With Satsuki as Ryuko's ally and family, life begun to resemble calm. There was a routine now: attend school, do homework, hang out with Mako, eat croquettes, sleep, rinse, lather and repeat. Sometimes, she'd indulge one of Mako's plans to ditch school to shop. Those days were usually a spur-of-the-moment, once-in-a-blue-moon thing.

Ryuko found herself itching for trouble to make it so life excited her again. All the days blurred together. Her body stirred with energy she had no idea how to contain. Her entire axis shifted after finally learning the answer to the life-long question of who killed her father. Suddenly, the world seemed to relax; the entire universe probably created melodramatic tension to give Ryuko answers.

Now she had more questions. The world didn't have sufficient answers. It felt maddening.

"Mako, why is the world so crazy?" Ryuko asked during lunch. Mako shrugged.

"Who knows. I'm pretty sure it'll always be that way. I don't think there's much of a need to analyze it too deeply." Ryuko tilted her head. Mako bit into another piece of her lunch more thoughtfully than usual.

"That was surprisingly profound," Ryuko stated.

"Really?" Mako said, eyes twinkling.

"Really!"

"Let's brag to Satsuki about it, Ryuko."

"...Why?"

"Because she thinks I'm stupid. Now that she's your sister, I should work on making a better impression."

"Whatever you want, Mako."

Ever since Satsuki commanded The Elite Four to stop flanking her, Ryuko noticed that she had mellowed out considerably. Inumuta started the Coding Club and threw himself into being the secretary; Nonon focused on the Music Club, loving every second of it; Gamagori had actually plucked up the courage to ask Mako out (they were sickeningly cute in Ryuko's eyes); and Ryuko, strangely, lost track of Sanageyama.

Satsuki had taken up knitting and painting, both of which were quiet, focused hobbies that Ryuko had little patience for; she tried to learn both in the name of her sister.

As Mako barged into Satsuki's space with Ryuko in tow, Satsuki seemed unphased.

"Hello Mankanshoku. Hello, dear sister," Satsuki said, not looking up from her project.

"Ryuko wanted to talk about the answer to life," Mako blurted out.

"Let my sister speak for herself," Satsuki said, looking at Ryuko.

"...Do you not see the irony in that statement? But anyway! I was hoping we could talk philosophy. I'm feeling, oh I don't know, lost I guess." She was babbling at this point, and Satsuki didn't acknowledge it for all she did was beckon Ryuko into a seat across from Satsuki and brew her a cup of tea.

Bonding with Satsuki was surprisingly easy, as they both had a lot to say and a lot of ways to disagree; despite their polar opposite natures, they actually saw eye to eye more than expected.

Maybe having an older sister had its perks.