Chapter 9 – I'll Kill You
Rei Hoomaru's POV:
"Ragyo-sama, please!" I cried, gripping the Director's shoulders. "You're in no condition to fight! With you in your current state, Shinra-Koketsu will be worthless. You won't be able to control its power!"
"Silence!" Ragyo snarled, slapping me across the face.
We were standing in the mansion's vast sewing room. Ragyo had ordered me to carry her there. I had thought she was intending to use one of the emergency escape routes, but instead she wanted to don Shinra-Koketsu, the ultimate Kamui that Nui had been designing for use against the rebels.
"Please, Ragyo-sama, listen to reason! You can get your revenge another day, once we've reconnected you with your Life Fibers."
"Shut up!" Nui shrieked. "Nonon Jakazure is going to pay today for what she's done to me!"
I ignored Nui, keeping my eyes fixed on Ragyo. Blood had soaked through the gauze on the side of her neck. Her agitation was keeping the wound open. Or perhaps her blood had forgotten how to clot on its own after all those years of instantaneous Life-Fiber-induced healing.
No longer caring if it would anger her, I threw myself against Ragyo and wrapped my arms around her.
"Please, ma'am, don't do this," I whispered. "I ... I don't want to lose you."
There. It was out. I leaned against the Director, gripping her as tightly as I could. There was a long silence, broken only by my muffled sobs.
"What human weakness. You know how much I despise such things, Hoomaru."
I looked up at Ragyo's face, startled. Had her voice trembled just now? I shook the question from my mind.
"If you're determined not to run," I said, "then grant me just one request. Let me wear Shinra-Koketsu instead of you."
"That Kamui was tailored specifically for Ragyo-sama!" Nui shouted. "An ordinary human like you can't wear it!"
"Nui is right," said Ragyo. "You would not be able to control Shinra-Koketsu, Hoomaru." She paused for a long moment, then added, "But there are other Kamui in this room. Take the Rending Scissors from the cabinet, Nui. We will make our stand here."
Satsuki's POV:
Ryuko, Nonon, and I arrived in front of the sewing room's double doors. We had tracked Hoomaru there, picking up some Two-Star Goku uniforms along the way.
Nui had once dismissed the Sewing Club's Goku uniforms as trash, but she and Ragyo had saved a few to run experiments on, in case they revealed any secrets about the resistance effort. Ryuko and I were wearing a Fishing Club uniform and a Boxing Club uniform respectively. Nonon had hoped to find a Marching Band uniform but had instead settled for a uniform from the Recycling Club.
"They went in there," I said, nodding at the doors. "I'm sure of it."
Nonon frowned. "Are you sure they haven't taken an escape route? They looked pretty scared right before Hoomaru burst in."
I shook my head. "My mother's pride would never let her run. Nor would Harime's, for that matter. They're in there, preparing to face us."
"What are we waiting for?" Ryuko demanded. "Let's go!"
We kicked open the doors, bracing for an immediate attack. None came. Without lowering our guard, we leaned forward and peered inside. Rows and rows of sewing machines stretched out in front of us, running up and down the factory-sized room. Glimmering snippets of Life Fiber floated in the air overhead.
My mother stood in the middle of the room, dressed in a familiar white uniform.
She's wearing Junketsu!
Hoomaru stood next to Ragyo. Arrogant as always, Ragyo gazed off to the side, as if occupied with something else. She slowly turned her smirk toward us, pretending to notice us for the first time.
"Goku uniforms?" she said. "How droll."
"Yes," I said. "Two-Star Goku uniforms. More than enough against a weak old woman in a Kamui that doesn't fit her."
"How dare you speak to Ragyo-sama like that!" Hoomaru shouted, launching herself at me.
Nonon met Hoomaru in mid-air. She crossed her Goku-armored arms in front of her face, warding off a blow from Hoomaru's whip-sleeves. The force of the collision threw the two combatants in opposite directions. Nonon landed in front of me, skidding to a halt on her right knee. She uncrossed her arms and looked over her shoulder.
"I'll take care of this one, Satsuki-sama!"
Nonon turned back to Hoomaru, pressing a button on her Recycling Club uniform. The uniform flashed as its Recycling Mode was activated.
"I'm gonna recycle you into dog food, bitch!" Nonon shouted.
As Nonon and Hoomaru clashed in the air again, Ragyo reached over and flicked the clips on Junketsu's left armband.
LIFE FIBER OVERRIDE: KAMUI JUNKETSU
As Ragyo stood before me in her transformed Kamui, a much shorter figure stepped out from behind a sewing machine. Instead of her usual pink dress, she wore a black sailor suit.
"Senketsu!" Ryuko exclaimed.
"Yep, it's him!" said Nui. "But I think you'll find that he's changed quite a bit. I injected him with my own blood, plus some Life Fibers from Junketsu. He's on our side now!" She put a hand on Senketsu's sleeve, stroking the fabric. "You know, it's funny. The Life Fibers in my body used to repel others so that I couldn't synchronize with a Kamui. But now that you've severed my connection to my own Life Fibers, Senketsu and I can become one!"
"You bitch! Give Senketsu back!"
Smiling, Nui pulled the activation pin from her glove.
"Come and get him."
LIFE FIBER SYNCHRONIZE: KAMUI SENKETSU
As the glitters faded, Nui reached behind a sewing machine and pulled out the reconstructed Rending Scissors. She twisted them apart and tossed one blade to Ragyo.
"Come on, Ryuko-chan," she said, brandishing the other half. "Come join Mako and your father!"
Screaming in rage, Ryuko hurled herself at Nui.
I returned my attention to Ragyo. She still stood in front of me with that damn smirk on her face.
"Prepare yourself, Ragyo Kiryuin!" I shouted.
Mako's POV:
THUMP!
I felt something hard slam against my face. It took me a moment to realize that that hard thing was the floor.
I sat up, looking around. I was in the room Nui had put me in after pretending to make Ryuko kill me. By the way, did you know that someone can pass out from being choked but not die? My dad had told me that once, so naturally I'd always assumed it was wrong. But I guessed it was right, since I was still alive.
Anyway, Nui had been keeping me in this room for the last few days. I kept asking her to let me see Ryuko, but she said she wanted Ryuko to think I was dead. She came in every day to tell me how sad Ryuko was and to ... do things to me. She'd tied me up with Life Fibers so I couldn't get away. I could only hang there while she did what she liked. She said she wanted to see which of us would turn into her "pussy slave" first.
I couldn't figure out why the Life Fibers had dropped me. Unlike Nui's playroom, this room didn't have any locks on the door. The Life Fibers were the only thing that stopped me from leaving and finding Ryuko. I knew Nui wanted Ryuko to think I was dead, so I couldn't figure out why she'd told the Life Fibers to let go of me.
Then I realized that Nui might be in some kind of trouble. Maybe she was fighting Ryuko. Maybe something had happened to her so she couldn't control the Life Fibers anymore. But if that was true, then Ryuko might be in trouble too! I decided to go look for Ryuko, even though I was sort of afraid.
The room was pitch-black, but I could see light coming from the bottom of the door. I walked toward the light. I got my feet tangled in something on the floor (I learned later that they were my clothes) and tripped, but eventually I made it to the door. The light sort of blinded me when the door opened, but I shaded my eyes and headed out to look for Ryuko.
Satsuki's POV:
By now the sewing room was a mess. Smashed sewing machines lay everywhere. Nonon's uniform vacuumed up the plastic and metal debris, recycling it into miniature cannonballs that Nonon fired at Hoomaru. Ryuko fought Nui near the sewing room's double doors, parrying Nui's Scissor Blade with a mace-shaped fishing rod.
Ragyo's Scissor Blade struck my Life-Fiber-reinforced boxing glove, pouring sparks across the sewing room floor. I winced as the force of the blow shot through my already tortured arm. The blade released an ear-shattering screech as it slid along the giant glove and glanced off to the side.
When Ragyo swung again, I ducked beneath the blade and came up inside her guard. I tried to land an uppercut, but she easily dodged the blow. She leapt back a few paces, then launched herself forward again.
"Scissor Blade Decapitation Mode!"
With a metallic groan, the Scissor Blade unfolded to its full length as Ragyo swung it. I held up my gloves, but that didn't stop the blow from knocking me across the room. I hit the wall, then fell on top of a broken sewing machine.
I could taste blood in my mouth, but I had no time to wonder how serious my injuries were. As soon as I regained my senses, I lifted my eyes, looking for my mother. My vision cleared just in time for me to see her speeding toward me.
I raised my right glove to ward off her blow. Her Scissor Blade struck the glove, pinning me against the wall. I could feel the glove start to crack as she bore down on it with all her strength. Within seconds, the glove would shatter, and the razor-sharp blade would slice through my body like tissue paper.
My mother smiled at me. "You're finished, Satsuki. Admit it: you are no match for me."
Straining to keep my right glove raised, I quietly slipped off my left one. The rock-hard glove clanged against the floor, but Ragyo ignored it in her eagerness to kill me. I shoved my bare left hand into the pocket of my Boxing Club uniform and pulled out the anti-Life-Fiber needle I had saved from my previous struggle with Ragyo.
"You are stronger," I said, "I admit that much. But you have one weakness, mother: you never learn from your mistakes!"
As Ragyo's brow furrowed in puzzlement, I jabbed the needle into her neck a second time. Sparkles filled the air as the needle severed the connection between her and Junketsu. The transformation reversed, draining every drop of superior strength from her body.
The Scissor Blade went flying from her grasp as my boxing glove knocked it away. Before she could react, I lunged forward and buried the glove in her stomach. Her head snapped forward, eyes bulging in their sockets. Flecks of blood flew from her gaping mouth. I stepped back and let her crumple to the floor.
The Scissor Blade lay a few feet away. I walked over and picked it up, then returned to the spot where Ragyo lay face-down on the floor. She tensed as she felt the Scissor Blade's tip poke the back of her neck.
"Get on your knees," I said quietly. I wanted her to see what was coming.
Shaking, my mother rose to her knees. I positioned myself in front of her, holding the Scissor Blade inches from her trembling face. Deprived of the power of the Life Fibers, she was no longer the proud rainbow-haired goddess who had shattered swords with her fist. She was just a wretched, broken old woman in a tattered uniform.
"Please ... daughter ... spare me," she wheezed through her shattered windpipe, her eyes big with fear. "Please ... have mercy..."
"Look at you: the proud Ragyo Kiryuin, who once called herself divine, pleading for her life. Pathetic. Such contemptible behavior is unforgivable."
The Scissor Blade flashed through the air. There was a brief silence, then the thud of Ragyo's head against the floor. Hot blood fountained from the stump between her shoulders. This time no Life Fibers reappeared between her neck and her head.
"Ragyo-sama!" Hoomaru shrieked from across the room. "NO!"
Hoomaru turned her back on Nonon and threw herself at me. Her loyalty was her undoing. A cannonball from Nonon's Goku uniform struck her in the back of the head, flooring her.
Nonon and I turned to the far end of the room, where Ryuko and Nui battled in front of the sewing room's doors. Nui's eye widened in terror as all three of her former captives advanced on her. It widened even further when she saw Hoomaru lying unconscious next to Ragyo's headless corpse.
"I-impossible!"
Gripping her Scissor Blade, Nui started backing toward the doors.
"Game over, Harime!" Ryuko shouted.
As Nui turned to flee, Ryuko pressed a button on her fishing rod. A miniature harpoon shot from the rod's tip and buried its barbed head in Nui's shoulder. Nui fell to her knees with a scream of pain. Her Scissor Blade clattered to the floor.
At that moment, the doors swung open.
"Ryuko-chan!" Mako shouted, jumping through. "There you are!"
While the rest of us gaped at Mako, Nui saw her chance. She grabbed Mako's arm and yanked the girl between herself and us. Panting, she pressed her Scissor Blade against Mako's throat.
