The sixth mask is revealed: see first installment for disclaimers.

Ugh… This was more difficult than I would have hoped. Bear in mind that this series is following a plan I plotted out months ago when I first conceived this concept. I've already got the sequel in the works, but first I have to finish the last few installments of this arc.

~ * Mask of Hostility * ~

I've always had a problem with stupid crushes.

You wouldn't think such a thing would be a problem with somebody like me, noooo. I mean, just look at me! Brains, beauty and brawn all wrapped up in one sweet little package! It's a practical three for one deal!

Okay, so I do have a few VERY minor flaws. But hey, it's impossible for anyone to be totally perfect.

Some lucky people like myself just happen to come really, really close to it.

To hear others tell it, however, there is another absolutely perfect person in this world. Karin, the Perfect Pigtailed Pretty Princess. Skin as pale as porcelain, eyes like sparkling jade, long tresses of silky hair…

PLEASE! What does she have that I don't have?!

Seriously, nothing.

I mean, my skin happens to be just about the exact same shade as hers, and let me tell you, it's near impossible to get a decent tan. But I guess they don't register it as porcelain just because I've made a point not to act so delicate and fragile.

My eyes are sparkling jewels, just turquoise instead of jade. But I guess that just because I don't go around getting starry-eyed over the simplest things they don't seem to shine as brightly.

My hair may be a deep chestnut instead of bright orange, but it's nearly as long, and certainly prettier. But I guess since I keep it tied back instead of letting it flounce around in a pair of bouncy pigtails others don't notice its luster.

You know what? Sometimes I wonder how different it would be if just once I indulged myself in all the things girls like Karin do. Trade my comfortable clothes for a pretty, form-fitting dress that would show off all my physical talents, let my hair down, and go strutting down the street and count how many heads turned.

Imagine me in a big, fancy dress decked out in the latest hot new style for rising robattle queens!

I've looked at plenty of fashion magazines. I've wondered how it would feel to be, say, a princess. I've dreamed all the typical fantasies you would expect a girl my age to have. I've wished to know what it feels like to have a prince or knight come up and whisk me away, offer me all the things I could ever desire: finery, sweets, romance, protection…

…Protection? Are you kidding me? If anything, he'd be the one needing protection if he insisted I needed some sort of help to get by!

Yeah, I wouldn't mind being a princess. But only if I also got to wield a kick-ass sword and slay my own dragons, find my own fame and fortune.

…Maybe I wouldn't mind a little help. Especially if the one offering it… would be willing to stay around forever.

You know, I've been told I get my stunning looks from my mother. This flawless skin, these alluring eyes, this perfect auburn silk hair? All come from my mother, or so I've heard…

I wouldn't know mainly because I don't exactly see my mother a whole lot anymore.

She's very successful, actually. Always running off on some new business trip, jetting to some far-off land to negotiate another savvy deal, always on the cutting edge and wielding the sharpest blade, so to speak.

Like mother, like daughter… Runs in the family, I guess.

Yuri's the one that tells me the most about how similar we are. Yuri's our maid… Housekeeper, really. I refuse to think of her as my nanny, even if she is the one who devotes time to actually raising me.

Mother does that by proxy anymore. The most communication I have with her is documented: faxes, letters, notes, e-mails and the like. Sometimes it seems like the only time I even hear her voice is when she calls – which is rare, anymore. Her cell phone is usually reserved for clients.

Her career comes first. Keeping in contact with her child is second.

I can't stay mad at her forever over it, though. I understand why things have to be this way. Mother's work is a necessary evil to keep our lives going, keep the money flowing in, keep everything on track after that incident derailed us.

Having somebody that was supposed to be a part of your life forever just up and leave one day does that, you know.

I really don't remember too much about him. Can't decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Hopefully good, since I don't see much chance of finding out anything about him in this house.

There aren't any pictures of him left, not a single one on the mantles or the desks or in any of the scrapbooks. It's an issue I know better than to raise with either Yuri or mother the few times I talk to her: all I get are tightened lips and deadly silence.

The absence that lingers most in the house, ironically enough, isn't that of the stranger that should have shared this roof, helped make this a home. It's that of my mother, almost always off on one trip or another.

It's that crime for which I find I can't forgive that mysterious man I never got to know: I might as well have lost both my parents. It certainly feels that way.

That's why I made a promise to myself: I'm not going to have any kids. Not until I can ensure they'll never have to come home to an empty house like I have, or wonder where their absent parents could be now.

My ideal guy, then… Somebody who would be there for them, and me, always. Somebody that I could come home to, and know he'd be there waiting for me, and wouldn't ever abandon me.

Not that I need support. Just… loyalty.

I guess there are plenty of wannabe physiatrists that would call the little gang I've formed an extension of that desire or something. I mean, a couple of guys that know better than to abandon me, that always stand by my side and back me up in their own small ways? Sounds a bit familiar, right?

Eh, whatever. I don't care about what people might say about that. I mean, there's a few things amiss with that little argument.

Spyke's gay, for one thing.

Heh, I bet the poor kid would just about die if he knew I'd figured out his 'darkest secret'. Not that it's exactly hard to figure out, or something I care about. For crying out loud, he made it pretty damn clear he had a crush on Koji during his stint as Space Medafighter X.

But if I really gave a shit about whether he liked boys or girls more, I would have kicked him out of the Screws a long time ago and never taken him back. The fact that he's literally the worst medafighter in Japan would make the perfect cover excuse.

But the fact he's a cruddy medafighter doesn't hide the fact he seriously needs friends. Hence my habit of kicking him out, only to take him back in a few days later. Annoys me too, actually, but I keep hoping that one day, he'll be able to bounce back on his own and learn to stand on his own two feet.

If his 'darkest secret' ever became public knowledge, I'm afraid that's one trait he's seriously need to survive. I may not care, but that sadly doesn't mean there aren't any bigots out there who would. I can't protect him forever…

You know, it's kind of weird, but… The fact that Spyke likes Koji… Well, it means that at least two of the Screws have had crushes on that rich snob. Don't know about Sloan, yet… Wouldn't that be hilarious?

Yeah, Koji Karakuchi happens to be one of my old stupid crushes. Chalk it up to stupid hormones, along with the fact he happens to closely resemble another long-time crush of mine… Main difference being, even I can't hope to charm him, considering the age difference and all.

Koji, though… Koji is much more attainable. Or, at least, I thought he was…

The little incidents that occurred now and then, like at the Rosewood Costume Party, spurred me onward. I thought I was making progress with him… I guess I was kidding myself. I mean, seriously, Koji's a prissy little prick who seems to think he's God's gift to women.

If that's supposed to be the case, I hope He kept the receipt.

Though it would make sense if it happened to be a big cosmic joke or something. I mean, it would certainly explain the dismal luck I've had with my other crushes?

Need a sample? Okay, how about Nathan? Cutest and kindest soccer player on the Riverview Junior High team, with a rather interesting resemblance to a cute guy on an anime I used to watch now and then… Though, Nathan doesn't have an odd taste in hats… In fact, I don't remember ever seeing him wearing one.

Oh, Nathan turned out to be a total bust in the romance department. How was I supposed to know I'd beaten him in robattle years ago and ended up scarring him emotionally? I don't keep track of every loser I fight! That was just dumb luck. At least I managed to fix the problem without even having to make Peppercat throw the match, though I never got Nathan as a boyfriend.

Even that mess, however, paled in comparison to the one it led to. Nathan had a hot older brother – or, at least, that's what everyone thought at first. Again, the 'hot older brother of a cute guy' thing reminded me of that anime, but the name escapes me…

That went even worse. I still can't fully believe what I eventually found out about Brandon. I'll just say this: some men really ARE from Mars…

You would think I'd learn from all this, right? Stop falling for guys that turn out to be nothing but trouble and all…

Wrong. I seriously think all guys are trouble, and that's that.

First, there's my annoying little on-again, off-again crush on this older guy I know. I keep fighting that, though, because I know there's no chance of it working out. Okay, so he holds a steady job, is kind and caring, and has spent time helping me and my friends get back on our feet now and then… It doesn't erase that age gap thing, much as I wish it could. If we were both older, it might not be such a problem, but…

Even he's preferable to the guy I've been finding myself drawn to now, though.

It couldn't work out. We're both medafighters fighting to make a name for ourselves, competing for the same top spots. When I fight my way up there where I belong, the last thing I need is a crush on one of my fiercest rivals distracting me.

It can't work out. He's got two other girls already, one he likes and one who likes him. I'm just the arrogant tomboy, the one he tends to forget all about. Hell, when we were rescuing Metabee, I fought alongside him, and yet when those two arrived on the scene afterward, they were the ones he showed concern for!

It won't work out. I'm not the type of girl he looks for or wants. I could never be happy standing on the sidelines just cheering him on, just as he wouldn't be happy being reduced to the same position for me. I don't think either of us could stand being the lesser partner in what is supposed to be an equal partnership.

I want it to work out. Damn.