"Nui..."

It was like waking up in the hospital all over again. She felt disoriented, numb and weak. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even begin to comprehend her situation. The world around her slowed down as she saw her own terrified reflection in Nui's eyes.

"I don't remember you being the speechless type, Ryuko," Nui cackled. "No matter how overwhelmed you were by your feelings, you always had something to say."

She took a step closer to Ryuko, to which the latter one reacted by hastily stumbling backwards.

"You..." Ryuko shakily breathed out, holding her elbows defensively.

Baring all of her teeth in a broad smile, Nui curiously watched Ryuko's facial features twisting in fear and loathing.

"I know it must come as a shock to you that I'm suddenly moving out, but I no longer care enough to stay in this boring place where my talent goes unrecognized," she said with an exaggerated sigh. "And I've honestly considered telling you, but then I thought – Ryuko probably doesn't care." She suddenly stretched out one hand and cupped Ryuko's cheek with it. "In fact, I'm quite certain that she would be very happy about it. Am I right?"

Ryuko slapped her hand away, taking another step backwards.

"For once in your life you are," she growled, regaining some control of her body and mind again.

"Ryuko, words can be hurtful, you know," Nui faked a hurt look before she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "But I can't say I didn't expect this. I knew from the start that we would never work out, I just didn't think it would end this way. How cruel of Satsuki to be stealing her little sister's toy -"

"Step-sister," Ryuko snapped.

Taken aback by the forceful interruption, Nui blankly stared at Ryuko, who angrily glared back.

"She's your step-sister, nothing more. Don't mess that up."

"Who even cares about tha-

"I fucking do." Ryuko's voice became clearer and louder. "Because you two are nothing alike, so don't call her your sister. You don't deserve to be related to her."

Nui didn't like where this conversation was heading, she could tell that Ryuko was slowly gaining the upper hand if she wasn't stopped soon. She wanted to interject with something spiteful, but Ryuko just raised her voice when she saw Nui opening her mouth.

"You already fucked me over way too many times," Ryuko said, pointing a trembling finger at Nui. "I'm not giving you that satisfaction today. Nothing good ever came out of being around you before, but after that fucking accident, you – you..." Ryuko's voice cracked. "I can't even think straight because I'm so fucking scared that you're going to pull some crazy shit any minute that will end up with me dying."

Ryuko buried her hands in her hair, facing the ground with a pained look. "I'm scared of myself for thinking this way, for thinking you're going to kill me, and sometimes my mind fucks me up with thoughts of getting rid of you first." Her grip on her hair loosened. "But when – when I'm around Satsuki, I'm not scared anymore. When she's around, you don't get to hurt me anymore, you don't even exist for me in those moments...and that's when I feel the safest."

Ryuko let her hands fall to her sides as she looked up at Nui with a piercing look. "So don't you fucking dare to sound like you're related to Satsuki when you're not the least bit like her."

Nui had shed all pretenses of being pleasant by now. Her facial features were twisted in an ugly, hateful grimace when she scornfully snorted.

"Very touching story, I'm moved to tears," she said in a monotonous voice. "Whatever illusions you have of Satsuki, allow me to destroy them."

Nui gestured to the moving van and her former villa. "Moving out and studying design abroad has been my dream all along, and yet I've been forced to stay here and get a 'serious' degree. But then, a few days ago, I received a surprising call from home – I was given the green light to transfer."

Nui's laugh that followed was as hollow as the look in her eyes. "Now, Ryuko, I'm sure I don't have to tell you the reason why my parents changed their mind about my education. You and I both know very well who instigated this."

Ryuko's eyes widened. Did Satsuki go as far as talk to her parents so that Nui would truly never be able to cause Ryuko any harm anymore?

"So?" Ryuko muttered. "She did it for you, didn't she, you finally got your wish."

"Wrong," Nui spat. "I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her – she was the one who told my mother it would be best if I finished a degree at Honnouji first, she was the one who locked me up in this cage in the first place. And now that I've gotten in her way, she decided to set me free. Do you see now, Ryuko, she didn't do it for me, she did it for herself and that's the kind of selfish person she is!"

"No," Ryuko retorted, forcefully shaking her head, and her disagreement further angered the blonde.

"No? You still refuse to believe?" Nui let out an empty laugh. "It's all Satsuki's fault that I've been stuck here, that I had nothing going on for me here. Giving me the head cheerleader position was only a consolation prize, so I would have something to do, something that would keep me out of trouble – but you know that didn't work, don't you?"

Nui stepped closer to Ryuko again, but not close enough for her to feel threatened. Still, Ryuko's eyes were nervously fixated on Nui's hands in case they tried to touch her again.

"I had to pass my time somehow or I would've died out of boredom, and that's where you enter the picture, Ryuko. I chose to obsess over you because I couldn't do so over my true passion. You were merely a stand-in. A replacement. Nothing more than a temporary hobby."

And it stung. Ryuko had been certain that there was nothing Nui could say to hurt her anymore, but she was wrong. A replacement? A temporary hobby to be tossed aside as soon as Nui felt like getting rid of her?

Ryuko had pride, and a lot of that. But it had taken great damage at those words, along with her sense of self-worth. Her longest relationship, as twisted as it was, only existed because she had been foolish enough to play along in a game she had never signed up for.

Her emotional turmoil was openly displayed on her face, and Nui reveled in it because she knew she had regained control with a few manipulative sentences.

"Do you see now, Ryuko, do you understand now?" she cloyingly said. "If you want someone to blame, it's Satsuki. She only gives you this much attention because she feels guilty about what happened with us. She knows it's her fault that you became my hobby, and she had to do something to ease her conscience. But as soon as I'm gone, she will be too. Or did you honestly think she would be interested in you?"

When Ryuko didn't reply, Nui smirked and added, "That's what I thought. You couldn't even tell when I faked interest in you."

"That's enough, Nui."

Ryuko flinched when someone suddenly spoke up behind her, and she quickly turned around, instinctively taking a step back when she saw Satsuki's face.

"Satsuki..."

She didn't think she had ever seen her this angry before. It wasn't the kind of anger where her facial features were distorted in uncontrollable rage, but the kind where only her blazing eyes screamed of fury while the rest of her expression was cold and stoic.

Nui pretended to be unfazed by Satsuki's presence, but even she couldn't hide her uneasiness after seeing the look on her face. She seemed to realize that she might have gone a step too far.

"I take it that you didn't come to say goodbye," Nui said in an overly polite tone, testing how much Satsuki had heard and since when she had been there. She hadn't noticed her at all.

"Actually, I did," Satsuki replied, her voice cool and calm. But she was still staring Nui down with a look of absolute disgust. "I wanted to make sure you leave without causing any more complications."

Nui challengingly stared back at her and looked like she wanted to retort, but one of the men of the moving company called out her name and told her they were done with loading all her belongings into the van.

"Well, it certainly wasn't pleasant here, so I'll spare you the promise of coming back to visit," Nui said with a shrug. She turned to Ryuko with one last malicious look. "Don't forget what I said. You'll see, I always speak the truth."

And with a mocking laugh, she strutted away, gesturing to the men that she was ready to go. They got into their van while Nui entered her car, and with her driving ahead, the driveway cleared out and suddenly became a lot larger with the sudden empty space.

Nui's departure didn't feel real to Ryuko. Her body didn't relax after seeing her drive away, her mind couldn't calm down. She was still as tense as before, almost anticipating the moment Satsuki would tell her that Nui was going to be back by tomorrow.

"Ryuko."

Ryuko's head twitched and she stared at Satsuki with wide eyes, wondering if she was an illusion too, if the warm and concerned look in her eyes was something she was just imagining.

"Satsuki?" she weakly muttered.

"She will never cause you trouble again," Satsuki softly said like she knew what was causing Ryuko to be so on edge. "She is gone for good."

Ryuko didn't blink when she kept staring at her. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

Ryuko turned her head to the side. She hated feeling this insecure just because of something Nui had obviously said to unsettle her, but she couldn't help being affected by it anyway. "Now that she's gone, there's no need for you to stick around anymore." She buried her hands into her jeans pockets. "We could just go back to our old lives."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Satsuki quietly said.

Ryuko shrugged. "I'm just saying it's better for you to stop hanging out with me. You know I don't have the best reputation around and people are gonna talk -"

"You truly are the worst liar I have ever met," Satsuki suddenly stated like she had been waiting to say this for a while. She crossed her arms and sternly gazed at Ryuko without blinking. "I keep telling you that you are not made to lie, Ryuko, yet you still try to deceive me. Do you think I will not call you out on your lies?"

When Ryuko stared up at those eyes known for their indifferent and guarded look, she was met with a new set of emotions she had never gotten to see in them before. And she realized what she hadn't considered at all.

Her attempts to distance herself from Satsuki by changing her attitude and becoming cold toward her actually hurt Satsuki.

And when Ryuko finally understood that the only enemy left standing in their way was herself, she let out a shaky breath with a smile and all the tension in her body was gone. "No, I was waiting for that."

"You were?"

Satsuki was rarely baffled by people's reactions, but Ryuko's unpredictable change in behavior proved to be too much for her to comprehend. Unsure over what to do, she uncrossed her arms before she crossed them again, her fingers tapping on her elbows.

"Yeah," Ryuko breathed out with a laugh, suddenly feeling a lot lighter and warmer than before. "I guess I needed someone to call me out on my bullshit before I got far with it. It's not like I'm doing it on purpose, I sometimes find myself riding the bullshit train and I can't get off, and that's when I need you to kick me off it."

Understanding dawned on Satsuki's face and she softly smiled. Uncrossing her arms, she replied with a nod, "Then I am glad I managed to metaphorically get you off that train."

Ryuko ran a hand through her messy hair and grinned.

She felt a lot better than she had in a while. She hadn't even noticed that the whole Nui thing had been lasting heavily on her mind for the past few weeks, constantly weighing her down. But now that the weight had been lifted off her shoulders, she realized how much emotional distress she had been subconsciously feeling all the time. She felt like she could freely breathe again.

Her mood completely turned around; gone was the feeling of helplessness, replaced by a new surge of confidence.

Ryuko stared at Satsuki in determination. "I should thank you for what you've done for me." She paused when she received a surprised look. "Don't look at me like that, I do have manners."

Satsuki brought a hand to her mouth to hide her amused smile. "I never doubted it."

"Okay, now you're the one bad at lying," Ryuko said with a laugh. She didn't know why, but everything Satsuki said made her smile now. "You totally thought I was a brute at least once in all the time we've known each other."

But Satsuki shook her head, replying in a genuine tone, "I may have often implied in my words that you are, but I never truly thought so. It was inappropriate of me to repeatedly call you a pig in human clothing in the past, but I honestly have never believed you were related to the Sus scrofa domesticus."

Ryuko blankly stared at Satsuki.

"Domesticated pigs," Satsuki elaborated. She paused when she noticed Ryuko's raised eyebrow. "I shouldn't have assumed that this is a commonly known term, I see that now."

"Talk about complicated, Satsuki," Ryuko sighed, shaking her head before she cracked a smile. "But I guess I wouldn't want it any other way."

"And what is it that you want?" Satsuki boldly asked, carefully watching Ryuko's reaction.

She had expected more impact at her straightforward question, thinking that Ryuko would revert to her nervous state. But to her surprise, Ryuko didn't resemble the stuttering mess back in the kitchen at all. She seemed like a different person now, her expression was relaxed and content, and she could easily gaze back into her eyes with a confident smile.

"I want to go out with you," she bluntly stated, her smile growing when Satsuki's eyes widened, "and Nonon better not ruin this for me a second time, so I'll ask quickly before she gets the chance -"

Ryuko stopped herself, suspiciously looking behind herself to see if there were any signs of pink hair. When she faced Satsuki again, she wanted to continue but paused at seeing an unusual expression on her face.

"Satsuki?" Ryuko carefully asked, tentatively stretching out a hand and waving it in front of Satsuki's frozen expression. "You alright?"

Satsuki blinked a couple of times, then stared at Ryuko with such a serious and intense look that it made the other girl swallow nervously.

"Well?" Satsuki asked, raising one eyebrow.

"W-well what?"

"Aren't you going to finish that question?"

"I was," Ryuko slowly replied, then gestured to Satsuki's face, "but I wasn't sure if you were still listening. You were practically a statue just now."

Satsuki cleared her throat. "I was merely surprised by your sudden confidence because compared to ten minutes earlier, you were unable to form coherent sentences."

"Oh."

It was true, something within her had shifted, and she no longer felt nervous at the idea of asking Satsuki out. "Yeah," she muttered, subconsciously grabbing at the collar of her shirt. "I guess when Nui left, she gave back some of the things she had stolen from me."

She was talking about her self-confidence and pride.

"Now that I think about it, I could've died because of her, that car was a fucking wreck," Ryuko paused, almost expecting a chaotic mess of blurry pictures and jarring sounds to suddenly intrude her mind, but she felt nothing. Just a distant awareness of her memories, not a mind-consuming nightmare forcing her to relive those few but horrible seconds. "So what's asking someone out compared to the experience of nearly dying? For all I know, I could be crashed by a truck tomorrow and not have the same luck again. And then what? What have I even lived for up until then?"

Unsure if she was expected to answer or if Ryuko was getting onto another mood-shift train, Satsuki wanted to gently stop her there by reaching out to her with a hand, but Ryuko unexpectedly looked up with a smile.

"So that's why I live for myself," she answered herself. "I know you think I make crappy decisions all the time, and you're probably right. But that's because I follow my gut and just do whatever I feel like doing in that moment. Sure, it got me into a lot of shitty situations sometimes, but the good things that happened outweigh them all by far. So even if I died tomorrow, I can say I lived for myself and have no regrets about my choices."

With Ryuko talking about death so lightly, Satsuki didn't quite know how to feel about her words. "Ryuko..."

Ryuko's eyes glimmered with resolve as she steadily held Satsuki's gaze. "I forgot who I was when I was with Nui. I forgot what was important to me and what wasn't. And you know what I realized? It's that I just don't fucking care if I make a fool out of myself, I'm gonna ask you out right here, right now and you either reject me, which is fine even if I'll later on probably cry about it like a loser, or you give me a chance and I'll be the happiest fucker on this stinking planet."

She took a deep breath. "So, Satsuki, would you go out with me?"

"Ryuko," Satsuki muttered, her eyelids fluttering.

Nervously clenching her fists, Ryuko thought that this was it. The answer.

"You certainly become quite vulgar once you are in an emotional state."

"Huh?" Ryuko blinked in confusion once she realized that Satsuki's reply was neither a yes nor a no. She ran a hand through her hair and lightly pulled at it in frustration. "So this vulgar and emotional idiot doesn't have a chance?" Ryuko asked, pointing to herself with a thumb.

"Actually," Satsuki couldn't suppress a smile, "this vulgar and emotional idiot wouldn't be half as interesting without those traits. They have a certain charm on you."

"Geez," Ryuko said with an embarrassed but happy laugh, rubbing her neck, "trying to smooth-talk your way out of a reply now, are we?"

"You are quite mistaken."

And before Ryuko could even begin to process these words, Satsuki cupped her cheeks with her hands and kissed her, gently pressing her lips against Ryuko's chapped ones.

"Is this answer clear enough?" Satsuki softly said, not completely pulling away as her eyes curiously scanned Ryuko's face because she hadn't had the opportunity to observe her from this close yet, seeing details she hadn't noticed before. With their faces just few centimeters apart, Satsuki became aware of Ryuko's slightly crooked nose, which must have become this way because it had been broken several times before. She traced the bridge of the nose with her thumb.

"Hm," Ryuko hummed, warmth spreading throughout her body like a wildfire as she instinctively closed her eyes and leaned into Satsuki's touch. "Not quite. I think I need some convincing."

"How stubborn, Matoi," Satsuki muttered with small smile, and she leaned in for another, longer kiss.

The gentleness and unhurried pace of their lips moving against each other almost felt too good to be true for Ryuko. She had gotten used to Nui's rough and bruising kisses, gotten used to how emotionless she felt at glossy pink lips sliding against hers. Kissing her had felt like an unnecessary step prior to sex because she had never gotten aroused from just kissing her, it were always her thoughts of what they were about to do that got her in the mood.

But now Ryuko could barely control her breathing, she was amazed at how her heartbeat had sped up from just kissing Satsuki. It blew her mind to feel so much despite doing so little.

Slightly out of breath, Satsuki pulled away first, but Ryuko closed the distance again by capturing her bottom lip between her teeth and teasingly licking it. "Need more convincing," she breathed against her lips, smirking when she heard Satsuki gasp.

A muffled squeak was what broke them apart in the end, making Ryuko jump two steps back while Satsuki went rigid. They both turned to the source of the interruption with a stiff expression.

Nonon sheepishly lowered her hand that had failed to cover her cry of surprise. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I ruined it, sorry about that. But I got worried when Satsuki didn't come back, thought that Harime pulled something crazy again. How should I've known that you two were just busy sucking each others' faces off?"

Many vulgar responses lied on the tip of her tongue, but Ryuko didn't feel like uttering any of them. She released a long breath and shrugged. "I'm in a good mood, so I'm gonna let that one go."

"Thanks," Nonon sarcastically said, "wouldn't know what to do if I pissed you off." She stared between Satsuki and Ryuko. "So it's official?"

"I don't know, she keeps kissing me instead of saying yes," Ryuko jokingly replied, and Satsuki snorted in amusement. They shared a happy smile like it was all the confirmation they needed.

"Gross," Nonon muttered, but then smiled anyway, genuinely relieved and happy for them that they had finally worked it out. "You two better behave when I'm around, I don't want to see any naked body parts I'm not ready for, especially not yours, Matoi."

"So mean," Ryuko dramatically gasped, placing a hand on her chest. "All this work-out to look good naked and you tell me you don't want to see it? Then I'm gonna need Satsuki to appreciate it all the more."

And when she hopefully grinned at Satsuki, the other girl chuckled in amusement, deciding to play along. "That can be arranged."

"Wow," Nonon dryly said, "just when I thought it couldn't get more gross."

She turned around to walk back into the villa, muttering to herself all the way until she was inside.

"I believe this is her way of giving us her blessing," Satsuki said once Nonon disappeared inside the villa.

"I believe this is her way of being a little shit."

When Satsuki gave Ryuko a stern look, she relented and said with a smile, "Yeah, I know. She means well. But she could really work on expressing that."

Satsuki just wordlessly raised an eyebrow at Ryuko.

"Okay, fine," Ryuko sighed. "I need some work on that too. Also, I'll stop provoking her. Happy now?"

Her expression relaxing into a soft smile, Satsuki took Ryuko's hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Incredibly so."