a little over the desk.
"Well, well, well, we have a full house of cards in here don't we?" he sneered, narrow eyes tracing over each student, ranging from nervous first-timers to unimpressed veterans, the occasional snoring idiot drooling over the desk.
A thin arm of one kid went up and tentatively asked, "When will we be leaving sir? I don't wanna miss dinner." A string of snorts and scoffs came from the gathered class. Two guys prodded and poked at the kid.
"Aw, don't keep him here too long sir, he might miss his bedtime – wouldn't want Mama Miyamoto to come storming in would we?" They both burst into laughter and the kid just shrank a little more, face flushed.
"Shut up." came a deep voice from the back. Ryuko had got bored of pretending these losers didn't exist, she didn't need them keeping her from leaving this place as soon as possible either. Her voice sent shivers up most of the class's backs and they all settled down, casting nervous looks her way.
Mr Oshiro gave a small smirk, Ryuko Matoi was an untameable girl but she knew how to shut up a bunch of rowdy students with her voice alone. Being a member of the infamous Red Stripes and the top delinquent in the school boosted her status and any disrespect was usually handled with fists and humiliation. The number one rule of the school was you just didn't mess with the girl.
She turned back to the window and her eyes bored into the red sky.
Father… what could you possibly want now?
"Miss Matoi makes an excellent point," Oshiro boomed, "each of you have deliberately broken the rules here at this respectable school, we are one of the best boarding schools in this fine country and we don't need losers like you tarnishing our good name!" He snatched a broken piece of chalk from his desk and began writing away at a blinding speed, every students throwing their hands to their ears when the screeching of the chalk became too much, when he was done every student (save for Ryuko, who knew what to expect by now) groaned and began mumbling.
"Shut up! You have no right to complain about the situation you've put yourselves in – if it were up to me I'd have each of you going for a 50 mile trek through the mountains, a little community service at this school is far more kind of a punishment than you deserve!"
The categories on the black board ranged from simple classroom cleaning duties to cleaning toilets to carrying the rubble from the destroyed academic block (an overzealous prank gone horribly wrong) to missed vacation time during school holidays. Each category sucked and veterans knew that the worst offenders would suffer from either toilet cleaning or rubble cleaning. They shifted in their seats and waited as Mr Oshiro finished distributing each student to a job.
By the fifth day of cleaning her homeroom Ryuko was well and truly bored, usually she actually found cleaning to be therapeutic but she was too caught up by the letter her father had sent a week ago. For what must have been the hundredth time she went over it again in her mind.
Ryuko, it has been a while since I saw you last. I am sorry I refused you permission to come home last time you had your school holidays but I was extremely busy preparing something for you. At the time it was too dangerous (for many reasons) to allow you to come back, but I would be more than happy to see my daughter for your next break.
We don't have the best relationship I know, but it is crucial you come back – I believe you break up in 2 weeks if I recall correctly? The reason why I sent you to that boarding school will be explained when you come home, know that I do care for you and would appreciate it if you kept your head down at school to avoid any more holiday privileges being taken away.
The details of the situation are too sensitive to be discussed by letters, besides, this is something you need to see for yourself – a sensible girl like you would not believe something of this calibre without proof. Hopefully though, my calculations should be correct concerning your measurements, if not, well…
I'll think of something.
With love, Isshin Matoi
Ryuko cocked her cleaning broom fully upright and leaned her weight on it and gazed past the window. She felt a mesh of emotions too complicated to pin down. Perhaps frustrated would be her best guess. Frustration at being turned away again and again by her father who cared too much about his studies than his own daughter, years of pent up hurt and confusion resulting in her taking her anger out at people who may or may not have deserved a beating.
Her head dropped down on her arms, and her black hair fell over her like a small curtain as she tried to completely block everything else out but the situation at hand.
What could possibly be so important that her father had asked after 3 whole years of not seeing her that he summoned her now?
She grunted and pushed off her broom, vigorously sweeping at the floor, her cleaning partner blinked and retreated to what he hoped was a safe corner and watched as she seemingly disappeared under a plume of dust from her cleaning. When Ryuko raised her broom above her head and brought it crashing down on a nearby chai, it crunched fully under the force of the blow and snapped in half as she roared in a furious rage. The boy went scampering out the room in a panicked hurry, looking for perhaps the one person who could calm her down.
He quickly returned with Kazuki, co-head of the Red Stripes and perhaps the only person who understood Ryuko. Calm and unfazed by his leader's behaviour he strode forward and made a gesture for the other boy to go somewhere else for now.
Pulling the cigarette from his lips he surveyed the damage. A broken broom and chair. He was surprised there was nothing else, oh well, maybe Matoi was getting better at handling her moods. She'd been in one all week, an improvement from her last one which had been 2 whole months.
"What's got you so worked up now, hm?" He pointed to the door behind with his thumb and with a small smirk went on, "poor Keiichi-kun probably shat himself trying to run away."
Ryuko let go of the broom and it fell to floor with a clatter. She didn't turn around just yet and tried to gather herself first, then she turned to face Kazuki who eyed her calmly behind his glasses and threw his cigarette to the floor, carefully treading on it.
"It's that incomprehensible bastard of a man who calls himself my father – he wants to see me. To come home next break."
Kazuki gave a small sigh, well aware of the situation between Matoi and her father, like many students here at the boarding school, she had a somewhat strained relationship with her parents, it was just something that happened when you sent your kid away to live in a countryside with a bunch of idiots. Most kids however got to see their parents and treasured the breaks they got to have, Kazuki could maybe count a grand total of three times Ryuko had been away to see her dad in the last seven years, each visit no more than two or three days at a time.
Matoi was not an overly complicated person, she wore her emotions on her sleeves and had an awful poker face. It was easy to see years of rejection and neglect had made her violent and unpredictable.
"Isn't this a good thing? It's been a while since you saw him last, has it not?"
"No, this is… something more. He wants to tell me why I was sent to live here in the first place and that he's been working on something 'big', something more important than me."
Kazuki cocked a brow and leaned his weight on his left leg," So you're not looking forward to finally finding out the answer? Whatever this thing is he's been hiding he is now ready to share with you, surely this means you can have a – forgive me for saying – a more healthy relationship with him now?"
The girl scowled. "I just…" She rubbed at the back of her head and tried to find the words. "I guess, this is big, it's something I've waited my whole life to find out and now it's in front of me…"
"You're feeling overwhelmed." It wasn't a question. Most of his talks with Matoi went like this when she was in a mood, ask a few questions and watch as she figured out how she felt about whatever what ate her up until he pointed her to the conclusion of her feelings.
Ryuko let out a breath through her nose and stood straighter, the tension falling away a few layers at a time. "Anything about the gang I need to be concerned about while you're here?"
Kazuki hooked a leg of a chair around his own and pulled it closer before sitting on it. Ryuko pulled her own up and sat with the chair backwards. "Not really, the usual stuff y'know? A few students trying to stand up for themselves getting pinned down, although Yuuichi came to me the other day concerning a few students joining the Capsules."
Ryuko scoffed. The Capsules were all bark and no bite, they typically picked fights with the lower ranks of the Stripes but had yet to stand up to her or Kazuki. Although it wasn't official, Ryuko was the leader of the Stripes, she was the toughest and possessed a vicious side that no-one wanted to cross, though Kazuki usually looked after the gang and made sure they kept their act together as Ryuko was prone to skiving off gang duties, being the loner at heart she was.
"The Capsules are no threat, just make sure their not beating up any innocent kids, I don't wanna have to put it writing that we police the school when the Capsules get a little too feisty."
"Anything else?" Kazuki leaned back in his chair and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his tall nose a bit further.
"Have you found out what the Capsules are actually up to, if they're doing anything at all?"
Kazuki waved it off. "Like you always say, all bark and no bite. None of my sources have found anything other than a few beaten victims and broken bones." He smiled at her. "In other news Takeshi managed to sneak in more of those paints you like, we were all thinking of spray painting the Capsules supposed hideout, as a way of calling them out y'know? Doubtful you'll have to show if things get rough."
Ryuko just smirked.
Gah! Just a little over 200 stories for the KILL la KILL community? There's barely anything to read and this anime SO deserves it – if you guys have any ideas go for it - help grow the community!
Drop a review if you liked it (or didn't lol)!