Ryuko woke up. She found herself inside the ruins of a building, resting on a bed. This would be nothing out of the ordinary since that was what remained of most of Japan, but then she spotted an orange jacket hanging over a chair.

"Good morning, hope you don't mind having Kit-Kats for breakfast." A boy with blond hair approached her with a bag of snacks. Ryuko snorted as she looked out the window. "Where are your parents?"

"They couldn't afford the trip here." The boy said without much concern. "Would have returned home too, but then everyone's clothes started going crazy, and my friends got on the last plane."

Ryuko growled at the mention of clothes, not to mention she was only wearing a tattered blanket. "You better get away from me, then. I'm one of them too."

"Really?" The boy asked with some amusement on his face. "You're too pretty for a hobo, and I'm sure you're not a celebrity either."

Ryuko grabbed a piece of stick and stuck it into her chest, then she reached in and pulled out her heart. She didn't imagine it; her heart was made of red threads. "Do you think a human can walk around with their own heart sticking out like this? If you want to survive those COVERS, then get away from me."

The boy watched as Ryuko's heart slid back into her body and the cut sealed itself. "So, because you can't die, you can't be human, and you think you have to be human to be friends with them? Aren't you over-reacting?"

Ryuko slammed the boy into the wall and held her blade against his neck. "Shut it! How would you even know what it's like?"

"Tell me, do you remember how you got here?" At the boy's prompt, Ryuko remembered seeing this boy standing on the side of the road, and then she decided to go with this boy to find shelter. "I can tell you two things you are thinking: that I am alive and that you think that is what happened."

"Yeah, I did go with you. So what?" But Ryuko knew that she would probably avoid human interaction past freeing them from the COVERS. "Why?"

The boy chuckled. "The truth is simple. You ran me over with your bike. You were nice enough to look for a good place to bury me, and you only stopped here because you were getting tired."

Ryuko only gripped him tighter. "Are you messing with me?"

"Girl, you cut my head off, and the only thing you will remember is that we had an argument, or do you want me to pull out your 'Potty Song' word for word?" The horror of that incident made Ryuko jump back as the boy straightened himself. "That's right, I had a chat with your father in the afterlife, and he did teach that song to your sister too. I can tell you what it's like in heaven and hell, what it's like to be a ghost, and which is the best way to die. And let me tell, you, a heroic sacrifice is more painful than they portray it."

"Who...who are you?"

The boy looked at Ryuko before he picked up his jacket and zipped it up. "Ehm Memmhy."

((To celebrate the Stick of Truth, here's some Kenny x Ryuko. Or maybe Kenny x Nui?))