Seven days after running into Gamagori, the Sudden Death Runoff Election began. There must have been at least two thousand students there who had survived the Naturals competition, which meant Honnouji Academy must have had more than ten thousand students enrolled, not including the no-stars who were not competing. All that to say, the battle didn't begin for me until the five towers came up. Anyone who stood atop them became candidates to receive new three-star uniforms.
I quickly climbed to the top of my tower, fending off one-and-two-stars with my scissor blade. When I had safely secured my tower, I saw that the other four had been taken by Satsuki's Elite servants. My instincts had been right: now I would have the chance to defeat the Elite Four and hopefully make Satsuki talk.
I was happy for the chance to eat lunch with Mako before the battle with Gamagori. I didn't think either of us knew how to say it or what to do about it, but Mako and I had become much more than friends. I now preferred talking to her more than anybody else, which was part of why I was pissed off when Sensei Aikurou showed up and stunned Mako with a pressure-point needle. He told me not to fight the Four Elites, but would not say why, nor would he breathe a word about my father's death. So I ignored his warning.
"Wait…" said Mako after our teacher left. "I feel like I skipped ahead in time a little! Was I knocked out?!"
I told a white lie because I wanted to change topics, and because I didn't want Mako being afraid of her teacher. I told her she had just dozed off, which, in all honesty, happened often.
"You're saying I was sleeping again?!" Mako chattered. "Why does this happen to me? It's seriously a problem, Ryuuko-chan. I mean, why can't my Dad fix Narcolepsy?"
"I'm surprised that he even knows what that is," I replied. "Your dad may be a back alley doctor, but he's still pretty awesome."
I turned and looked down at Mako, who had her neck bent forward so she could cram more mystery bento in her mouth. Well, perhaps it might be easier to say if she wasn't looking right at me…
Actually, Mako, that's what I wanted to talk about," I continued. "It's definitely not your dad who's the only awesome one. Your whole family is wonderful, Mako. And… th-the most wonderful thing of it all is, well, you."
Mako stopped eating and stared at me with her caramel-brown eyes.
"You see, Mako," I stuttered, "I… that is, you… um, my feelings—"
"Stop!" said Mako, lifting her arm and pointing her chopsticks to the heavens. "You're about to say something important, aren't you, Ryuuko-chan? But you can't say it yet."
My spirit sank. "But—but why not?"
"Wait until you can say it to me clearly and proudly," said Mako, smiling but blushing. "Go fight, Ryuuko, and win! Then say it to me."
I smiled, amazed. Did she know what I had planned to say? Did she already know I loved her? What a girl, I thought. If a girl like that would wait around for me, I would be able to beat anyone in a fight.
Going into detail about the battles would betray the purpose of this "romantic" memoire, so I'll keep my memories of the battles brief. Also, I might get a little sidetracked with Satsuki or Nui, just as a forewarning. Let's continue, then.
Gamagori was tough, and he fought so strategically that I couldn't have beaten him without Senketsu's plan to cut his armor from the inside. During that battle, I nearly fell to my death, and my chest became completely exposed, but I was almost past caring. Besides, at least Mako would see it. She cheered me on from the stand while I finished off Gamagori.
Gamagori actually went and sat next to Mako, but with no intention of hurting her. The two of them were having some kind of cheering competition. I smiled at them both for a second before putting my mind to the battle before me.
To my surprise, the fight with Inumuta seemed too easy. Sure his disappearing act threw me for a bit, and his forfeit pissed me off, but the battle had not been so bad. Of course, I was unaware then that Senketsu was evolving at a dangerous rate. My only thought was victory.
As I prepared to fight Jakuzure, I looked at the stadium seats again and saw that Mako, for some reason, had actually started cheering for herself. I had no idea why she did that, but it amused me and lifted my spirits. Senketsu noticed, as well, that my breathing and heart rate had lowered to normal levels after seeing Mako.
Jakuzure's Ultima Uniform seemed impossibly powerful; I mean, it could fly. Before focusing all effort on pummeling me, however, the musically inclined Elite briefly flew by Satsuki and said a few words—the key thing I noticed was that she called her commander "Satsuki-chan" when everyone else said "Satsuki-sama." I remembered she had also said earlier to Sanageyama that her relationship to Satsuki was different than that of the other Four. Both Jakuzure and Satsuki were beautiful but unusual young women, and both brought up as rich girls. I wondered about their history, until Jakuzure attacked.
The battle proved long and difficult. Jakuzure was especially upset when I tried to get a strike down on Satsuki. Even after I destroyed her flying Regalia, the young queen of music came back for more. The notes that targeted Senketsu's Life Fibers nearly finished us, until I discovered I could deflect the frequencies with my scissor blade. What's more, I could send my own powerful frequencies from 100% Life Fiber right back at her face. This was the twist that defeated her.
As I prepared to start the final battle with Sanageyama, I thought things were going well. …I was wrong.
When I first saw Harime Nui, she looked like a combination of Angel and Demon. The cutesy way she dressed at first disguised her age, but getting a good look at her I thought she could only be about a year younger than me. She looked like some western princess—if I had to guess, French? Her golden blond hair fell into long, curly pigtails, her smile was beyond adorable, and her eyes as strangely blue as my own. Yet from the way everyone reacted to her appearance, she could have been a malicious Devil. Even Satsuki lost her cool somewhat. When Nui asked what fun thing she was up to, Satsuki stated with hatred that she was not obligated to answer.
"Oh, how cold of you," Nui said, staring up at Satsuki with sparkling eyes. "I thought you and I were two hearts beating as one! All day, and all night too." She ended the sentence with a knowing chuckle.
The Elite Four looked horrified, and Jakuzure looked like someone had stabbed her in the back. Nui made several more implicating statements and left me wondering how much of Satsuki's history involved lesbian relationships. I wondered how I could think Nui was so perfect when I already had my perfect girl: Mako.
Nui disassembled Sanageyama's Uniform with one pull of its central Life Fiber string. Then I began to see the true Demon in this "little princess." She also said she wanted to fight me, but I really didn't know if I could swing a blade at her when she looked, physically, like she was defenseless. Impatient for my reaction, Nui pulled out her own blade—or the other half of MY blade, rather, as it was a scissor blade identical to mine in all but color.
"Yep, it was me!" Nui smiled girlishly. "I was the one who killed your father."
After she said that, all sense of rationality left me. I forgot about wanting to fight Satsuki. I forgot about wanting to tell Mako that I loved her. I forgot everything except for the Demon in front of me. I tried hacking her with my scissor, but she parried every blow with her own. Even so, she said that she only hoped the two of would "have fun together."
"Screw you!" I roared. "Why would I play around with my dad's murderer?!"
Nui's answer would have given me a very good idea of how she was raised, if I had been paying attention. But to me it sounded like garbage.
"You're so narrow minded," the girl sighed. "Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. The better an outfit's lining, the better the stitching is, too. That is to say, the more you hate someone, the more you can love them in turn."
As we fought, and Nui kept flirting with me, and my fury grew all the more. She also told me how fun it had been to stab my father, and what a pity it was that she hadn't waited at the house for such a "cute" girl as me. To top it all off, she straight up laughed at my scissor sword and told me cheerily that avenging my father with such a toy would be impossible.
That's when I truly "lost it." Senketsu had warned me that my rage was too great, but I ignored him, and suddenly everything went black for a minute. Jerking back into consciousness, I felt overpowered by the smell of blood in the air, and the only other things I felt were the livid wrath and the compulsion to kill Harime Nui. I staggered after, roaring. I was not at that point aware that I turned into a Monster.