(Originally published 13th June 2021)
EDITED on 07/29/2022 : Minor edit to the first Fukuroda fight, plus an image
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The Next Day...
-Honno Town Docks-
"There it is... Honnouji Academy...."
Back at the Mankanshoku Residence...
Toshiro slowly flickered back to life as the sun shone through the window to his right.
'Man, did I need that. It's like my brain just drained out all the confusion that had been piling up from yesterday. Let's hope today will be a bit calmer than the first...'
The powers that be weren't too keen on that last part. Almost as if on cue, Mako burst into the guest room, somehow managing to eat a piece of toast and get dressed simultaneously and in multiple parts of the room at once.
"TOSHIRO WAKE UP QUICK! I'LL BE EXPELLED IF I'M LATE TO CLASS AGAIN AND YOU CAN'T BE LATE ON YOUR FIRST REAL DAY!"
'God... Damnit...'
"Alright I'm up I'm up!" Toshiro hastily replied as he hurried to put his own uniform on, managing to grab a piece of toast himself as chased after Mako, who had already begun making - or rather, sprinting - her way to school.
"You should really consider buying an alarm of some sort if you're this paranoid about being late, Mako." Toshiro suggested after having caught up with her. She seemed to be waiting at this alleyway for some reason.
Mako hushed him, which was quite surprising for Toshiro to say the least. Mako seems like the last person to hush someone, though a quick glance at the scene she was looking at soon revealed why she had a sudden change of character.
So from what he had gathered at dinner last night, Mataro, Mako's younger brother, was some kind of alleyway thug, and, lo and behold, there he was with a few other street goons on their latest victim. Their target appeared to be a teenage girl, probably around his or Mako's age, with a distinctive red highlight in her hair and a guitar case slung over her back.
The two slid back behind cover and prepared to intervene - preferably before anyone got hurt - when the noise of a quick brawl from the alley drew their attention back to it. In just the split second they weren't looking, the guitar-case girl had managed to make Mataro's entire gang grovel on the ground for mercy.
'How the hell...'
The girl began to walk off scene, and while Toshiro took this as enough of a punishment for Mataro, Mako thought otherwise. A bullseye on his head with a briefcase and a tackle later, she pinned him down to the ground and lectured him on his misdeeds.
"Out robbing people at the crack of dawn again, huh?! What'd Mom tell you about that, you gotta get going to school mister!"
"Ok ok ok please get off I'll go to school pleeeease!" Mataro pleaded to no avail.
Toshiro could see the blatantly visible confusion on the new girl's face. He felt some pity on her, knowing full well that he had the exact same feeling yesterday.
"Don't worry about it, this happens a lot" He quickly told the guitar-case wielder before quickly turning back to Mako. "I'm gonna go and catch the tram, I'll let you handle this"
"OK! I'll catch up with ya soon, just gotta teach this punk a lesson first!" Mako replied in her normal cheery tone before quickly going back to lecturing her brother.
Dashing past the group, Toshiro managed to get on the tram just before it left the platform, and, just like yesterday, he helped Mako onto the tram when he noticed her trailing it.
The tram journey was just as it was yesterday; cramped, slow, and somehow mind-clearing. Toshiro almost appreciated how slow the tram was, as it allowed him to prepare for what would probably be another bizarre day.
Speaking of bizarre, as the duo got off the tram, Toshiro noticed a new piece of décor draped over the front gate, namely the naked body of a dead (or near enough) boy with a single sign that made an example of him to the rest of the school.
'Ain't that the kid that got slammed all around the school yesterday? Sheesh, doing that was bad enough but making him an example like this? Just how draconian is this place...'
Apart from the... distinctive... choice of front gate ornament, the trip to class was relatively normal. Too normal. He could feel it in his bones. This normality will be repaid heavily by the time the day ends.
In class that day, Mr. Mikisugi was continuing the lecture that had been so rudely interrupted yesterday on Interwar Germany, when a knock sounded on the door, followed by the entrance of a familiar girl with a red streak in her hair.
'My, what an odd coincidence...' Toshiro mumbled.
"OK everyone, we have another new transfer student joining us in Class 2-K today, so please welcome Ryuko Matoi." Mikisugi announced to a half-asleep class as he wrote down her name on the board.
"RYUKO! RYUKO! OVER HERE! THIS DESK IS FREE!" Mako shouted as she was pointing to the desk next to her.
'Guess 2-K must just be this school's version of a brig for transfers... Ah well, at least Mako's nice enough.' Toshiro noted to himself as he observed the situation.
Ryuko did eventually sit at the desk Mako had pointed out, slouching into the seat. But Mako wasn't done yet.
"My name's Mako Mankanshoku! It's nice to meet you again and everything!"
"That 'kid' the Student Council purged... He the one out front?" Ryuko asked apathetically.
"Yep that's the one! That kind of thing happens a lot around here!" Mako replied "Oh, but don't worry, you'll get used to it!" After that she did the same food-to-sleep marathon that she did yesterday, surprising Ryuko just as it did Toshiro the day before.
"W-what the hell? She's asleep already?" Ryuko said, baffled.
"Mako's just like that. I couldn't believe it when I first saw it either."
Ryuko turned at the familiar voice, to Toshiro sat behind her.
"Toshiro Matsuda. I'm the other transfer student."
"Well then, nice to meet'cha."
With the window for small-talk gone now that Mr. Mikisugi resumed talking about Hitler's rise to power again, Toshiro began to lazily scribble down notes in his notepad. Ryuko, meanwhile, just slouched into her seat, waiting for the lesson to end.
A "Productive" lesson later...
As class ended, Ryuko wasted no time in making her exit, shortly followed by Toshiro. Now normally he wouldn't follow someone who he'd known for quite literally only 20 minutes, but if today was gonna be anything like yesterday, he knew exactly what was about to happen next.
"Ryuko." Toshiro stated coolly.
"Hmm?" The small glance Ryuko gave at Toshiro was all she needed to see the human torpedo flying directly at her.
"OHH RYUKOO-!"
Ryuko shifted slightly to the left, causing Mako to miss her and barrel head-first into some disposable waste bins instead.
"Aww, why'd you dodge me like that?"
"That's what people do when some weirdo tries to tackle them like that."
"Mako, I told you that you can't just jump people out of nowhere. Even if they are your bestie."
"Bestie?" Ryuko asked, confused. It seemed that Ryuko had never heard of the desk buddy = bestie rule before, although granted Toshiro hadn't before yesterday either.
"We're desk buddies now Ryuko, and that means we're all now besties too!" Mako yelled out proudly.
After a while, the trio found themselves walking through one of the mini courtyards within Honnouji Academy.
"So, just fill me in here. What's up with this school, and who's the top dog around here?" Ryuko asked.
"Oh, that'd be Lady-" Mako was interrupted before quickly warning her two new besties. "Watch out! Bow! Bow!" she said as she pushed Toshiro and Ryuko into bowing. Toshiro, not knowing what was going on but fearing what would happen if he stood out accepted this, while Ryuko adjusted herself into a squat.
"He sure looks like a big shot" Ryuko remarked as the noticeable figure of Gamagori appeared at the end of the column of students that had formed.
"Yeah, he's a Three Star" Mako added
"Three Star?"
"One of four Three Stars, to be exact. That guy is Ira Gamagori, Disciplinary Committee Chair and member of the Student Council. Also the one who ended that guy hung over the entrance." Toshiro explained.
"He's super elite too, a whole three ranks above us No Stars!" Mako piped in
"...No Star?" Ryuko was having a much harder time grasping this than Toshiro might've first assumed.
Toshiro explained further. "Each star level gets a matching starred Goku Uniform, which grants them superpowers, and the more star you have, the more super those powers get."
"And those uniforms are handed out by Lady Satsuki, the Student Council President! Long story short, they're awesome!"
"Mako, that might not be the best way to describe it." Toshiro wasn't convinced that such a system of uniform-based oppression would be best described as 'awesome'.
"So what you're sayin is, that this Satsuki chick is the top dog round here, right?"
"Yeah, and speak of the devil that's Lady Satsuki right over there!"
"Ryuko, don't think about-" Toshiro began before he realised that Ryuko was no longer beside them, and had appeared RIGHT IN FRONT of the Student Council President.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I hear that you're the Queen Bee at this school. Well if you are, I've got a question for you." Ryuko declared.
'Welp, there goes the new girl. In memoriam, Ryuko.'
"YOU BITCH" A crowd of One Star students jumped Ryuko "GET HER!"
Ryuko knocked them all out with a quick spin of her guitar case, before opening to reveal a huge red... scissor blade? The crowd was just as confused as Toshiro could here comments on the scissor, including one from Mako herself.
"That's the hugest scissor blade ever!"
'Who the hell would make a scissor blade that large? And even then only one?' Toshiro mumbled as he watched the events unfold.
"Yup, it's one half of a giant pair of scissors. I've been looking all over for the owner of the other half." Ryuko stated before resuming her interrogation of 'the Queen Bee'. "What's the matter Prez? You've seen this blade before haven't you!?"
"And if I have?" Satsuki stated calmly and coolly. Her uninterested tone only riled up Ryuko even more.
"You're the one with the other half, AREN'T YOU!?" she shouted before lunging at Satsuki. Or, well, trying to, before she got socked in the face with a giant boxing glove.
"TEK! KEN! FUN! SAI!" shouted the boxer, sending Ryuko flying off into a crowd of faceless One Stars.
"Ah, Fukuroda, wasn't it?" Satsuki asked.
"Yes, my lady. Captain of the Boxing Club, Takaharu Fukuroda. I'll finish off this insolent wench, with your permission."
'He must have a Two Star uniform then. This won't be pretty' Toshiro mumbled as he and Mako continued to watch.
"She's yours." Satsuki replied. She too seemed curious as to what could happen next, as she continued to follow Ryuko with her gaze.
"MOVE IT! OUTTA MY WAY!" Ryuko shouted as she slashed at one of Fukuroda's boxing gloves, only for it to deflect the blade with a distinctly metallic clang. "W-what the hell? Is your glove made outta iron or something?"
Fukuroda scoffed at this. "Don't you know your Goku Uniforms? This Athleticism-Augmenting Two-Star Goku Uniform granted to me by Lady Satsuki has gloves that are harder than steel!"
"I don't get what your sayin, but if that precious uniform of yours really is that good then I can stop pulling my punches!" Ryuko said, only making the hole she was in deeper with her comments.
"YOU DARE INSULT ME LIKE THAT?! TAKE THIS!" Fukuroda shouted as his left glove shot out a stream of punches, knocking Ryuko from side to side.
"YOU'RE DONE! TIME TO FINISH YOU OFF!" Fukuroda used his larger glove to pummel Ryuko up into the air, easily ending her little rebellion.
Ryuko landed a few meters away, all bloody and bruised and incapable of continuing the fight.
"I was hoping you'd be a bit more interesting." Satsuki remarked. "But you are but a fool who has no idea how to wield that weapon of yours." She turned away, beginning to make her exit. "Fukuroda, confiscate the scissor blade. That will be all."
"Ma'am."
"No way." Ryuko spoke as she used the blade to prop herself up off the ground. "You'll never take this blade off of me! NEVER!" she swung in vain at Fukuroda, who, unsurprisingly, easily dodged the attack. The window created by him dodging did, however, give Ryuko the time to make her next move.
You may wonder, 'Shall the mighty scissor wielder stand and fight, in spite of her injuries?'
no.
Quickly dashing to the front gate, she stole a delivery man's motorcycle, dropping both its user and its cargo, before making her escape to... well... somewhere.
"Hey Ryuko, are you going home already?" Mako shouted across the courtyard.
"...I don't think she's got a home 'round here, Mako." Toshiro stated. "Come on, let's get outta here."
"GET THOSE TWO, NOW!" shouted Fukuroda, who had now righted himself.
Before Toshiro could react, a group of One Star students tackled him and Mako to the ground.
"Hey! What did we do?!" Toshiro exclaimed as he tried to writhe himself free, to no avail.
"...Oh crap..." were his last words before he got knocked unconscious by club to the back of the head.
...
...
"Ow... my heaad..." Toshiro groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He fully awoke after a loud voice started ringing in his ears.
"TRANSFER STUDENT, LISTEN UP! AN HOUR FROM NOW YOUR FRIENDS WILL BE EXECUTED FOR THEIR COMPLIANCE IN YOUR ACT OF TREASON AGAINST HONNOUJI ACADEMY! IF YOU WANT TO STOP THIS, QUIT YOUR HIDING AND SHOW YOURSELF!"
It was then that Toshiro fully awakened to the predicament at hand. He and Mako were chained up, upside down, on X shaped crosses. In front of him he could see that the Boxer guy from earlier had set up some kind of ring to fight in, and next to him was one of the Elite Four, Sanageyama. They seemed to be having some kind of pep-talk while Mako was panicking, but not for necessarily the right reasons.
"Oh man oh man this isn't good! Everyone at school's gonna see me in my underwear now! I should've worn my sexy panties today.." Mako kept squirming around, fighting desperately against gravity to not let too much show.
"BIGGER FISH TO FRY RIGHT NOW, MAKO!" Panic began to set in at the word 'Executed', as Toshiro tried in vain to snap the iron clamps holding him down.
"BE QUIET! RIGHT, BRING OUT THE VAT!" Fukuroda yelled out as a team of One-star students rolled out two vats of boiling liquid. Fukuroda proceeded to dip a shrimp in one of the vats... frying it instantly.
'OIL?!' Toshiro's panic went into overdrive. Being executed was bad enough, but being deep fried alive would make it excruciatingly painful as well.
"If guys dip me into the oil my uniform's gonna become all see through! This is bad, very bad!" Mako whined as she continued squirming.
"MAKO!" Mako seemed to be a lot dumber than he originally thought, too. He could hear the machinery they were tied to creak, at which point Toshiro closed his eyes, preparing for imminent death by deep frying.
"Ryuko?"
Mako's sudden question and the subsequent sound of snapping metal made Toshiro open his eyes to see a cloaked figure standing over his cross, with Mako in one hand. The figure break the bonds holding Toshiro, grabbed him and set him down next to Mako and itself on the side of the boxing ring.
"So new girl, we meet again!" Fukuroda taunted, expecting an easy fight.
"Using hostages to get me here is pretty low." the voice of Ryuko remarked. Mako was right, the friend they made just that morning had come to rescue them. "If you wanna fight so bad, then let's duke it out here, 1 on 1."
Not willing to take any more risks that day, Toshiro quickly grabbed Mako and jumped out of the ring, joining the audience.
'That's enough danger for a lifetime...'
-Ding-
"HERE IT COMES, NEWBIE! LETS SEE IF YOU CAN SURVIVE THIS SEA OF LEFT JABS!" Fukuroda lunged at Ryuko, sending a hail of punches all around the ring. Yet Ryuko didn't seem fazed.
'What, did she awaken some kind of super strength while we were out?' Toshiro mumbled as he watched the fight closely.
"AAAAND TO FOLLOW, HEEEERES A RIIIGHT STRIKE!" Fukuroda, clearly annoyed by Ryuko's lack of reaction, swung at her with his right, the glove turning into a drill before it made contact. "SIKE! It's really a CORKSCREW PUNCH! TEN! KEN! FUN! SAI!"
It tore straight through her cloak, revealing, well, basically everything. For some reason Ryuko had chosen to go into battle with the skimpiest outfit that has ever graced this Earth.
The bodies of male students could already be heard dropping dead from blood loss. Toshiro managed to avoid this fate by looking away from the whole mess, but even he had grown a blush as red as Ryuko's scissor blade. Even Fukuroda was thrown off by this choice in attire.
"W-what the hell are you wearing! Y-you're trying to distract me with your sexiness!"
"S-shut it! It's not my fault it looks like this!" Ryuko's defense was poor to say the least.
"You dare mock boxing, no, ALL sports with that outfit!"
"I-I'm not!"
Backing off Ryuko and moving back to his own corner, Fukuroda regained his composure.
"Alright then, I'll take the liberty of undressing as well..."
"H-Hey! Now you're doing the mocking!"
"...by taking off the soft gloves I wear for outside matches!" Fukuroda shouted as the cover on his larger right glove shattered to reveal another glove that was covered on all sides with spikes, big and small. "BEHOLD! THIS IS WHAT THE REAL HONNOUJI ACADEMY BOXING CLUB ATHLETICISM-AUGMENTING TWO STAR GLOVES LOOK LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!!"
'These guys need to come up with better names for things, like holy crap that's a mouthful.' Toshiro thought, as he looked back at the ring.
"Jeez, even someone like me who doesn't know the rules can tell that's illegal." Ryuko said, her cocky attitude beginning to flare up as it had earlier that day. "Oh well. Bring it on!"
-Ding-
"I didn't know what you were hiding under that cloak, but now I'm gonna rip that bikini you're wearing right off you and SEND! YOU! FLYING!!" Fukuroda shouted as his spiked fist turned into a corkscrew and made contact with one of Ryuko's shoulder pieces. And then, nothing.
Nothing but silence.
Those in the crowd that weren't gawking at Ryuko's outfit were staring intently at the point where Fukuroda's glove met Ryuko's shoulder.
-Crack-
Fukuroda's glove shattered into an uncountable number of shards, before scattering to the wind. "W-WHAT?! MY GLOVE!"
"Guess it's my turn to attack now" Ryuko remarked as she readied her scissor blade. She proceeded to absolutely decimate Fukuroda, mimicking his boxing moves with the blunt end of her scissor, before finishing him off by ripping his entire uniform off with a single cut.
"Wow! I didn't know you knew how to box Ryuko!" Mako began punching around the air, also mimicking boxing moves, to a lesser extent.
"Uh, I don't think she... Nevermind." Toshiro said, still in awe at everything that had just happened.
"I-Impossible!" Even Sanageyama was shocked.
She used the now naked Fukuroda as a projectile, flinging him up towards Satsuki's tower. The human projectile was blocked by the Elite Three, but nonetheless a drop of blood managed to find its way to Satsuki's cheek. A mortal insult.
"How dare you!" Sanageyama moved to climb into the ring before Satsuki herself interjected.
"Stand down." Satsuki, still cold as ever, began her line of questioning. "Transfer student, where did you get your hands on that outfit?"
Picking up Fukuroda's discarded microphone from the ground, Ryuko wasted no time in giving a response. "It's a keepsake from my father, and this scissor blade was used by the one who killed him! And now you're gonna give me some answers, SATSUKI KIRYUIN!"
"Your name is Ryuko Matoi, correct? And you are, therefore, the daughter of the late Isshin Matoi?"
"So, you did know who my father was! Do you-uhf-" Ryuko suddenly collapsed onto one knee, holding herself up with her scissor blade. From Toshiro's point of view, she then appeared to start talking to herself.
'Is... is she talking with that skimpy outfit? No, that can't be right, there must be someone she's talking to... but who? Has she got an earpiece or something?'
Whatever or whoever she was talking too, she then got up and started making a run for it. Sanageyama attempted to give chase, but was shut down by Satsuki herself. So that just left Toshiro and Mako.
"Hey, Mako! We should go catch up with Ryuko!" Mako nodded and soon the two rushed out to give chase.
Eventually they reached the One Star district, where Toshiro spotted Ryuko on one of the trams going to the slums. "RYUKO!". The shout elicited no response, meaning she must've seriously zoned out or she just was ignoring him. But if being around Mako had taught him anything, he wasn't going to give up like that. At the next stop, Mako and Toshiro managed to meet up with her at the next stop, at which point she finally noticed them and got off the tram.
"M-Mako? Toshiro?" She managed to utter out both their names before collapsing completely. Although Toshiro was close enough at this point that he managed to catch her before she face planted onto the concrete.
"Is she alright?" Mako asked. Toshiro felt her pulse, and, thankfully, he wouldn't have to tell Mako any bad news.
"Fine, just unconscious. Let's take her to the clinic." Toshiro replied as he picked Ryuko up and carried her back to the Mankanshokus. It was embarrassing to carry an unconscious, half-naked teenage girl around late in the day like this, but he eventually got over it. Like Mako said, best friends should help each other out, right?
And he did owe her his life afterall.
After reaching the Back-Alley Clinic and letting Barazo take care of things, Toshiro decided to step outside to organize his thoughts on the Academy.
'Well, it seems that the situation has gone from weird to downright insane in the space of one day. Since Ryuko has now directly challenged the Lady herself, I can feel that things are only gonna go downhill from here. I doubt helping her will give me or Mako much peace.' Toshiro paused his thought for a moment, before scoffing and continuing on. 'Still. At least I'm friends with her, so I'm not completely at the mercy of those Elite Four jerks and their puppet master.'
He might've continued thinking about his situation at Honnouji, if he hadn't heard a loud crash and various voices from the room where Barazo had patched her up.
'Oh joy, she's awake...'
Toshiro stepped back into the main room. Ryuko and Mataro were at one end of the room, Mako and Barazo at the other. Barazo had a bandage on his nose, probably courtesy of Ryuko, and Mataro was on his head, also likely because of Ryuko.
"I'm gone for a couple of minutes and you've already beaten up half of the Mankanshoku family, I don't know if I should be worried or impressed." Toshiro said, with a mocking grin.
"S-Shut up! It was a misunderstanding!" Ryuko fumbled out, still embarrassed.
"If beating the bejesus out of my Hubby and Mataro makes you feel better, then you can do it to your heart's content!" Said Sukuyo as she entered carrying a tea tray into the room. "Dinner will be ready soon, so everyone get seated!"
As everyone gathered at the dinner table, Ryuko finally noticed all the bandages wrapped around her.
"After Toshiro carried you here, Daddy patched you back up! He's the best Back-Alley doctor around! He's famous for killing more people than he's saved!" Mako said proudly.
"That's not a good thing..." Ryuko replied.
"I'm glad someone else around here is sane." Toshiro grinned. Ryuko, apart from her distinctive choice of attire, could help him balance out the daily chaos of Mankanshoku life.
Sukuyo interrupted at the perfect moment to change the topic. "Alright everyone, dinner is served!" she said as she slammed down her signature pot of mystery Miso soup and Croquettes.
Ryuko seemed quite distrustful about what exactly the 'mystery' was about the food, so Toshiro decided to step in before Mako or Sukuyo could make her even more worried than she already was.
"They look odd, I know, but they actually taste pretty good. I wouldn't be sitting here telling you if they weren't" He reassured her, before taking a good amount of croquettes for himself and beginning to eat them.
Ryuko seemed to accept this, and began to have some croquettes of her own. And when Guts eventually showed up, Toshiro even extended out an arm, blocking the dog from eating Ryuko's food and sending him to the window which Barazo had already opened. Before Ryuko could even ask her question, Toshiro had answered it.
"That's Guts, he does that. Be on the lookout for him."
'Wait. Am I... becoming one of them?' Toshiro stopped for a second, glancing around the family he was slowly integrating into. 'Oh whatever, it's not the worst thing to be a part of.' With that he continued eating croquette after croquette, just like everyone else.
After dinner, Toshiro set up an extra futon in the room that he and Ryuko would now share, while Mako and Sukuyo sorted out some other stuff with her. Eventually, she walked in, lightly blushing, wearing a set of Pajamas that just barely fit her. Toshiro immediately saw a golden opportunity that he simply couldn't miss.
"D'aaw, Ryuko is having a sleepover with her friends."
And it worked.
"Hey shut up! You should be happy that I even agreed to sleep in the same room as you! And I swear if you try anything funny I'll knock your teeth out!"
"Oh don't worry, my face is far too precious for me to be risking it like that." Toshiro cupped his face with his hands, as if to shelter it from danger, earning an annoyed grumble from his new roommate. "Now I'm gonna catch as much sleep as I can, and I recommend you do too. Mako's wake up routine doesn't leave much room for tiredness."
"What do you mean-" Ryuko stopped as she saw Toshiro was already out cold. "Hmph. Well, guess I'll try and sleep too. I need some rest after all the crap today."
Before she fell asleep completely she took a long hard look at the mysterious sailor uniform now hanging up on the wall. "I wish I knew what the hell you are, Senketsu."
CHAPTER 2
-FIN-
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First Episode done! Woo! And the first fight!
Hope you enjoyed it, and once again feel free to leave feedback!
Stay tuned for the next Chapter, "A Game of Tennis"!
Entity-1125
Logging Off
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