"How about this? Or this, or this, or THIS?!" Mako asked, adding more and more pajamas to the towering pile balanced in Ryuuko's arms.

"Uh, I don't know," Ryuuko mumbled, overburdened by the ceiling-high tower. "I just... need something really cute, I guess!" All around her, fellow customers of the trendy fashion boutique—with their bee-hive hair, fake eyelashes, and deco'd nails—gawked in bewilderment as Mako and Satsuki continued ransacking every shelf and hanger.

"Hn. Then how about this?" Satsuki asked, holding up a white, drapey-long sundress. "Simplicity and form." Her aura flashed brightly as her thick eyebrows raised like drawbridges. "Simplicity is elegance! Elegance is beauty! And beauty..." She paused. "Is... is something like cuteness?"

Ryuuko grunted, struggling to balance the pile as she followed the still-roaming Mako. "You don't sound too sure of yourself," she said and then added, "sis."

Satsuki huffed slightly and turned to the employees, instantly commanding their attention. "Prepare us a dressing area." She glowered ominously as she pulled out a shining black titanium card. "And an overnight courier service."

"Yes Madam!" the shop girls yelped in unison, abandoning other customers in order to part the store—mannequins, tables, and racks—for clearing a runway.

"Sis? Sis!" Ryuuko gasped. "What is going on?"

Satsuki clicked a heel and walked forward. "A fashion show," she answered. She had already returned to her former bossy self.

Ryuuko dropped the pile, toppling it clear across the store and further busying the shop girls. "Are you for real?!" Ryuuko roared. "Just pick some really cute outfit, like a shirt or something! What's with this pretentious rich-girl act? I'm not trying on all this crap!"

"Dear little sister," Satsuki began, training her eyes on her, "for the past six hours, you've rejected every article of clothing we've presented you, in numerous stores from the beginning of the Shibuya strip to the end of the line here." Her face hardened to a sketch-book degree. "By now, I am CONVINCED that this 'really cute' outfit you speak of does not exist! So we will MAKE it exist. For the sake of your happiness! Now. STRIP."

Ryuuko roared with unbridled rage as the shop girls tried to remove her black and white varsity jacket. They succeeded in removing most everything, somehow. "Damn it!" Off it went, and the last outer article she wore—her red scarf—remained firm in her hands. "No! NO! Let go!" She bellowed with explosive rage and hung on: "There's nothing wrong with what I'm wearing, don't take it away!"

The shop girls stopped, confused by her outburst. Did she seriously not want to try on an endless assortment of overpriced finery?

Satsuki blinked, the distant memory of her little sister's disgraced, defeated form on that slum rooftop flooding her mind—along with the sight of Senketsu's scattered pieces. Even then, as those pieces were taken away, Ryuuko lashed out unconsciously in her sleep, refusing to allow that last piece of Senketsu to be taken away. His red scarf. No matter how naked and beaten-down Ryuko was. No matter what.

Ryuko had nothing left, she acted tough and convinced Satsuki to give her one more chance. Tears were in those closed eyes back then. Heartsick tears, Satsuki thought, not just for the loss of her way, but for the loss of him. From that point on, he became her way. I didn't understand it then, but I think I do now. But still... Satsuki lowered her head and wavered. "I still can't do anything for her!" she gasped lowly, full of concern for her little sister.

Ryuko did well in her last year of high school. For a while, it seemed she'd even moved on. But partway through college, she became distant and withdrawn.

She'd dropped-out.

Satsuki knew it was because they both never got a proper upbringing. She'd tried her best to create a normal family for the both of them, but it'd always been just surface-level. Not quite close enough.

It seemed that the closer Ryuko got to others, the more she realized that she would never be close enough. Never again.

A hallejujah chorus sang out and Mako stole the spotlight, her arms crossed as she stood atop a table-full of folded camisoles. "Ryuuko's 'really cute' outfit really does exists! It does, it exists!" Mako declared, pointing at Ryuuko, placing her hands around Ryuuko, and then latching upside-down onto Ryuuko. "It exists inside her! In her heart! Her Sunday best! Forever and ever! It might not exist here." Mako swung her arms around to gesticulate the sphericalness of the earth, all before patting Ryuuko's left breast. "But it's in here. So it must be brought from outside Ryuuko's insides in order for it to become Ryuuko's outsides." Mako shook her head and slapped the air, then raising her palms in a pleading manner while continuing: "Ryuuko's only joy in life was her really cute, scantily-clad outfit. This was Ryuuko's soulmate and her secret treasured pastime. Ryuuko's treasured pastime was a kinky sailor fuku." She donned a black cloak and rolled off an imagined cliff. "So we must take it upon ourselves to unite them at the crossroads of Ryuuko's promised land! A costume shop full of kinky sailor fuku!" She began flossing Ryuuko's left arm-pit with a pair of red suspenders. "We must journey to Ryuuko's promised land!"

"WHAT?" Ryuuko ejected, perplexed that Mako actually thought this about her. "That's not it! I'm not a damned creep. I know my age! I've... outgrown sailor uniforms!" Though she said that, her stomach dropped. What was clothing, even?

Not sentient aliens. Not anymore, at least.

It'd been years. She had to accept this normal, human world of boring, non-intellectual cloth already. It's what they'd fought for, after all.

Satsuki huffed, seemingly understanding what was going on. "Ryuuko... little sister," she murmured. "These days, you're so angry and reckless. I understand one needs to be backed by a strong drive to let go of the past. However, there is such a thing as trying too hard—"

Ryuuko looked up. "—Enough!" she interrupted and scowled sharply. "It's no big deal. Quit worrying about me! I'll take all these damn clothes, OK?! I'll wear them all! I'll go back to school, get a doctorate, and become a tea-serving office lady and babysitter or some crap! I'm an adult now who knows how to be an adult! Just—" she threw on a pair of tiny pajamas and ran past them all, "—Lay off me!" She jetted out the front door.

Satsuki and Mako were left behind, wide-eyed and worried.

Into the city Ryuuko ran, her red scarf pulled up over her face in an effort to escape the curious eyes of others. Stumbling, blinded by self-doubt and the truth uncovered by her sister, darkness fell, and after stealing a motorcycle and a sick leather jacket at one point, and working herself out from the ensuing police chase, she found herself lost in the middle of the nearby red light district.

"It's just like me," Ryuuko said with a laugh as her motorcycle ran out of gas, "to lose my way..." She hopped off the bike and ditched it against a lamp post. And she continued on, unblinking before all the raunchy ads pasted on walls, she glanced between two back-lit love hotel signs and spied in the window of a hole-in-the-wall costume shop: a black and red sailor fuku. Walking up, wearily, she placed a hand on the glass and gazed upon the uniform and its leather harness accessory. It's just like... Senketsu, she thought, thinking about how he used to feel against her skin. Soft. Warm. All-touching, like a glove. He didn't care about how much she made, or what kind of degrees she had. Or what sort of high-end brands she wore on the weekends during forced group dates with her well-meaning college friends. He didn't care that she scared-away guys. Hell, he encouraged it.

Everytime she was lonely and afloat, he used to tell her he was there for her. Wherever she went.

A terrible longing struck her chest again—and as she looked up at the dark sky above—she was reminded even further how impossible it was.

It was impossible to ever wear Senketsu again.

And no one freaking understood her anymore.

Tears fell from her skyward eyes. They just spilled out, no matter how much she tried to suck it in. "Damn it," she croaked, lightly punching the window. "Why does it hurt so bad? I've graduated! I've outgrown needing someone to hold my hand. I'm past childhood, good riddance, I've blasted past everything! At the end, sailor uniforms should be boxed-up or given away. Sailor uniforms are just sailor uniforms!" She pressed on the glass again. "Sailor uniforms should just be sailor uniforms... sailor uniforms should be... should just be..." She slumped as if she'd hit a psychic wall.

Why won't this stress go away? Ryuuko wondered, placing a hand over her heart: I felt so different after dad died. I felt bitterness. Fire. Outrage. That's what death meant to me. But now... But now, all these words seemed meaningless to her. She eyed the sailor fuku's crisp broadcloth pleats. Ever since then, every day feels like an exhausting run down a long, unending hallway. And I, just a rocket-driven robot traveling down it. Watching. Chasing a ghost of my best time—those best times of my life—only to remember the terrifying reality all over again.

"Senketsu," she said under her breath. "You... dumbass! Are you JUST a sailor uniform? Is that all you WERE? This is... How can I keep screeching this mantra nonstop like this?" She held her head in mental strain. "Not only did you encourage me to keep being senseless like this, but you put me on an impossible task! You made me look totally kickass! How can I wear cuter clothes to make you jealous when nothing... nothing on this earth, nothing in this galaxy—no, the universe—is cuter than you!" She kicked her foot up on the glass and growled. "Not even this lame imitation! What am I... God damn it, Senketsu!"

The shop door jingled open and two hunched-over men clutching paper bags wandered out. "Oh, I think she's gonna buy it," one said to the other.

The other laughed. "Heh. She's really into it. The guy she's planning on wearing that for," he said, "is one lucky freak."

Ryuuko grimaced and clenched a fist. "Bastards," she muttered under her breath, having half a mind to go beat them, but then reasoning her behavior wasn't any more decent. "The only person I'd be wearing this for now," she clutched her stolen jacket, "is myself." She turned away.

She walked away.

And with one look over her shoulder at the store, her resolve broke and she ran straight back over.

The sailor fuku was yanked from the window display and Ryuuko found herself outside, moments later, hunched over and clutching it in a paper bag. "I... I did it," she said to herself, breathing heavily and in a somewhat suspicious manner. She darted around in an effort to keep a low-profile but unfortunately induced the opposite. As she miraculously found her way back to Shibuya and then the scramble crossing, she saw live-feed video of herself on all the outdoor screens—along with the label 'Suspicious female pervert on the loose, wanted for assault and theft' in big red letters straight across the top. "Geh!" Ryuuko gasped, turning around to figure out where the camera was hidden but then opting to cover her face with the paper bag instead. While wandering away, she bumped into somebody. It was Mako.

"Ryuuko, there you are!" Mako cried, her back saddled with shop bags and hat boxes. "Your super cool sis bought us lots and lots of pajamas and rompers! I even got some complicated underwear that's something of a mystery as to how it's put on, but you know what they say. You can never have too many openings, right?!"

"Uhhh. Ah," Ryuuko grunted suspiciously in forced agreement. She hid the paper bag behind her.

"Oh! Did you go to your promised land?"

Ryuuko's face went completely red. "NO," she said. "No! I deny everything!" Her mouth flattened. "I-I am an adult."

Satsuki appeared. "If you're done with your little... outing," she said, coughing into her fist, "the car is ready. Are you staying at The Mankanshouko's tonight or coming home with me?"

"I did nothing weird!" Ryuuko went on, pointing at the tattle-tale big screen which was now replaying scenes of her going into the seedy costume shop. "That wasn't me!" The screen showed an up-close of her face, as if countering her argument in real-time.

With a shining battle aura, Satsuki stared down at Ryuuko from the top of her menacingly stony jowl—much like a deranged eagle. "You seem tired," Satsuki intoned, her eyes as sharp as blades, "why don't you come home for tonight. We haven't spent much time together. I'll make you a delicious home-cooked meal, draw a hot bath for you, and once you're in your comfy pajamas, I'll clean your ears and so tuck you into bed. Just like a normal human family does. My dear little sister."

"A, um, as you wish... Sis," Ryuuko stammered in light of Satsuki's detailed and scarily-affectionate promises.

"Uwa! I wish I could BE such an awesome big sis!" Mako cried, smacking her squishy face with great enthusiasm. "When I get home, I'm going to put ALL my being into being one, too!" She pulled out an ear-pick and started jabbing the air with it, as if she was sword-fighting a pirate.

Satsuki folded her arms and blushed at Mako's compliments, and soon enough, the chauffeured car drove up and they gladly piled in, goods and all. All throughout the ride, Ryuuko kept the paper bag seated on her lap—and even during the moments of Mako's improvised singing with concerning lyrics—a smile lifted on her face. She now had an unknown confidant to tell all her secrets to. Once again.

They arrived home in time for Satsuki to fulfill each and every one of her promises with unnecessary severity. "Good night, dear little sister," she said, pulling the covers tightly over Ryuuko, "EYAH HWAH RAGH—" and jabbing her hands under Ryuuko's sides to deliberately make sure she was securely tucked into bed. And unable to escape.

"G...good n...ight, sis," Ryuuko responded weakly, too bound-up to annunciate properly.

"Don't be getting up now. It's bed time." Frowning strongly, Satsuki patted Ryuuko's head. "It was a busy day today and you're tired now. You need proper rest. I love you."

"Hn," Ryuuko grumbled self-consciously, "I... love you too. sis."

As she left, Satsuki turned the lights off and closed the door to Ryuuko's massive, shopping bag and croquette-filled bedroom—all the croquettes being made by Satsuki, of course, as she'd personally learned the recipe from the Mankanshouko mother.

I know sis means well, Ryuuko thought with a disbelieving smile afterwards, staring at the massive looming objects in the dark, but she kinda goes overboard at times...

For the next few minutes, Ryuuko fidgeted and struggled, finally managing to pry herself loose from her bed. Worming her way across the floor, still encased in her blankets, she dug through her stuff with her teeth and fished out the paper bag containing her new sailor fuku. After a few more bouts of intense wriggling, her blankets fell free and she took the bag in hand. Clutching it preciously, and grabbing a hanger from the nearby armoire, she walked to the window and hung the sailor fuku on the frame, her restless eyes watching it swing gently in the moonlight. Standing back, and being not quite satisfied with how it hung, she stepped forward and re-adjusted the uniform's knotted scarf.

"Senketsu," Ryuuko whispered at last, pausing to make sure no one had heard. "It's been a while since we last talked, huh?"

Silence.

"I'm living with my sister now. She's intense and thorough. It's a little difficult at times, but I know it's only because she cares about me... or whatever." Ryuuko blushed. "It's weird having a sibling. I guess... I'm just not used to having someone fuss over me so seriously. Well. You fussed over me. But it was a little different, I think..."

The sailor fuku was navy like the night, blending into emptiness and embracing it. This was just how it was, no matter what. Now matter how much she wanted it.

"It somehow makes me happy. I think everything might almost be perfect now... You know?"

The red scarf on the sailor fuku did not stare at her; it was completely eyeless. Nobody was there. Nobody was listening.

But Ryuuko kept searching.

For the first time since that day, her buried feelings escaped, and unable to contain it any longer, she reached out and grabbed the uniform. Holding it in her arms, her breath quivered. "Senketsu," she managed out between suppressed sobs, "Senketsu!" She fell to the floor, curled-up and hugging the sailor fuku with trembling hands, her body attempting to absorb any spare warmth it offered. "Don't look down on me, you..." Shivering, dissatisfied with its mere insulation, she clung closer until she finally felt comfortable enough to lose herself in it. Soundless tears washed over her cheeks for the first time in a long while. But as they did, she felt the embrace of a sailor fuku.

There was finally warmth.

When Ryuuko opened her eyes that next morning, she found herself re-tucked into bed. She laid there, dazed. How nice it often was, waking up like this, all groggy. Because in these moments, to her half-asleep mind, everything was right with the world. Nothing was wrong. It was always minutes after she'd step out of bed that she'd remember that Senketsu was gone and she was alone in getting dressed for the day. Though she always tried forgetting about it in her sleep, and dream about a normal life with him in her dreams, this fact presented itself to her every day in a shocking reveal. Over and over. Beating her over the head like a lead brick of voiceless agony.

When Ryuuko stood up, she found the sailor fuku hanging up on her window frame. She reached out and slipped it on. At the time, this made perfect sense to her. But as she walked for the door, she paused in thought. "Wait... This uniform," she said, looking down at it. "Did sis come back and check on me in the night?" She cringed at how pathetic a sight she must've been to her big sis. "That's right. I fell asleep clinging to this, my face drenched with snot and... Urgh." She gazed at her uniform in her full-length mirror. "How embarrassing!"

There was a knock at the door. "Little sister," Satsuki's voice said. "Breakfast is ready. Are you already up?"

Ryouko dashed to tear off the sailor fuku and tuck it away under her large, princess-style canopy bed. "Y-yeah, I'm up," she yelled back. "I'll be out in a moment! Just trying on all these clothes! Whoah!" She reached down and crumpled some bags to sound busy. "These are some... some seriously kickass rompers!"

"Hm. Take your time. I'll be waiting." Satsuki's footsteps padded away.

"Hwuu," Ryuuko sighed relief, checking on her hidden sailor fuku. "Wait. If she already saw it, and even hung it back up for me, why am I bothering to hide it?" She contemplated this excellent question well after she was seated at the breakfast table.

Satsuki, wearing an old-fashioned frilly apron and headscarf, walked in and placed a massive heaping platter of omurice before the girl.

"Eat up," Satsuki said with a lightning-sharp glare. "I made it just the way you like it. With extra soy sauce. And extra care." A confidant light emanated off her poised shoulders.

Ryuuko sweated under this pressure. "Thank you, sis," she said meekly, staring at the word 'LOVE' drawn in ketchup atop the giant folded omelette. "It looks... super delicious."

After they'd eaten in silence, the butler, Soroi, walked in and announced that a visitor had arrived for Lady Satsuki. Once her sister excused herself, Ryuuko continued to remain seated, even when the maids cleared the dishes away.

Ryuuko's thoughts turned back to the sailor fuku. It looks a lot like him, she thought, but it's missing his eyes... er. Eye. She wondered if there were some needles and thread around so she could remedyi this. Well! It's not like I'm ignoring Senketsu's last request to wear cuter things than him or anything. I'll just improve the design a little. That's right! She nodded her head. Such a uniform would technically be cuter with just the addition of a few bows or eye-patches or whatever...

There was a loud shuffling of feet, and before Ryuuko could mentally prepare herself, Nonon Jakuzure, the pink-hued former-bandleader of the Elite Four, threw herself into the room. "What's this?!" she quacked. "Is the cherished little sister moping in the dining hall, thinking small thoughts while her sister has tea all by her lonesome?" She stood over Ryuuko accusatively. "Oh! Or has it been too-overwhelming for her, bathing in the glorious affections of our Lady Satsuki?!"

Ryuuko scowled in annoyance. "Hey. You're the visitor," she said, "who called her away from our family breakfast, aren't you? If so, what are you even doing in here?" She scoffed. "What? Did you get lost in the halls?"

Nonon hissed and gnashed her teeth together. "Don't get so full of yourself!" she snapped. "You may be Lady Satsuki's sister, but you're still lounging thanklessly in the arms of her selfless mercy!"

"Get off my back!"

"You know it's true!"

"Listen here!" Ryuuko roared, slamming a foot up on the table. "I appreciate it well enough! I do! But if you're still dissatisfied, why don't we switch places tonight and YOU can have her insist on scrubbing the skin off your back with a pumice stone or skewering your brain with an ear pick! Let's see you try and survive that, you mouthy little flat note!"

Nonon went silent. "I just might consider it," she responded seriously, then sticking out her tongue. "And if I'm a flat note, you're a total b." She left.

"Geez!" Ryuuko blurted. Upon leaving the table, she got a sewing box from the maids—and after locating some rags—returned to her room to cut out and fashion the eye and eyepatch for her Senketsu cosplay. The clock by her bed clicked at a steady pace, and for the rest of the day, she stayed locked up in devout solitude. Sewing. Snipping. Working meticulously to perfect the details of her sailor fuku. As the sun fell, casting orange light across her white walls, she wiped her eyes sleepily and hung her masterpiece on her canopy bed's upper rails. "There we go, all better... Senketsu," she said. "Well! Sis hasn't checked on me at all this evening... Maybe I should check on her then, huh? Although, Nonon visited, so they might've left somewhere..." She gently patted the sleeves. "Right, right. I guess I shouldn't bother her now." She pushed her face into the sailor fuku and inhaled deeply.

She stood like that, motionless, as darkness fell and then well beyond then. Standing.

"Senketsu."

Nothing else mattered.

"I'm glad you're back. I'll admit it. I missed you. You missed me too, right?" She emitted an off-kilter laugh. "Of course."

For the rest of the month, Ryuuko continued on this path, her delusions intensifying as she locked her door and intimately conversed with the lifeless sailor fuku. Deciding she needed no one else, and nothing else, she closed her curtains, kept the door shut, and forsake the outside world. She stopped calling Mako. She stopped sitting down at the dining table with Satsuki. Dirty platters piled in her room, since she refused anyone entrance and was too paranoid to open the door. On the fourth week of this crazed, shut-in behavior, her concerned older sister Satsuki demanded her presence—and upon being denied—confronted her. By kicking down the door.

"Ryuuko, this has gone on long enough," Satsuki said. "Hand over Senketsu-Two, at once!" She shoved Ryuuko and pulled the uniform away.

"NO!" Ryuuko let-out a wild, ear-piercing yell and tugged right back, her eyes swirling from her peculiar, out-of-control psychosis. "You can't take Senketsu away from me... I won't LET YOU. Nothing can—I've said it before! You tried in the past, spreading his pieces around, causing me nothing but anguish, but NO MORE, this time I'll p—"

With a loud smack, Satsuki slapped Ryuuko and sent her splintering across the room's piles of abandoned clothing. With a boom, Ruuko touched-down and slammed into the back wall, the entire surface cracking and contouring around her haggard body.

"Ryuuko...!" Satsuki blasted and gleamed blindingly from the justice she'd just dealt. "Look at yourself! Look at what you've become!" She swept an arm out, displaying the trashed room. "This is... it is none other than DISGRACEFUL."

Ryuuko opened her eyes, their swirly-ness dissipating and her sanity finally returning. Aware of what she'd become, of how she'd let herself go, she trembled in self-revulsion. "I—I," she stammered, the wind still knocked out of her, "I'm so sorry... sis." Ryuuko slid down and collapsed on her knees. "But don't look at me right now." She hiccuped once, then twice, and with the lowering of her head, sobbed hard. "I'm disgusting!"

Satsuki fought to keep her composure at this gut-wrenching scene. In effect, her slipping expression hardened into a pitiless glare. "Get up," she said. "Put on Senketsu-two." She threw the sailor fuku at her sister. "And let's go somewhere. On another date. I'll summon The Mankanshouko here so she can come along too. We'll wear our old school uniforms together. You won't be alone any longer. So, Ryuuko... Get up."

Fighting her wobbly knees, Ryuuko stood up, her tear-swollen eyes lowered and her shoulders tensed. "Ok," she said. "Let's go then. I'll go out in public for the first time in days. I'll do it. Because I can't continue on this pathetic downslope any more." She exhaled sharply. "I have to start living my adult life... for Senketsu!"

Satsuki's mouth twisted into a smile. Turning aside, she pulled out her cell and phoned-in a short order to airlift Mako to their mansion at once—along with some leftover school uniforms.

Ryuuko reluctantly began to dress. "Ah, sis?" she asked curiously, having waited until Satsuki was done with her call. "I've been stuck in here for days, so... I should take bath."

"Oh? You took one last night."

Ryuuko paused and tilted her head agitatedly. "Huh?" For some reason or another, she couldn't remember this. "No I didn't. I can't even remember the last time I did!"

Satsuki stared at her. "Yes. Though you've been a shut-in slob of a little sister for the past month or so, self-maintenance was the only thing you kept up on."

"I... really?" Ryuuko froze. Had her manic episode taken away chunks of her very own memory?

"It's true." Satsuki clicked a heel and walked forward. "You've persisted in waking me up at odd hours of the night, behaving erratically and saying incredibly strange things," Satsuki turned around, furrowing her eyebrows and deepening her voice in demonstration, "things such as, 'HONORABLE SISTER, please assist me with cleansing Ryuuko's body! Human skin is truly a complicated thing... I accidentally burned it with an iron!' How troublesome." Satsuki folded her arms and closed her eyes dourly. "I was forced to call-in specialists."

Ryuuko inspected her sailor fuku. What the hell? she wondered, then glancing down at her stomach and finding an iron-shaped burn mark there. Is this some kind of stupid joke?

The noise of a helicopter rattled in the distance. "It's here," Satsuki said, pausing before the fallen door. "The Mankanshoku and I need to prepare. Meet us on the rooftop in fifteen minutes."

When her sister left, Ryuuko scrambled to dress and slip her shoes on. "Whatever's going on, one thing is certain," she said, aligning her sailor scarf in the mirror. "Sis is definitely hiding something from me...!"

Arriving on the rooftop, Ryuuko found Mako and even Satsuki clad in the blue and white Honnoji sailor fuku. Ryuuko was a little surprised to see Satsuki wearing such common wear, given her old military style—and especially since the last time she saw her in such a uniform was that one time she and Senketsu teamed-up. "Ah, we're all dressed up," Ryuuko noted, raising a hand in slight embarrassment to Mako. "But where are we going?"

"I know!" Mako said. "We're going to squat around train stations while chain smoking, phone-texting, and acting like we're still in high school! Right?" Mako obviously held a colorful image in-mind. "Or! Are we gonna make a dance video and upload it to the internet and go viral?" She gave a charming smile. "Nico!"

Ryuuko squinted her eyes and sighed, trying to wrap her head around these inane suggestions. Satsuki, ignoring them as such, waited for the helicopter door to slide open before climbing in and greeting Nonon who was at the controls.

"Haa!" Ryuuko yelped, pointing at the former-bandleader. "What is SHE doing here?"

Nonon smirked. "I'm the pilot, silly Lady Ryuuko," she said, jolting the throttle and lifting off—much to the still-grounded Ryuuko's dismay.

"Whoo~" Mako cheered, bounding up into the chopper like a bouncy ball.

"Hey! Wait up," Ryuuko snapped, jumping after them and latching onto the door-side handlebar. The helicopter swerved and she gritted her teeth, fighting to hold on. Mako, taking Ryuuko's other hand, grunted and assisted in pulling her in. Once inside, the door slid closed behind them.

"Alright!" Ryuuko spat, exhaustedly buckling herself in. "Where are we going?!"

"Oh, you'll know when we get there," Nonon explained, lazily handling the controls. "Hang on, we'll be experiencing turbulence. And maybe some leaks."

Ryuuko and Mako's heads banged back against the seat as the helicopter spun around, disobeyed the laws of aerodynamics, and zoomed onwards at mach speed.

"Activating amphibious mode in 3... 2... 1," Nonon chortled, slamming a lever on her dash controls.

Satsuki calmly stared out the window—almost as if she were taking a leisurely plane flight to some tropical getaway.

The helicopter began to groan and change—its tail folding in on itself, its under-skis flattening into fins, and its overhead blades tearing in half and repositioning themselves in the front as rotors. This caused them to instantly drop from the sky.

"WHAT THE AHHHH," Ryuuko yelled, watching them fall for the deep blue below.

"Emergency dive!" Mako exclaimed, hands up and loving it.

And so they did, crashing into the water with a hull-splattering splash. Ryuuko clenched her fists and stared out her side window as startled fish swam past in waves.

"Pressurizing," Nonon said, flipping some switches. "Leveling out... Past the halfway point! We'll be arriving at Nudist Beach in three minutes, Lady Satsuki."

"N-Nudist Beach?" Ryuuko stuttered.

"That's right," Satsuki said, maintaining a knowing gaze. "It's time for your check-up."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's time for your check-up." She wasn't going to say anything else on the matter. And that was that.

Ryuuko growled.

Emerging from the depths, the amphibious helicopter folded its under-skis back out—their outsides now encased with flotation-worthy bulkiness—and floated further into Nudist Beach's docking bay.

"Ooooahh," Mako sighed in awe, jumping around the cockpit to look out ALL the windows. "This sure brings back memories, doesn't it Ryuuko?"

"Hm," Ryuuko emitted. "Yeah." She folded her arms and sweated lightly. What's going on with this place now? she wondered, eyeing the hideout's renewed docks and expanded tunnels. Sis, just what are you up to? Why did you bring me here?

Of course, Ryuuko considered that this renewed activity had something to do with the threat of life fibers returning to Earth one day, just as her mother had threatened, but still, she thought all the counter military operations—including Honnoji Academy, which had sunk to the bottom of Tokyo Bay—had been discontinued. By the look of things, however, Nudist Beach was growing.

Who's paying for all this? Ryuuko wondered.

As if Satsuki could hear her sister's thoughts, she turned to Ryuuko. "Hm. Surprised? After Revocs' market shares bottomed-out, I restructered and rebranded it as a technical textile corporation," Satsuki explained and paused. "And sold two-thirds of it at a loss to the Takarada Conglomerate. This strategy renewed the holdings' public image, recouped its immense pre-COVERS-scandal value, and bolstered Takarada's personal funding of Nudist Beach's continued operations... as you can see."

Ryuuko nodded her head, miraculously understanding her sister's business-babble. "So basically," she said, "you made a massive donation to the cause."

Satsuki turned away. "You could say that. But it was simply a sound business decision... and dead weight off my back."

"Man... you're certainly something." Ryuuko wasn't sure if she could ever get into business, but if she ever wanted to, she knew she could leave the foundings of it to her sis.

Docking their amphibious transforming helicopter, the four girls climbed out and entered the hideout's main passageway, where they made their way past several security-locked doors before arriving in the primary research lab.

Overwhelmed by all the rows of clear cubicles stretching beyond—housing teams of working scientists in each—Ryuuko stopped in the middle as the other girls stepped forward.

"What's the hold up?" Nonon asked. "Getting cold feet?"

"No, it's just... completely different," Ryuuko said. "From how it was last time."

"Yes!" Mako agreed. "But even so, it's still filled with the spirit of Nudist Beach! Hard-working, busy people!" She shielded her eyes so she could peer into the blue-shining distance. "Just look at all those clean white lab coats... There's so many inside here, I think I can somehow whiff their combined bleach emissions! Right, Ryuko?"

"Hm," she answered, nodding.

There was a splash off to the right, causing both Ryuuko and Mako to jump. Seemingly out from the floor rose Mikisugi, dripping wet, proudly naked, and bedazzling them sightless with his private areas' self-censoring-magenta-lens-flare. "If it's bleach you're huffing, it's not the lab coats," he said, slowly running his fingers through his slick hair and glamour-posing. "It's Nudist Beach's newest research division."

"WHERE the crap did you pop up from?!" Ryuko yelled, red-faced and bewildered.

"The swimming pool. The edge is right over there."

"Why is there a swimming pool in a research lab?!"

"For research. Obviously."

"Urgh," Ryuuko groaned, holding her forehead. "What is even going on here?"

"You're here for your check-up," Satsuki said.

"Yes yes, you've been saying that, Sis!"

Towel-drying off, Mikisugi slipped a white lab coat on. "Are the nighttime symptoms still the same?" he asked.

"As of last night, they are," Satsuki answered. "You'll be getting her ready, correct? I'd like to discuss last time's scans with Inumuta."

"Huh? Huuh? Ready for what?!" Ryuuko demanded in exasperation, facing a quiet Nonon and a fidgety Mako. "Hey! What are you guys keeping so clammed-up about?"

"Figure it out already!" Nonon snapped. "This is about your recent behavior. Really! Don't act so surprised about it."

"But... this was supposed to be a date...!"

"Ok then," Mikisugi said, grabbing Ryuuko from behind, "time for your full-body scan, then... Don't worry, I'll be gentle." He lifted the betrayed girl up onto his shoulder.

"Come on!" Ryuuko yelled, flailing her fists at them furiously. "I know I was acting a little crazy, but this is... Gr! There's no need to trick me like this, just tell me what's the deal!"

"Don't worry, Ryuuko!" Mako chirped. "When this is all done, we can have dinner together! The new cafeteria has lotsa food on a conveyor belt that goes round-and-round! Forever! I'll show you!"

"Wait, Mako... you've been here lately?"

She covered her mouth. "Oops!"

"That's enough," Satsuki said, turning to Mikisugi with a neck-snapping gaze. "Do it now."

"C'mon now!" Ryuuko blurted, "I still haven't—" She felt a hundred needles in her back. And then a deep sleep.