As expected, Mako had scolded Ryuko for acting so reckless when she had just recovered from her accident. Ryuko wasn't going to ever admit this, but having her protective roommate fussing over her made her feel quite happy because it only meant that someone cared about her. It felt nice to be important to someone. Ryuko knew better than to take Mako's friendship for granted, but she honestly had no idea how to show her appreciation or even give something in return.

Ryuko felt quite useless when she thought about it. She was that roommate who ate the fridge empty but never went grocery shopping, the kind of person who didn't replace an empty roll of toilet paper or left her dishes in the sink. She was fine with squeezing the last bits of toothpaste out of an almost empty tube for weeks before she bought a new one. And then she would forget it in her bag and continue squeezing out non-existent toothpaste because she was too lazy to retrieve it.

Living with her wasn't easy and she knew that, and Mako had to put up with that. She regularly complained and scolded Ryuko for her messy behavior, but still would pick up Ryuko's dirty clothes and fill the fridge with food again. She cooked and cleaned; the only helpful thing Ryuko did was killing spiders and other insects. If not for this redeeming quality, she was sure that Mako would have thrown her out long ago.

But then again, Mako was probably too kind even for that.

After everything Ryuko put her through, what with getting involved with Nui and the accident, the football player thought about doing something nice for her roommate for a change.

When she had broken into the botanic garden of the gardening club to steal roses for Nui, she had noticed some of Mako's favorite flowers growing near the red roses, sunflowers. They were so bright yellow that Ryuko had been afraid for a second that someone had turned on the lights upon her trespassing. But after a closer look, she had realized how pretty they were, probably a result of intensive care and fertilizers.

So when she sneaked into the botanic garden again after making sure that it was empty – it was already evening after all – she directly walked to the sunflower section without hesitation, having memorized the path from last time where she had wandered around for about ten minutes between green and greener before she found the roses.

The sunflowers weren't hard to find, almost glowing in the dim light. Ryuko would probably feel guilty about cutting some off if it weren't for the obnoxious people that were in the gardening club, who had been grating on her nerves for a while now.

She was reaching out for the third stem when she smelled it. A sickeningly sweet smell, so artificial and overwhelming that even Ryuko's insensitive nose couldn't ignore. Just like the person carrying the scent, it demanded to be acknowledged, impossible to avoid.

Her hands started shaking and she tightened her grip on the flowers, hoping to get some strength from them as they reminded her of Mako. She would know how to defuse the situation and get her out of there alive.

"Ah, look," a high-pitched voice drawled behind her, "if it isn't the traitor who sold me out to my step-sister."

Ryuko could feel something cold running down her spine, causing her to shudder. But she still hadn't turned around. Maybe this was just her imagination. Maybe Nui wasn't even there, it was the strong smell of the bio-engineered roses that made Ryuko believe she was because they were her scent.

"Are you afraid," was teasingly whispered into her ear, and she felt fingers threading through her hair, scraping at her scalp. What usually would elicit a content groan from Ryuko now only caused her to shiver in discomfort.

Her desperate attempt to hold on to an illusion was shattered when a cold hand sneaked beneath her shirt and caressed her skin, goosebumps erupting beneath her icy touch.

"Why are you here," Ryuko hoarsely said, finding herself unable to move. She didn't understand her own inactive body, she should have pushed Nui away by now, but why was she standing there frozen? She abruptly jerked her head when blurry memories began to flood her mind, memories of her angrily storming away from Nui, recklessly driving her car and then...blackness.

The last time she had pushed Nui away, she had almost died. And Ryuko realized that she wasn't okay, she wasn't over her accident. Even if her body had recovered quickly, her mind hadn't, and she hadn't noticed how much it had gotten to her until now when she was facing the trigger of her accident. All this time, she had been repressing those memories, distracting herself with football and school work, sometimes thinking about her new weird relationships with Nonon and Satsuki. Were they friends now?

After all Satsuki had done for her, from securing her scholarship to taking care of her when she had overexerted herself after football practice, it was only natural for Ryuko to not be able to stop thinking about her. Satsuki didn't have to do those things despite what she said about being in the student council, but she still did. And somehow, it comforted Ryuko and made her feel safer about her own future at Honnouji University. Now if only Nui wasn't there, she could get her life back to normal and focus on her studies.

"Why shouldn't I be here," Nui murmured, almost softly, pulling her fingers out of Ryuko's hair and letting them glide along her neck, shoulder and arm before she took Ryuko's hand and intertwined their fingers, holding their hands up to inspect them. She propped her chin on Ryuko's shoulder from behind, her voice low but light. "Don't you know that I can't go home without being watched now? Tell me, Ryuko, why did you have to betray me like that?"

"I..." Ryuko felt her body itching all over. She wanted to move, but couldn't command her feet to stir. Only her brain seemed to be able to halfway function. "I didn't betray you."

Nui's grip on her hand tightened, squeezing her fingers to the point of almost crushing them, but Ryuko was too proud to utter sounds of pain, so she just closed her eyes and endured it.

"How dare you lie to me now."

"I didn't," Ryuko said through gritted teeth. "I was never on your side, so there was no bond to betray."

Nui let out a shrill laugh close to Ryuko's ear, which physically pained her.

"I see how it is," Nui sighed once she calmed down, letting go of Ryuko's hand, but still keeping her front pressed to Ryuko's back. She whispered against her neck, "Introducing you to Satsuki was a mistake I didn't reckon with...how could I know that she would play the envious sister and long for the same thing her sibling had?"

"Satsuki has nothing to do with this," Ryuko muttered, feeling her numbness wearing off. She shrugged Nui off and took a few distancing steps away from her, staring at the sunflowers in her hands. Mako would want her to be levelheaded now.

"Why do you keep lying to me?" Nui said with a pout, her eyes catching sight of the flowers in her hand. "So plain and boring, that's how you like your friends now, don't you? And you had so much potential, Ryuko, so much potential...but the way you talk now, so disgustingly rational and dull, it smells like Satsuki's doing."

"I already said she's got nothing to do with this," Ryuko said, her voice getting louder in aggravation. "Leave her out of this."

But Nui just laughed, high and exaggerated. "My, my, so touchy about her. And you still want me to believe that there isn't more?"

Ryuko took a deep breath, focusing her eyes on the bright yellow petals of the sunflowers. "As you said, isn't it your own fault she got involved?"

"Eh?"

Nui faltered, having not expected Ryuko to dismiss her and turn the tables.

"That night," Ryuko quietly began, "when you almost got Sanageyama killed. You shouldn't have taken me to Satsuki's apartment. You should have known that there was a chance of me running into her."

"I expected her to stay with the loser at the hospital," Nui tensely said, now no longer sweetly smiling.

"He was put in an artificial coma, there was nothing she could do for him," Ryuko continued, noticing how Nui's mood had shifted. Now she only had to find out what exactly made the other girl so mad. "So that was the night I met her. Way before you introduced us to each other. Maybe I should thank you for that? Because how else would someone like me be able to get close to her?"

"Shut up," Nui hissed, having shed all pretenses of being innocent and clueless. "Don't think that everything is about you. Satsuki is only capable of thinking about herself, and everything she does is for herself, so don't be fooled by her big fancy words. I've been a thorn in her side ever since my Mama married her pathetic father. And I wouldn't put it past her to do anything to get me out of the picture. Including using you."

Ryuko just emptily laughed, which threw off Nui even more. "I'm just an idiot who followed you into your bed. What could she possibly gain from me?"

"I already said it's not about you," Nui shook her head with a sigh like Ryuko was too stupid to understand the simplest things. "You alone, of course, are absolutely worthless. You only have a value because of me. Because I desire you, Ryuko, do you understand? That's what makes you so interesting to Satsuki because she can use that against me."

She had started her infamous tactics of manipulation, Ryuko could hear the shift in her voice, when reality turned into fantasy. She wasn't going to let herself be fooled by that anymore.

"You see, I'm a bit of an idiot," Ryuko lowly said, "so you've got to explain to me how Satsuki can use me against you."

And it seemed to have hit the right spot, because Nui wasn't able to give an immediate answer. And that was how Ryuko knew that the blonde had only been fabricating lies to depict Satsuki in a bad light.

"It's over, Nui," Ryuko quietly said. Nui's hard expression didn't waver. "I can't be that fool who can't say no to you forever. You know you're just going to fuck things up for both of us if you keep doing the shit you do. It's over."

"It's not over unless I say so," Nui angrily retorted, the corners of her mouth twitching. She pointed with one hand at the door of the botanical garden. "I'm being watched as soon as I set foot out there, every move of mine will be monitored, thanks to you. Here's what you're going to do, you're going to tell my dear sister that there is no need for this non-sense."

"Why?" Ryuko weakly shrugged her shoulders. "You know I'm a bad liar. I can't convince her that you won't fuck up as soon as you're not being watched anymore."

Her response angered Nui even more, and Ryuko almost expected her to become physically violent judging from her looks. But within a blink of an eye, her nasty expression vanished, replaced by the fake sweet smile she usually wore.

"Well, well," she sighed, crossing her arms behind her back and turning away from Ryuko. "I see I've come to a dead end. I've truly lost you, Ryuko."

"You never had me," Ryuko muttered. She glanced at the sunflowers in her hands and sent silent thanks to Mako. Despite not being there, she had helped her a lot again.

Whether Nui hadn't heard her remark or just chosen to ignore her, she didn't show any reaction as she strutted out of the botanical garden without another word. Ryuko stared after her in disbelief. That was the most harmless meeting she ever had with her. Despite having difficulties speaking up at the beginning, the rest seemed to have gone smoothly.

Quite relieved and happy, Ryuko gathered two more sunflowers and bundled them up, then set to leave the botanical garden. Once she stepped outside, she noticed that it had gotten dark. Her planned short visit had turned into a much longer stay thanks to Nui.

She couldn't wait to hand the flowers over to Mako, looking for which way to go when she smelled it.

Sweet. Like candy cones. Chemical. Like plastic flowers. Almost toxic. Like Nui was.

Before she could react, a hand was on the back of her head and an arm slung around her neck, keeping her in place when she was being forcibly kissed. Too shocked to react within the seconds it happened, Ryuko's wide eyes stared at closed ones. And as sudden as it had happened, as sudden it had stopped, with Nui stepping away from her with a sly smile. She took the sunflowers from Ryuko's slack hands and waved at her before disappearing into the dark.

"Fuck!" Ryuko shouted up at the night sky. What was that kiss for?


In the end, Ryuko had gone back to get more sunflowers again, and just as she had expected, Mako had been thrilled about them. While she didn't condone stealing, she turned a blind eye to it since the beautiful flowers were for her. And she felt flattered that Ryuko would take the risk of stealing them for her. But she told her not to do it again.

When Ryuko admitted that she just wanted to do something nice for her for a change, Mako laughed and ruffled her hair, telling her that her friendship was enough. Ryuko wasn't even aware of the things she was already doing for Mako. For example, her reputation also protected Mako from being bullied as she was still very young and vulnerable looking for a college student. Everyone knew not to mess with Ryuko's roommate because the football player would find out and beat them up on her best friend's behalf.

They decided to celebrate their friendship that evening with cheap wine and some leftover pizza, laughing and talking until late into the night, mindlessly chatting about everything that came to mind. Except for the unexpected kiss from Nui which Ryuko decided to keep to herself. She didn't want Mako to start interpreting things and getting worried again.


Since their meeting in the botanical garden, Ryuko heard nothing from Nui the past days. Rumors went around that she had resigned from the head cheerleader position so she could dedicate more time to her true passion: sewing clothes. She was seen less and less in classes, allegedly spending many hours of her day locked up in her hobby room with a sewing machine and meters of fabric, furiously producing one piece of clothing after another.

If that was true, then Ryuko was more than happy to accept the fact that Nui had found her true desire which was making clothes.

She herself was busy practicing for a football match that could greatly impact her future. She needed to become the first choice for her coach, every second spent on the bench watching was a second of her talent wasted.

She knew she could do this if nothing got in her way.


It wasn't easy getting into the match at first; she wasn't fast enough, not flexible enough, not reacting quick enough. She was lucky that Tsumugu hadn't immediately replaced her but given her another chance, and that was when her ambition kicked in and drove her to her fullest potential. Her throws became precise and reached their target most of the time if they managed to catch it. Her own ability in catching the ball didn't fail her, and she even managed to catch sloppily thrown ones. By the end of the game, the Honnouji Eagles won vastly superior.

One of the popular fraternities had already prepared a party to celebrate the game, regardless of outcome, but a victory was definitely helpful to set the mood for celebration.

Freshly showered and changed into her Honnouji varsity jacket like the rest of her team, Ryuko showed up at the party as she was expected to. Not even two steps into the house and she had already gotten a beer shoved into her hand and a shot glass in the other. She downed them all, fired by the cheers of the students around.

After the initial bombarding of congratulations, Ryuko finally got to be alone when she stepped out on the backyard with a newly opened beer bottle. She automatically searched the place for the familiar sight of pink hair enveloped in smoke clouds, but the place was empty. The party had just begun, no one was drunk enough to lie outside yet.

"Searching for Nonon?"

Ryuko spilled some of her beer when she quickly turned around, already a bit tipsy by the amount of alcohol she had to down within minutes to impress her peers.

"Sa – Kiryuin," Ryuko cleared her throat, raising her beer as a form greeting. Satsuki didn't react, looking quite cold to Ryuko, who nervously ran a hand through her hair. She thought they were over giving each other these looks. "Where's Piglet? Gave quite a performance today, thought she might celebrate too."

Only Satsuki's mouth moved, the rest of her face hard and indifferent. "She does not feel like seeing you."

Shocked by the unexpected and direct reply, Ryuko stuttered, "What? Why? What did I do this time?"

Satsuki tilted her head and gave Ryuko a scanning look, examining whether her surprise was genuine. "Think, Matoi. You are not as dense as you seem."

Under any other circumstances, she would have snapped at Satsuki for that remark, but the more pressing matter was finding out what she had done this time to have Nonon avoiding her and Satsuki treating her like...like the past weeks had never happened. She had been already so close to hearing Satsuki laugh because of her, and now she was back to square one with Satsuki treating her coldly.

"Maybe I am," Ryuko said in frustration, "maybe I'm just the idiot you feel sorry for, being so helpless against Nui that you decided to take my side. Or maybe I'm just a fool for believing that we've made some progress and are past this whole uncertainty shit, where I never know what you're thinking and why you're saying the things you do."

Surprised by the sudden outburst, Satsuki's expression softened when she realized that Ryuko was genuinely upset about not understanding her. She wanted to interject, but the football player let out a frustrated sound, taking one step away from her.

"You always call me a fool," Ryuko laughed emptily, shrugging carelessly. "Then treat me like one. Treat me like I don't understand anything, spell everything out to me, explain your thoughts to me word for word. But don't talk to me like we're already on the same basis, like I know what I've done to you. Come on, Kiryuin, try again, tell me, what am I supposed to know? What have I done this time?"

Satsuki swallowed. The only visible reaction she allowed to show. Her mask unwavering, her eyes bore into Ryuko's unafraid ones, seeing them stare back challengingly, almost mockingly.

"Alcohol makes you surprisingly eloquent," Satsuki softly remarked, blinking a couple of times, and her cold expression broke. The look she gave Ryuko indicated curiosity and intrigue.

Ryuko shrugged and listlessly sipped on her beer, suddenly not feeling like drinking anymore if she was going to keep rambling in front of Satsuki.

"I write the best essays when I'm drunk," Ryuko mumbled into her bottle.

"Hm."

She looked up in disbelief when she heard an amused grunt, catching Satsuki's own surprised expression at the unusual sound she had just made. They stared at each other, unblinking and stunned, before Ryuko broke the silence with a boisterous laugh, holding her stomach as she almost wheezed.

"Oh my god," she panted, unable to calm down as another fit of laughter shook her body, "Kiryuin, I want this recorded as my ring tone. Please, this would make my life."

"Don't be immature, Matoi," Satsuki tried to condescendingly say, but sounded quite amused herself. As she watched Ryuko wiping tears from her eyes, she allowed herself to softly smile. She didn't think she had ever made anyone laugh that hard. Or maybe Ryuko was just that easy to entertain.

"I'm serious, Gigabrows, really," Ryuko said between chortles, giving Satsuki a mischievous grin. "It would be glorious. Imagine me sitting in a lecture when my phone goes off and four hundred people hear how the gracious Satsuki Kiryuin fucking grunts like a pig. Wait, does that make you a pig in human clothing?"

Satsuki didn't think she had ever been in a situation where she didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth, looking as self-assured as ever, but no word came out.

"I don't believe this," Ryuko snorted with laughter, raising her glass to seemingly no one. "Speechless now too? Today's not your day, Gigabrows." And she took big gulps from her beer, some drops missing her mouth and trickling down her chin. She didn't seem to care nor to notice.

But Satsuki's eyes narrowed at the sloppy sight. Once Ryuko had finished drinking, Satsuki's right hand shot up and grabbed her chin, tilting up her head.

Flabbergasted, Ryuko didn't back away when Satsuki closed in on her, unblinkingly staring her in the eyes.

"You of all people should know not to be wasteful," Satsuki murmured, gently squeezing the flesh beneath her fingers, relishing in its softness.

Ryuko's breathing was shallow as she whispered with false bravado, "Then lick it up if you think so."

"Oh?" A smirk graced Satsuki's expression. "Do you want me to teach you a lesson in requesting more than you can handle?"

Ryuko was on the verge of pathetically shouting 'yes', but swallowed instead. She closed her eyes to resist the temptation that was Satsuki's face. "It's not like you're going to follow through."

She would be lying if she said that she didn't want Satsuki's tongue on her in this moment, and she admitted that she had fully expected Satsuki to prove her wrong.

But her chin was released and she heard footsteps walking away from her. Her eyes shot open. Satsuki was strutting away from her.

"I knew it," Ryuko bitterly called after her, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "The great Satsuki Kiryuin wouldn't touch a loser like me."

Satsuki halted, and she turned around, her expression back to cold. And it frustrated Ryuko more than anything to see the other girl changing between hot and cold.

"What is it this time?" Ryuko said in exasperation. "Did I go too far? Even if you were the one who started it?"

"Why must you complicate everything," Satsuki sighed as she pressed two fingers against her temple.

Ryuko grew more confused and irritated by the second.

"Talking about complicated, you're probably the most frustrating person I've ever met," she retorted. "Just say what you think. Otherwise, it's getting a real pain in the ass to deal with you."

"Matoi," Satsuki firmly said, her expression just as frustrated as Ryuko's. "I misjudged you."

"You constantly do, everyone does, tell me something new."

"No," Satsuki shook her head, "not like that. You are a better liar than I thought."

"Huh?"

Slowly walking back to Ryuko, Satsuki raised her hand and wiped away the beer drops on Ryuko's chin with her thumb, then sucked on it. Stunned and mesmerized, Ryuko's wide eyes soaked up the sight of Satsuki's hollow cheeks and pursed lips as she licked her thumb clean.

"As disgusting as I remembered it," she murmured, her piercing eyes looking up and boring themselves into Ryuko's.

"Tell me one thing, Matoi...if I were to kiss you now, would my lips be the last thing you felt before we meet again or would Nui have already replaced me?"

Ryuko could feel her heart sinking. So Satsuki knew.

Nui wasn't exaggerating that every move of hers was under watch. And suddenly she understood the unexpected kiss, understood the sly smile. Nui had known that this would get back to Satsuki and Nonon somehow. So this was why Nonon was angry, Ryuko could only imagine how that looked. After nearly getting killed, then being protected by them, she still had run back to Nui like she hadn't learned from her mistakes.

"She fucking surprised me," Ryuko cursed, turning away from Satsuki, suddenly not wanting any of her attention anymore. "You don't know the fucked up things she said to me before that, I just wanted her to leave me alone forever. I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid enough to fucking run back to her after all she's done to me."

"Matoi..."

"And fuck you too for thinking I would be stupid enough to do that," Ryuko angrily continued, not even looking at Satsuki. "I almost died - like I would ever want to be near her ever again. You don't know what it feels like to smell her disgusting perfume and just know that you're fucked up. You don't know what it is like to hear her voice and suddenly see yourself crashing into a truck."

Ryuko suddenly dropped her beer and held her head with her hands, pulling at her hair. "She's become a fucking nightmare and all you can think about is your own hurt pride before even thinking about mine. I thought you were more than this, Kiryuin."

"Matoi."

"No, don't give me any of your shit now," Ryuko loudly said, walking even farther away from Satsuki. "You may be really hot, but you're not worth it if you're going to fuck me over too."

"Ryuko!"

She froze, slowly turning her head back to Satsuki, startled by the many emotions on her face. She didn't think she'd ever seen Satsuki this torn, this overwhelmed and worried.

"I am sorry," Satsuki quietly said after clearing her throat. Her gaze fell. "I did not consider your feelings. For that I am truly sorry."

Ryuko pulled at her hair again to test if she was dreaming up Satsuki apologizing. But the pain was real as much as her words were.

"The information we received was out of context and therefore misinterpreted. We didn't take your perspective into consideration."

Satsuki's voice was calm and gentle, soothing for both Ryuko's ears and heart. The football player was no longer plagued by stress and anger, now taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"It's...okay," Ryuko muttered, looking to the ground. "I'll get over it. Just don't jump to assumptions anymore, okay?"

Satsuki nodded. She stretched out a hand and offered it to Ryuko. "Accept my apology."

Ryuko weakly snorted, amused nonetheless. "That's not how normal people settle things."

Furrowing her brows, Satsuki slightly tilted her head questioningly, her hand still outstretched.

"Here," Ryuko sighed, taking her hand and then pulling her in for a hug. She could feel Satsuki stiffen in her embrace, probably not used to close physical contact, so she squeezed her even more. "Relax, it's not like I'm going to snap your spine."

At first clumsily patting Ryuko on the shoulder, Satsuki slowly relaxed and let her hands rest on Ryuko's back, hesitantly lowering her head and placing it on her shoulder. Then growing bolder, she slightly turned her head and subtly smelled Ryuko's hair, surprised to find it freshly washed and pleasantly smelling of shampoo.

"Don't sniff at people's hair when you hug them, that's usually considered creepy," Ryuko chuckled, but didn't let go.

Satsuki hummed in acknowledgment. "And what is the appropriate length of a hug?"

"Depends," Ryuko muttered, feeling herself becoming sleepy in the warm embrace. She could feel Satsuki's breasts pressing against her and it reminded her of the heavenly soft pillows on Satsuki's bed. She wondered if she would fall asleep if she laid her head on her well-endowed chest. "Lasts as long as you want to."

Satsuki could hear the sleepiness in Ryuko's voice. "Is this hug still within appropriate length?"

"Sure," Ryuko drowsily muttered.

"Matoi."

No response.

"Ryuko."

When she got no reaction again, Satsuki pulled away from the embrace, only to quickly catch Ryuko again before the other girl could fall over. The football player had actually fallen asleep while standing. Satsuki mused that her football game must have tired her out.

While holding up Ryuko with one arm, letting her heavy head rest on her shoulder, Satsuki dug out her phone and dialed Ira's number.

"Satsuki?"

"I'm afraid I need to ask you for a favor," Satsuki calmly said, grimacing when she felt her shoulder getting wet because Ryuko was drooling on her clothing. "And please arrive as fast as you can."

"Sure," Ira said without hesitating, "what can I do for you?"

Satsuki paused and glanced at Ryuko, who was muttering incoherently in her sleep, letting out words as 'strong eyebrow game' and 'boob pillows'.

"Nothing you haven't done before."