Chapter 10 – Sorry, I'm Done Being a Good Kid

I stared in disbelief. "Mako! You're..."

"Yep, she's alive!" said Nui. A taunting smile began to form again on her lips. "You don't think I'd actually get rid of such a cute little toy, do you?"

Mako was completely naked. Nui held her by her hair with one hand and pressed the Scissor Blade to her throat with the other.

"You should've seen her, Ryuko-chan. Mako-chan cried so adorably when I played with her."

"Harimeeeeeee!" I snarled, my grip tightening on my Goku fishing rod.

The harpoon was still embedded in Nui's shoulder. A thin but unbreakable cord of Life Fibers connected the harpoon to my fishing rod. If I retracted the harpoon, it might catch Nui off-guard and let me rescue Mako. Keeping my eyes on Nui, I inched my finger toward the button that would retract the harpoon.

"Uh-uh-uh, Ryuko-chan," Nui said, wagging her finger at me. "If you move your finger any closer to that button, I'll slice Mako-chan's windpipe wiiiiiiide open! Now drop the fishing rod. Go on, be a good big sister and do it, okay?"

The fishing rod clattered to the floor.

"You too, Satsuki-chan. Put down the Scissor Blade, nice and slow."

Seeing Satsuki hesitate, Nui pressed her own Scissor Blade even more tightly against her hostage. Mako winced, whimpering in fear, as a trickle of blood ran down her collarbone. Desperate, I turned to Satsuki.

"Satsuki, please," I begged.

"Tch." Relenting, Satsuki lowered her Scissor Blade to the floor. All eyes turned back to Nui. The fear had vanished from the Grand Couturier's face, replaced by her usual grin.

"It's pointless, Harime!" Satsuki shouted. "You've lost. Both your allies have been defeated. You've lost contact with the Life Fibers. What are you going to do now? Carry Mankanshoku around with you everywhere as a human shield?"

The ends of Nui's smile twisted farther upward. "Not both my allies, actually."

I heard the scrape of metal against concrete as someone lifted Satsuki's fallen Scissor Blade from the floor.

"Satsuki! Look out!" I shouted.

Hoomaru swung the Scissor Blade at Satsuki with all her strength. Satsuki twisted out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough to completely avoid injury. The Scissor Blade cut a deep wound in her shoulder, rendering her right arm useless. She clutched the wound and fell back, gritting her teeth in pain.

"Satsuki-sama!" Nonon shouted.

Forgetting about Nui, Nonon turned her wrath on Hoomaru. Hoomaru's sleeves extended, blocking a barrage of cannonballs from Nonon's Recycling Club uniform. Nonon abandoned the long-range attacks and threw herself at Hoomaru. The metallic glove of Nonon's uniform clanged against Hoomaru's Scissor Blade.

As the battle heated up again, I made the mistake of taking my eyes off Nui. As a result, I didn't see her speeding toward me. I brought my fishing rod up just in time to block her Scissor Blade, but the force of the blow sent me flying. I smashed through the doors of a giant, ceiling-height wardrobe at the other end of the room, slammed against the wardrobe's backboard, and landed on the floor of the wardrobe. The wardrobe tottered, creaking, and fell forward with a crash.

My Goku uniform partly cushioned me, enough for me to retain consciousness. The weight of the wardrobe was suffocating. I had to get out! Nui might be heading toward me at that very moment, armed with the Scissor Blade. I pushed and tore at the clothes and hangers on every side, trying to find a way out of the wardrobe, but every move I made only entangled me further.

Heart pounding, I forced myself to stop struggling and think. This was a wardrobe filled with Life-Fiber-based clothes. Some of them were sure to be Kamui. Maybe if I put one on, I would gain the strength to break free. I didn't know whether my Fishing Club uniform would interfere with the synchronization, but it was worth a shot.

As I felt around, my hand closed on what felt like the hem of a robe. That seemed promising. Unable to see anything, I pulled the robe toward me. I somehow managed to wriggle through the robe's opening. As I found the robe's sleeves and shoved my arms through, I felt new power begin to course through my body. Sparkles filled my vision, lighting up the wardrobe's interior.

I burst through the fallen wardrobe's backboard, landing in front of a toppled sewing machine. I was wearing what looked like a giant Japanese wedding dress. Far too long for me, the dress puddled around my feet and hid my hands in its sleeves. Rainbow-colored light streamed from the dress's openings. It was like the light that surrounded Ragyo, except stronger.

Nonon and Hoomaru stopped fighting and stared. Nui, who had made it halfway to my end of the room, gaped at me.

"No!" she cried. "It can't be!"

Blinding light erupted from the chest of my robe. As I turned my face away from the brilliance, I saw giant red and yellow eyes floating on either side of my body.

Nui shrieked as sparkles hid her body from view. When the sparkles disappeared, Senketsu was back in his sailor suit form. Nui began to back away, but her knees buckled under her. She fell to the floor, staring up at me with an expression of pure terror. The Scissor Blade fell from her hand.

"Shinra-Koketsu," Satsuki murmured. She had bound her shoulder with a strip of cloth and now stood next to Nonon.

"What's Shinra-Koketsu?" I asked.

"The name of the Kamui you're wearing," Satsuki replied. "I used to overhear my mother and Harime planning its design. Shinra-Koketsu is the ultimate Kamui. It releases an Absolute Domination field that lets its wearer command all Life Fibers and that paralyzes all enemies who are wearing Life-Fiber-based clothing."

My heart pounded in my chest as I processed Satsuki's words. If her words were true, then this fight was over. Nui and Hoomaru were on their hands and knees now, as if held down by some huge weight, struggling to move.

Suddenly I noticed Mako lying motionless on the floor. Horrified, I ran over to Mako and knelt over her. She was unconscious, her eyes closed and her body limp as rag doll.

"Mako!" I shouted. "Mako, are you alright?!"

Satsuki bent over Mako, feeling for breath and a pulse.

"She's okay," Satsuki said. "She just fainted."

"You're sure?" I said.

"I'm sure," said Satsuki. She glanced over her shoulder, at our two remaining enemies, then turned to me. "Let's finish this."

I nodded.

Ignoring Hoomaru, who stood immobilized a few feet away, I headed toward Nui. She could only kneel where she was, staring up at me, as I approached her.

"Give Senketsu back, you bitch!"

I kicked Nui in the face, knocking her onto her back, then knelt and tugged Senketsu off of her.

"Senketsu!" I shouted, holding the Kamui in front of me and shaking him. "Senketsu, do you hear me?!"

"He can't answer you," said Satsuki. "You heard Harime. Senketsu doesn't recognize you as an ally anymore. If we're lucky, we'll be able to reverse the effect later."

Blinking back tears, I carefully folded Senketsu and laid him on the floor. Then I rose up to my full height and turned back to Nui. She was lying on her back, looking up at me, too terrified to move. Without Senketsu or a connection to her body's own Life Fibers, she was nothing but a weak little girl now. I decided to take my time killing her.

I brought my foot down on her stomach, driving the air from her lungs, then kicked her hard in the side. As she curled up in pain, I bent down and picked up the Scissor Blade she had dropped.

"Scissor Blade Decapitation Mode!"

Trembling, Nui stared up at the transformed Scissor Blade.

"No ... wait ..."

"Come on, little sister. You can beg better than that," I said, taunting her with her own words.

I lowered the giant blade toward Nui, relishing the pain and fear on her face. She whimpered as the edge pressed against her neck.

"Please ... don't ..."

"Let's see... Should I slit your throat right now? Or maybe I should cut off your arms and legs and let the rebels use you as their masturbation hole."

"No ... please ..."

As Nui pleaded for her life, I remembered something Satsuki had said just a moment before.

It releases a field that lets its wearer control all Life Fibers.

Satsuki had been talking about Shira-Koketsu, the Kamui I was wearing. Curious, I glanced at a strand of Life Fiber that hung from the ceiling nearby.

"Hey."

Like a snake responding to a snake charmer, the strand came alive at my command. It slithered toward me through the air until its tip was inches from my face. Before I could utter another word, the strand responded to my thoughts, forming a portion of itself into a triangle in front of my face. It reshaped itself into a circle, then a heart, then a square, as fast as I could form the shapes in my mind.

Satisfied, I turned back to Nui. Other Life Fibers descended from the ceiling, joining the first one. I smiled at Nui as the strands wrapped themselves together into a thick, tentacle-shaped cord.

"You know, maybe I shouldn't kill you after all. I have a better idea."