(cue Going the Distance from Rocky by Bill Conti)
Ryuko's plan was to tire Mako out to the point of her learning that she had been blinded by the glamour and greed of being a two-star. But somehow, her breaking point never came. On and on Mako kept beating up Ryuko with her two-star goku uniform, it seemed like there was no end. By the time sunset had come, Ryuko decided to just cut her losses and give up.
Alright Mako, you wanna keep your wealth and stay a jerk forever? Go right ahead... Ryuko thought. She then collapsed to the ground in exhaustion from Mako's punches and desynchronized with Senketsu.
The entire audience who came to attend the battle between Ryuko and Mako gasped in shock at the unexpected outcome.
There it was. Ryuko Matoi, the punk from Kanto with the guitar case and scissor blade. The girl who had single handedly beaten every club president Satsuki had sent her. She had just been defeated, and by her own best friend to boot. Seeing Ryuko beaten by Mako left the entire audience stunned, even the Elite 4 couldn't believe it.
"She actually did it!" One student yelled.
"The scissor blade girl, defeated by her best friend!" Another yelled.
Ryuko lay beaten and bruised after the battle, she was shaken both mentally and physically. Her body was aching all over from taking all of Mako's attacks, but the fact that Mako had now chosen being a wealthy two-star over their friendship and Ryuko being in a family hurt the most.
(cue After The Final Bell from Rocky by Bill Conti)
Mako's eyes widened at what she had just done, and Ryuko thought she was finally gonna come across, but instead, she let out cheers of excitement.
"Oh my gosh, I did it! I beat Ryuko!"
The other elites and Satsuki all watched on as the victorious Mako cheered, with the rest of her now permanently wealthy family jumping out of the stands and joining her in the celebration.
"Way to go Mako! That's my bunny girl!" Barazo said, while throwing diamonds and gems in the air like they were confetti.
"Yep, you certainly showed Ryuko who's stronger!" Sukuyo added as she popped a bottle of champagne and doused Mako with it like she was a coach who won the big game for her team.
"I knew you could do it Sis!" Mataro added, while also striking a pose to his many new girl fans.
As they continued watching over Mako's victory party, the elites all became confused, as this seemed like a fight that Ryuko was sure to win.
"Was this what you wanted to happen, Lady Satsuki?" Uzu asked.
"It wasn't. But we'll try to make this outcome work as best as we can." Satsuki then looked on at what Mako had just accomplished. This was not the ending she had hoped for, but it would have to do, for now. She then looked at the victorious Mako and spoke to her.
"Congratulations President Mankanshoku of the Fight Club! You have accomplished what dozens before you have failed to do!" Satsuki yelled. "You've also given your family financial security and luxury for the rest of their lives! And for that, you have my honor!"
"Thank you Lady Satsuki! I'm only just doing this to make my family happy!" Mako said. "Now they'll never lose the glowing twinkle in their eyes!"
Ryuko slowly and quietly got to her feet, and stumbled away from Mako's celebration, and out of the academy. For her, she had just lost the first and only friend she had at Honnouji Academy. As the old christian proverb said, pride comes before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall.
"Ryuko, where are you going? Aren't you going to congratulate Mako?" Senketsu asked.
"No. I'm done with Mako. I knew something like this would happen to her ." Ryuko said in a frustrated tone. "I just wish I could've stopped her before it was too late..."
"Don't worry Ryuko. What matters most is that you helped make Mako happy..." Senketsu said.
"Yeah, but at what cost?" Ryuko mumbled as she struggled to hold back tears. As she walked away, Ryuko kept thinking about her last dinner with the Mankanshokus before she and Mako formed the Fight Club. She remembered how they accepted her as one of their own, and how she never had family dinners like that before, thanks to her dad being too busy with his work.
"Well Mako, you and your family got your happiness...was it worth it?" Ryuko mumbled as she looked on on at her now-former best friend still relishing in her victory.
Satsuki looked on as Ryuko quietly exited the main school grounds, and then thought of another idea to utilize Mako's now severed relationship.
"As promised Mankanshoku, here is your new Three-Star Goku Uniform. And, how would you like to work on a little project with me?"
(Cue Money, Money, Money by Abba)
Over the next couple of days, Mako had become incredibly popular amongst the Honnouji Academy students for beating Ryuko with her Goku Uniform. As she walked by the halls of the academy, her parents followed, like they were her agents. Every student in the halls gushed over Mako and asked for her autograph. And she gladly signed them, it made her feel like she was a Hollywood movie star.
"Alright folks! Everyone line up one at a time for autographs!" Barazo said to the crowd.
"You're so cool Mako!"
"I love your Goku Uniform Mako!"
"I wish you could fight me next Mako!"
"That's it everyone! Autograph signings are over!" Barazo said, shooing the paparazzi out of the way. The other studenta that didn't get their autographs from Mako all groaned in frustration.
"Too bad, you'll have to try again tomorrow! But here, have some free thousand yen bills as a consolation!" Sukuyo said as she threw money all over the floor.
Ryuko watched in disgust at Mako's signings. Seeing all of those two-stars falling for someone they didn't even notice a week ago made Ryuko sick to her stomach.
"You miss having the Mankanshoku's as your so-called family, huh Ryuko?" Senketsu asked.
"Yeah, Senketsu. But this isn't the first time such a thing has happened..." Ryuko said.
Losing Mako and her family to pure greed reminded Ryuko of the other 'friends' she had at her old boarding school, in which they only took advantage of her bad girl reputation for selfish purposes. They would befriend her, act like they were steady, and then when they became popular enough, they would quickly abandon her, even pretending they never even knew her.
Ryuko tried to get back into the swing of fighting club presidents again, but most times she was literally beaten to the punch by Mako, who was now wearing a new three star outfit Satsuki gave her for beating Ryuko. Every time, Ryuko felt a mix of annoyance and shock upon having her thunder stolen.
"Mako, that was supposed to be my fight!" Ryuko yelled after Mako defeated the club president.
"Well you know the old saying, the early bird gets the worm!" Mako said as she stood proud at her kill.
The same thing continued happening time and time again, with Mako stealing her victory and getting all the credit and fame. Even when Ryuko got up early and waited for her duel, every competitor chose Mako instead.
More days went by, and Ryuko noticed that the rest of the Mankanshoku family was somehow becoming more rich and snobbish.
Barazo had decided to quit the back-alley doctor business and become a full time pimp. Even though he was seeing ladies that were younger and more beautiful than Sukuyo, she didn't mind it at all, as Barazo always bought her new jewels after his sessions.
Speaking of Sukuyo, she had signed a deal with a restaurant chain in mainland Japan to sell her croquettes to the entire country. Out of curiosity, Ryuko took one bite of a croquette sold at the restaurant, and shoved her plate away in disgust. It didn't taste anything at all like Mako's family had once made back when they were still no-stars. But it was still a hit amongst the common Japanese folk.
Mataro became the star of a new reality show centered around his life as a top socialite, which also brought national publicity to the academy. He had become a junior casanova to many of the teen girls in the academy, even though they were all several years older than he was. Even Guts got some fame as well, being cast as the family dog in many major motion pictures. And he also became a father-to-be thanks to one of the visits' with his poodle friends.
Ever since that fateful fight, Ryuko had decided to no longer live with the Mankanshokus and instead stayed in their former no-star house. Every night, she felt lonesome, like she had before came to the academy and met Mako. The only thing remaining in the abandoned house when she moved in was her old bunny pajamas that she wore at bedtime and on No-Tardies Day.
As she took a bath in the old barrel, she prayed that someone, anyone, would suddenly show up and gush at her naked body like Barazo and Mataro used to do, but it never happened.
The next day, Ryuko was wandering the main school grounds, while muttering something under her breath. It became obvious to Senketsu that she was saying some unkind words about Mako. Most of them were about how she gave up her friendship with Ryuko just to continue living her life on Honnouji's jet set.
"Ryuko! I know you're still upset about what happened to Mako, but you gotta let it go!" Senketsu said.
"I know Senketsu. But Mako and her family were something special. Sure, they didn't have much to go on, but what they lacked in money, they made up for in heart ."
Senketsu looked on at Ryuko and noted her newfound grudge against Mako. "I may be a sailor uniform, but I know exactly what you mean. Deep down I actually miss Mrs. Mankanshoku's ironings ."
Ryuko smiled at that comment. "Thanks Senketsu. I'm glad you're never gonna bail on me like Mako did."
"And if there's one upside to this, your blood has become a lot cleaner and less saltier than before. And I think you've lost some weight too!" Senketsu said, noting that Ryuko's blood was less fattening thanks to a lack of mystery croquettes.
"Ugh! Even without Mako around, you're still complaining about my weight!" Ryuko said.
"Hi, Ryuko!" Ryuko froze upon hearing Mako's voice.
When she turned around, she noticed to her shock that Mako was now wearing the same type of outfit the heads of Honnouji's student council wore.
"Mako? What the hell are you doing?" Ryuko said.
"Since I beat you in battle, I got so popular that Lady Satsuki expanded her student council and made me it's newest member!" Mako said, while showing off her new student council uniform.
"What the hell?" Ryuko said in shock. "You joined Satsuki's gang?"
"That's right! We're the Mighty Five now!" Uzu said as he and the other four council members lined up near Mako.
"Yep! I even got a cool nickname! I'm the Rabbit!" Mako cheered with her hands forming rabbit ears on her head.
"You should've seen how Mankanshoku took down the equestrian racing club yesterday!" Ira said.
"Mankanshoku is Honnouji Academy's Efficiency Supervisor, she does daily checkups on all of our clubs and makes sure their fighting skills are up the academys high standards." Uzu said.
"I'll admit it, I was a bit skeptical to let the slackerdoodle join us, but she's really made a worthwhile addition to the academy!" Nonon said.
"And rumor has it that a certain toad may have a thing for our little rabbit here..." Houka said while winking.
Ira couldn't help but blush at that comment, as he didn't want to admit that Mako had started to grow on him over the past couple of days.
Seeing Mako like this made Ryuko's blood start to boil up. The last thing she expected to see was for Mako to fall under Satsuki Kiryuin's control. And just when things couldn't get any worse, Satsuki had to show up.
"Ah, I see you've now met my new Mighty Five?" Satsuki said while raising one of her lucious eyebrows.
Ryuko growled and stamped her feet in disgust of Satsuki's comment. "This is all your fault Satsuki Kiryuin!" she yelled.
"And why is it my fault? This is what Mankanshoku wants. Now that she has become a member of the Honnouji student council, she has accepted her destiny as part of my order." Satsuki said.
"No it isn't! What Mako wants is to be with me! She needs to stop listening to your pathetic propaganda and go back to the way she was!" Ryuko said. Right Mako?"
Mako just stood there and didn't say anything. She wanted to agree with Ryuko, but at the same time she didn't, and it mentally put a strain on her heart. Before she could make her decision, Satsuki's voice broke through her thoughts.
"Ryuko...I-"
"Mankanshoku. If you go back with Matoi and return to being a No-Star, you will be giving up everything you had worked so hard to earn." Satsuki said.
"I just don't know what to do..." Mako mumbled.
"You've seen how being a three-star has changed you and your family's life for the better. Do you really want to take it all away from them?" Satsuki added.
"Think about how millions of people around Japan are enjoying your mother's croquettes." Uzu asked.
"And think of the ratings and acclaim your brother's TV show has gotten." Nonon asked.
"Let's also not forget that your dog Guts is about to be a father. Do you want his puppies to grow up without a dad?" Houka added.
"Will you all just shut up and let Mako make up her own mind?" Ryuko grunted.
"Very well then." Satsuki said as she and the others stepped aside.
Ryuko then got down on her knees and begged for Mako to come across. "You were like my sister Mako! I loved you!" she said, while a few tears poured down her face.
Satsuki looked at Ryuko's display and tried her best not to spit in disgust. Sappy displays like that always pissed her off. But even so, Satsuki knew that Mako would ultimately choose her.
"So Mankanshoku, what's it gonna be?" she said.
Mako glanced at the crying figure that was once her friend, and back at Satsuki and the other elites. Ten seconds later, she had made her decision.
"I .I choose...Lady Satsuki." she uttered. She then walked back to her fellow elites and gave them a high five.
(cue opening of Funeral for a Friend by Elton John)
And with that, the last remaining vestige of the Mako that Ryuko had known was completely gone. Just then, the dam broke, and Ryuko started sobbing uncontrollably. Her shoulders shook, as her frame was wracked by the cries and hiccups that escaped her mouth. The other elites looked on with concern, but there wasn't a drop of pity in Satsuki's gaze.
"Don't feel bad for her. In the end, Matoi's loss is Honnouji Academy's gain." Satsuki quietly muttered.
She and the other elites then walked away from Ryuko. After all, they had clubs to oversee, and Mako had fights to schedule with students. As Mako and her new friends walked further into the distance, Ryuko continued sitting there, crying more and more. A group of two-stars then started to take notice of Ryuko's sobbing form.
"Hey, are you alright?" one of them asked.
"Nah, just ignore her. That's that girl with the scissor blade that got beaten by Gamagoori's new girlfriend..." the two-stars friend said. The two of them then started laughing and walked away.
Other people started walking away and ignoring her, muttering things like "She's not strong enough..." or "She's out of date " This was only adding more fuel to the fire for Ryuko.
As her sobbing faded and the flood of tears slowed their speeds, the teen's feelings of remorse and shame towards Mako faded away and transformed into something else: hatred and revenge. All through this, her blood began to boil. Suddenly the Seki Tekko popped out and Ryuko synchronized with Senketsu again.
"Ryuko? What's wrong? Why did you just synchronize with me? And why is your blood suddenly getting hotter and hotter?" Senketsu said, his voice full of worry as Ryuko continued grunting in anger over Mako, the friend she once had. As this was happening, a new sensation was brewing inside Ryuko's body, a feeling of anger, confusion, and most importantly, power. All throughout this, her blood started to become abnormally hotter. Senketsu noticed this, and became alarmed.
"Ryuko, you gotta calm down! I can't handle all of this overheated blood! " Senketsu yelled, his eye getting dizzy as massive amounts of Ryuko's boiling blood entered his system. The life fibers that made up his fabric then began entangling one by one under the strain of Ryuko's boiling blood.
(cue K1llwaill from KLK soundtrack)
As Ryuko gritted her teeth in her newfound rage and strength, they grew sharper and longer, two of which grew so long that they burst through her skull. Her veins turned a shade of aqua green, and the color spread throughout her skin as the temperature of her blood continued to rise to unfathomable levels. The skirt on her abdomen also changed shape, resembling a mouth of razor sharp teeth. Her head was then suddenly decapitated, while threads of life fibers popped out of her left shoulder and plopped it onto Senketsu's bloodshot eye. Her right arm let out cracking sounds as it grew much larger, and transformed into armor resembling blocks of obsidian with cracks of molten lava, the lava being her boiling blood leaking out of her body. In addition, spikes dug into her left leg at grotesque angles as if it were seeking to bury themselves into her flesh instead of lying against it. And her scissor blade had crudely merged with her right arm, making the skin turn red and metallic in the process.
As she transformed, her agonized screams transitioned into low gurgling growls, and her mind became warped, dependent on both instinct and her wrath alone. As the steam and smoke cleared and her transformation ceased, her disheveled and fanged maw opened, revealing the familiar glow of life fibers inside, and she let out a deep and demonic roar akin to her and Senketsu screaming at once.
"MAAAAAAAAKKOOOOOO!"
Meanwhile, the Mighty 5 were in Satsuki's office, when they swore they heard an inhuman shriek nearby. "Did you hear something Inu?" asked Nonon.
"It's probably some cat out in the street." Houka said. The other elites agreed with him and continued their work.
And then all of a sudden, there was another roar and a crunching smash coming from out the door, and the five council members immediately jumped out of their chairs and had their guard up.
"Okay, I definitely heard that!" Nonon shouted.
When the smoke cleared, Satsuki and the other members of her Mighty 5 looked on in horror at the savage creature that used to be Ryuko. None were more shocked at what had happened to her than Satsuki.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Uzu yelled.
All that came out of the abomination's mouth for a few seconds were guttural groans and garbles from two distinct voices, one female and the other male. Eventually, the two gibberish voices became somewhat comprehensible, and they both spoke this message in perfect unison:
"Mako...must...die..."
The elites all gasped in shock as from that comment, they realized just who this green-skinned monster really was. Satsuki also quickly recognized the familiar hair and large yellow eye on the monster's shoulder, along with the red colored arm blade fusion.
"It can't be...that's Matoi..." Satsuki mumbled.
"What should we do Lady Satsuki?" Nonon asked.
"There's only one thing we can do. We have to put her down." Satsuki quietly said.
Uzu tried to speak up, wanting to fight Ryuko himself again, but then he was quickly interrupted by Ira.
"Lady Satsuki, let's have the student council's newest and most powerful member do the honors!"
"What? Are you talking about me?" Mako said in horror. If fighting Ryuko once was hard enough, she couldn't fathom what fighting her monster form would be like.
"Indeed he is, Mankanshoku." Satsuki said.
Mako was hesitant to do it, since she knew that it was Ryuko she'd be fighting. "But, deep down, that monster is still Ryuko!" she argued.
"I'm afraid that Matoi is no more; her mind and soul has been corrupted by the destructive urges of the life fibers." Satsuki added.
Mako then felt slightly less guilty about having to be forced to put Ryuko down. She then lifted the flap of her Goku Uniform and activated it.
"Alright! I'll do it!"
She was surrounded by orange light and sparkles as she activated her Goku Uniform. It looked very much like her old two-star one, but with some alterations, most notably in its colors. Instead of being black and red, her three star uniform was now colored white with golden trim. And white fabric also covered up the visible glow of life fibers, and some of the edges were given a punk-like look.
"Three Star Goku Uniform! Fight Regalia!"
Reluctantly, she charged at the creature that was once her friend, and began throwing punch after punch towards her.
Ryuko furiously hissed as she used the armor of her massive left arm to block Mako's attacks. And then when she knocked down, Ryuko used said arm to land a massive punch on Mako, sending her flying towards a nearby wall.
"Should we help her beat New Girl?" Nonon asked as she watched Mako's display.
"No, let Mankanshoku handle this by herself." Satsuki replied. "It'll prove how powerful she is as a council member."
Mako quickly got up and pointed her star-shaped brass knuckles at Ryuko, which then began to glow and shoot beams of orange colored light at the feral beast. Ryuko raised up her blade arm, and used it to knock back the beams, which then hit Satsuki's throne.
Next, Mako pulled out her baseball bat weapon, which then opened and let out several rockets, but they were all batted into the opposite direction by Ryuko's blade arm. The rockets ended up knocking back and hitting the other Elites, who were watching the battle nearby.
"You don't deserve this power..." Ryuko roared at Mako and the other council members.
Mako then let out chains from her outfit, aiming for the hole in Ryuko's scissor blade arm, but then Ryuko grabbed those chains and started flailing Mako back and forth like a pendulum.
"What are you doing Mankanshoku? Stop letting your guard down!" Uzu said.
"I can't do it! I know that deep down, Ryuko is still inside that mess of blood and teeth!" Mako yelled while more destruction was being caused to the student council office by Ryuko.
Mako then scratched Ryuko's face by using her spiked bracelets as boomerangs. Once she was hit, Ryuko craned her head back as a loud gurgling sound rumbled in her throat.
Then, a torrent of boiling hot blood erupted from Ryuko's fanged maw, and Mako tucked and rolled out of the way to dodge this attack. Unfortunately, the blood blast ended up hitting Nonon's stuffed animal collection.
"Why I oughta..." Nonon yelled, wanting to jump into the frey, only to then be blocked by Satsuki.
Mako had to find something big to hit Ryuko's equally big arm with. She then glanced and saw a large statue of Satsuki, and with her newfound strength, she picked it up, and threw it at Ryuko. "Hey! That statue was expensive!" Houka yelled.
Ryuko let out a pained shriek as she was slammed straight into a wall, and Mako started thinking that she had one the fight. But then Ryuko then got up off of the ground and brushed the rubble off of her body.
"Is that all you got?" her twin voiced body said.
"Alright Ryuko, you forced me to do this..." Mako said as she craned her neck back towards the monstrous form of her former friend.
Her fist smashed into the floor, and the force of the impact sent out a massive shockwave throughout the office, which sent debris, and Ryuko flying into a hole. Even the Elites and Satsuki were knocked back by the punch.
Mako let out a sigh of relief as she thought Ryuko was finished. But then, she and the other elites saw Ryuko's large left arm grab the ground and pull her back up, ready for more.
"No hole can trap us..." the gravelly voice of Ryuko and Senketsu said.
"Ryuko, you need to stop this, this isn't you!" Mako said, repeating one of the lines Ryuko said to her in their last fight.
"No Mako, you need to stop this!" Ryuko growled. She then grabbed the sleeves of Fight Regalia and lifted Mako into the air.
With one quick slice of her blade arm, Mako's goku uniform was destroyed, leaving her completely defenseless. Once she was injured and cornered, the creature snarled and raised her scissor blade arm. The fused blade extended like a switch-blade into its decapitation mode, and her entire body bent backwards for the finishing strike.
"Goodbye...Mako..." Ryuko and Senketsu said as their body bent forward and the blade arm started making its way towards Mako's throat. Just before Ryuko could finish the deed, the sound of a gunshot was suddenly heard.
"What the hell was that?" Ira said.
All of a sudden, a horrific two-voiced howl of agony escaped Ryuko's maw, as blood from a new wound spilled on the floor. As the elites looked on, they saw that she had been shot by some kind of fatal bullet. In that wound, the fibers that made up the half-human half-kamui abomination writhed and twitched weakly, before going still and turning dark.
Tears streamed down Ryuko's reddened cheeks as the oozing blood hardened and began to glow, forming vines that began wrapping around her, and sinking into her green flesh.
As this was happening, red sparkles filled the room as her face and the remnants of her flesh began to revert back to normal. Once it was over, she fell onto the floor face first, revealing it was Aikuro and Tsumugu who shot her.
"Lady Satsuki look! It's the world history teacher who has Matoi and Mankanshoku as students!" Houka said.
"And he's with that mystery guy with the mohawk!" Nonon added.
Satsuki looked at the suffering form of Ryuko, then at Aikuro and Tsumugu. She saw that in Aikuro's hands was a shotgun that looked like it had been recently fired. "Mr. Mikisugi, did you do this?" Satsuki asked.
"Yes, I did. We got word from Nud, I mean, one of my classmates, that Matoi had been consumed by her kamui and turned into a monster. So I used my friend Tsumugu's special adhesive bullet to tame her rage." Aikuro said.
"You can think of it as a powerful starching agent." Tsumugu added.
Mako looked on in horror at what had just become of Ryuko, as her screams of agony turned into weak groans. "Is Ryuko gonna be okay?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not, Mankanshoku. We did the same thing on Tsumugu's sister Kinue when she became a monster like Matoi, and it wound up costing her life." Aikuro said.
That statement hit Mako's soul like a car slamming into a brick wall. For the first time since she became rich, she felt a horrible mix of horror and empathy, it was almost too much as beads of tears began to prick her eyes.
"We'll uh, leave you all to say goodbye to her..." Aikuro quietly said as he and Tsumugu left.
(cue Tears After the Cloudy Weather from Pokemon)
"No...Ryuko..." Mako mumbled.
"Where is your god when you need him?...where is your beautiful merciful faggot now?" a female voice groaned weakly.
Satsuki and the others heard that comment coming from Ryuko. Mako quickly ran up to her and held Ryuko's dying body in her arms . Her limbs were quickly be eaten away, turning into vines of life fibers.
"R-Ryuko!" she cried.
"Heh...hey Mako...sorry about all of that..." Ryuko weakly said, as normal temperature blood trickled from her mouth, and her body was eaten up by fibers more and more.
"Ryuko! I'm so sorry that I took our friendship for granted and chose myself and my family's happiness over our friendship!" Mako cried, tears leaking all over Ryuko's dying body.
"It's alright Mako. I understand now that being with Satsuki and her guys makes you happy..." Ryuko mumbled, as her body started getting cold and clammy.
"No Ryuko! I'm gonna leave the student council, go back to being a No-Star, and then we'll all be a happy family again!" Mako cried.
"I'm sorry Mankanshoku. Even if you were to go back, it looks like Matoi wouldn't be able to join you..." Satsuki quietly said.
"For once, that bitch is right. Mako, You just keep doing what you're doing. For me..."
"I...I don't know if I can, Ryuko!"
"Never thought it would come to this, dying in front of that bitch named Satsuki Ki...Kiryuin..." Ryuko quietly said. "Before I go, tell me, why did you try and beat the shit out of me?"
"To be truthful... it was all to get you prepared for the rebellion against my mother, Ragyo." Satsuki whispered.
"What? Why didn't you tell me from the start?" Ryuko mumbled.
"It was because you weren't deemed ready for it. I was eventually going to tell you that I was the one who killed your father, when in reality, I wasn't. If you were able to control yourself after I told you, then you would've been deemed acceptable." Satsuki stated.
"Me and the Mighty Five had planned this from the day Honnouji Academy was founded. She planned to turn the entire human race into life fibers, and then use them to cover the earth in a Starseed Cocoon Sphere. The reason all of the class presidents were against you was because they didn't know anything about my true plans..."
"Really?" Mako said.
"Nope, the only ones who know about this are my elites, along with Iori from the sewing club, and my butler Soroi."
"So that's what this was all about? I guess in the end, I wasn't meant to learn who killed my dad. In that case, you, Mako and the others should keep the good battle going...whatever you do, don't stop the work..." Ryuko quietly uttered as her body went limp.
Those happened to be the last words of Kinue Kinagase before her death, and in a cruel twist of irony, it wound up being Ryuko's last words also.
This ended up shattering the dam that was Mako's eyes, and Mako let out heart wrenching wails as tears began flooding down her cheeks after witnessing her first friend's death. Ira felt a wave of guilt wash over him, but he tried not to show it. However, he did try to comfort Mako as best as he could by giving her a kiss on her reddened tear soaked cheek.
"Mankanshoku, if you want to honor Matoi, I'll allow you to go back to being a No-Star." Satsuki said as she approached Mako's sobbing figure.
Mako wanted to say no, she wanted to quit and return to being a no-star for Ryuko's sake. But at the same time, she couldn't, because she knew she would lose all of her friends; and would have to go back to making up imaginary ones, like she did before she met Ryuko. To quote a Swiss proverb, the poor lack much, but the greedy lack more. She then regretfully decided to keep her present lifestyle, for the sake of her parents and brother's happiness.
"It's okay. I'll do what Ryuko said, and stay with you guys..." Mako quietly said.
"Very well. While they are nothing like Matoi, the other council members will still treat you with the utmost respect." Satsuki said.
The other elites, along with Satsuki, all walked over and aided their grieving friend in the form of a group hug.
The next few days following Ryuko's death felt like years to Mako. Since that fateful day, Mako has had a heavy heart, and a soul just as injured. She kept the news of Ryuko's death to herself, Satsuki and the other Elites, but not her own family; as since they had become rich, they had treated Ryuko like dirt.
Or so she thought.
(cue Once Before I Go by Hugh Jackman)
After a dinner all by her lonesome, Mako's parents and brother came by and noticed her blue mood.
"Hey Mako sweetie, where's Ryuko? I haven't seen her in days!" Barazo said.
"I think she moved out of town .Probably went to another school to find out who killed her dad ." Mako lied.
"Huh? I guess that was to be expected after you really gave her a whooping!" Barazo said.
"It's too bad. We wanted to show her there were no hard feelings by giving her this gold statue of herself..." Sukuyo said.
Some cloth curtains behind Mako were pulled away, revealing a tall golden bust of Ryuko's head. And engraved on the base was this phrase:
To Ryuko Matoi, the Kanto hothead who helped make the Mankanshokus a big success!
More tears started forming on Mako's eyes, however a small hint of a smile lit up appeared on her face.
"Wow ..It's amazing .."
"If you ever see Ryuko again, tell her that we're sorry we wanted her dead!" Mataro said. "Sometimes having lots of money does that to people!"
Mako couldn't believe that her parents and brother still deep down cared about Ryuko. And then she thought of another way to honor them and get some semblence of her old family back.
"Uh, mom and dad .." Mako started to say.
"What is it sweetie?" Sukuyo said.
"Can we ..start having dinners together as a family again? I think it would be best to honor Ryuko since she moved ."
The rest of her family looked at each other, thinking about the dinners they used to have with Ryuko, and then smiled.
"Why didn't you say so, Mako! We've become so obsessed with our new luxuries that we haven't had dinner as a family in weeks!" Sukuyo said.
Mako tried her best to hold back her tears. It was a rather cruel twist of fate after Ryuko died that Mako's parents and brother began showing bits of their pre-fight club personalities. But again Mako tried her best not to tell her the real story, because to keep your family happy, sometimes you have to stretch the truth.
"Thanks guys ." Mako quietly said.
"Yeah, and thanks for suggesting that sis!" Mataro said. "Hey mom, you should make croquettes like you did before we got rich!"
"With mystery ingredients? Of course!" Sukuyo said. She then looked at the influx of tears flowing on Mako's face. "Hey Mako, why are you crying?"
"Oh, it's nothing Mom!"
Mako then let out a smile towards her parents and brother. Although she could never see Ryuko again, she could at least honor her by having festive dinners like they used to. As Ryuko would say, they were what being a family was all about.
Later that night, as Mako went to bed, she put the gold bust of Ryuko on her nightstand. Even in the dark, the figure let out a gleaming twinkle.
"Thank you Ryuko ." Mako mumbled as she drifted off to sleep. In all of Mako's upcoming battles to save humanity from life fibers, Ryuko would be forever in her heart, and always her inspiration.
Notes:
Despite the dark ending, this was a rather fun fic for me to write. I was never really a fan of the sitcom-style plot of 'person gets a better class of living but then loses it in the end', and I initially thought that the FIght Club episode of KLK would be another one of those, but I was a bit surprised how well it was done. However, I did feel a bit sympathetic for the Mankanshokus in the episode being forced to never be successful in order to keep Ryuko happy, which also drew inspiration for the fics creation.