Chapter 4: No Tardies Day

Hey, guys. It's me, Roku. Things have gotten pretty intense for me, Ryūko, and my bros. in just a few weeks of being in Honnōji Academy, we managed to defeat to defeat two clubs: the boxing club led by Takaharu Fukuroda and the girls' tennis club ran by Omiko Hakodate. With Ryūko's win in that tennis match, we got some answers from Mikisugi like he promised. Though I had to tell him he could skip trying to explain the short and easy version answer on Life Fibers as I already told Ryūko, we managed to learn more about those Goku Uniforms. Unlike Kamuis, that are completely made out of Life Fibers, the Goku Uniforms have a shorter amount. No-Star Uniforms have basically no Life Fibers in them (no surprise there), 1-Star Uniforms are made of 10 percent Life Fibers, 2-Star Uniforms have 20 percent, and 3-Stars have 30 percent. He also told us that there is a special Life Fiber that is made to make other Life Fibers become clothing called the Banshi, which Senketsu absorbed from the uniforms of the captains we defeated. We still don't know who exactly killed the doc or where Harime is. Even after all this, Ryūko was still unable to unleash her Kamuis true power. Though I wanted to be patience with her, that option went out the window when we found out that there was another Kamui wearer, which would mean Ryūko would have to figure out how to truly wear Senketsu.

I was right for we found out who the mysterious Kamui wearer was: the queen bee herself, Satsuki Kiryūin. She challenged us and we were shocked to see that, unlike me and my bros as we took our time to master our Kamuis, Satsuki skipped the whole thing and unleashed the full power of her Kamui Junketsu. And if things weren't bad enough, we found out that Miko, our old friend from Tokyo, was actually Satsuki's vice-president. As Ryūko fought with Satsuki, me and my bros took on Miko, who practically tossed us around like rag dolls. Ryūko didn't do so hot in her fight either. Because she wasn't able to use Senketsu's true power, she couldn't match up to Satsuki. Me and my bros were able to help Ryūko, but unfortunately Satsuki was able to overpower my bros and nearly finished me off. But, somehow thanks to Mako's speech, Ryūko finally figured it out and finally unlocked Senketsu's true power. I teamed up with Ryūko to fight Satsuki and I found out that Kamui of hers had a few tricks of its sleeve (pun not intended there). In that fight, both me and Ryūko used our weapons' true potential and were on equal footing with Satsuki. The battle ended in a draw and me and Ryūko told Satsuki that we would take all that goddamn crap she's been giving us and shove her face in it until she tells us everything we want to know.

With that, Satsuki told that if we beat her in the next fight against her, she would tell us everything. In order to get that rematch, we would have to beat her entire student council, starting with all the clubs and their captains. Us against a group of 2-Stars with a whole army of 1-Stars behind them? I say bring it on. I like a good challenge and no one is gonna stop us from getting our answers! But, right now, me, ryuko, and my bros will have to deal with the longest day in our lives.

Draxum's view

That night, after little Satsuki's battle, I was in my lab looking over the surveillance recording from it, specifically the part where Jeeha allowed the Dragon Force to escape behind that stubborn girl's back. I copied the footage from the computers of her Academy and deleted the original footage before anyone got a good look at it. I know it was uncouth of me to do so as Jeeha's leak of information to our enemies would set the plan back, but having Satsuki demote her to No-Star would assure failure as she knew too much. With simply demoting her, Jeeha would only go crawling back to her friends. With any interrogation, the Dragon Force would only come and help her escape. Either way, the knowledge she gained from her present status would jeopardize everything REVOCS has worked for if it fell in enemy hands. Better to wait for the right moment where I could properly dispose of her myself. Hopefully, it will be after we deal with those bothersome pest my way. Though I'm not surprised that Satsuki hadn't become suspicious of her second-in-command. For what Jeeha owes to the Kiryūin Family and the history between them, it only makes sense that she wouldn't suspect a thing. Being lost in my own thoughts, I was caught by surprise when I felt two hands place themselves on my shoulders and slid down to where they met at the center of chest, two arms wrapping around me. Just by looking at them, I knew who these delicate hands belonged to and smiled that she had come to greet me.

"Good evening, Nui." I said as I placed a hand on hers and looked back to gaze upon the beauty of my beloved Nui.

"Hi, Barrie-poo!" she said to me with that delightful smile of hers before she nuzzled me. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too." I said to her, placing my other hand and cupped her cheek. "Sorry I didn't return sooner."

"Oh, it's okay." Nui said to me as she removed her hands from my chest and moved over to stand beside me. She gave a slight laugh as she then jumped to sit in my lap, her arm over my shoulders and her hand on the center of my chest with her head resting beside her hand. I gently caressed her astounding legs as she looked upon me with that gorgeous eye. Even with one of her eyes gone, I still get lost in her gaze as she remained her beauty. "I'm just glad to have my cutie-wutie, cuddly-wuddly pookie bear."

Even with all the men that gaze upon her, I'm the only one she ever speaks to in her bewitching flirting, a way that I allowed only her to speak to me. Out of all the people in the world, Nui is the only one I ever need to be happy and she is the only one I would always want her to be happy.

I still remember the day we met. It was the time that Lady Ragyō came to me and offer me a job as the head of science division at REVOCS. I was flattered, but was quick to reject the offer as I was able to see she was an Oni and the history between her family and mine were not of good terms. But I had a second thought when I saw her. Nui Harime, one of the only Onis I ever met and the only member of REVOCS who was truly loyal to Lady Ragyō. The moment our eyes met, I found her to be truly beautiful. The scent of her blood made mine boil, but my heart skipped a beat from catching her gaze. My Dragon instinct wanted me to attack, but I was too mesmerized her by her smile to listen to it. Though Dragons and Onis are mortal enemies, every fiber of my being wanted her to be mine. It was in that moment that I realized that I had zinged. It was not complete, but it was a true zing. As such, I then proposed a new agreement with Lady Ragyō: I would become an employee only if I could have Nui's hand. From there, I became the head scientist of REVOCS and Nui and I became engaged. In our time together, my Dragon instinct against Nui had finally been put to rest by my unbound lover for her. I know it is truly a crime to cross the bloodlines, but, as my grandfather Zamasu had done with his own bride, some lines…are meant to be crossed. Nui is and always will be the only woman I will ever truly love.

"Soooo…what ya doing all alone in the dark?" my fiancé asked me in that darling voice she uses with me.

"Oh, just analyzing this footage I received from Honnōji Academy." I answered her.

"You visited Lady Satsuki without me? No fair!" she said as she pouted at me like a child, which was all just as alluring as any way she spoke to me. "I want to go to Honnōji academy too!"

I chuckled at her expression before I explained my reasoning for being there.

"You will, just not now. It wasn't much of a visit as it was an observation." I told her as she lost her pout and we looked upon the screen as I had Kuroketsu replay the footage. "As you can see, there has been some problems at Satsuki's little institute, problems that make visiting it not the safest option."

"Ooh! Look! It's cute, little Roku!" Nui said as she saw Roku appear on the screen as he fought Satsuki along with Matoi. She says he reminds her of me and I could see how that I in how well he fights, much like he did the first time I ever fought him. "And he's made a new friend! And she's just as cute as he is!"

"Yes, that is Ryūko Matoi, a new ally of the Dragon Force." I said before I had my Kamui replay the footage to show Jeeha's little stunt to remove any suspicion from her. "Speaking of allies, it would appear that Jeeha's loyalty isn't as great as Satsuki says. I'm surprised she has forgotten that the history between the Jeeha and Ryū families runs just as deep as the Jeeha family history with the Kiryūins, which would mean betrayal even after all Lady Ragyō has done."

"Ohhh, never took little Miko for such a sneak." Nui then looked back at me. "Does Lady Satsuki know about this?"

"No." I said to her as I looked at her. "I deleted the original contents when I duplicated this footage. I decided to keep this information to myself and allow Jeeha to weaken Satsuki's resolve. As soon as her little plan to dispose of this nuisance fails, I will move in and properly exterminate those pests."

"Keeping secrets from Lady Satsuki?" my love said to me before she moved her hand from my chest and begin rubbing my cheek with alluring smile. "You naughty boy."

"Well, I will do anything that is necessary for you, my lovely Nui." I said to her as I held her chin with my thumb and index finger, bringing her up to me as I gave her the same smile.

We gaze upon each other's eyes, the navy glow of her eye and the crimson glow of my eyes. This was only for a moment until my love decided to give a new suggestion.

"You know, it is getting late and I have been getting so lonely." She said as she then wrapped her arms around my neck. "Mind keeping me company?"

"You are my future wife. It is my duty as your husband to ensure your satisfaction…" I said to her as I got up, carrying her as the bride she will be. "In any pleasure."

"Oh, come to mama!" my beloved said as joined lips in pleasurable bliss.

As we did, I had Kuroketsu shutdown my computer as I then carried my fiancé to her room, where we would further express our love for each other. My time with Nui is just what I need to strengthen my patience.

Roku's view

It was night and me, Ryūko, and my bros were over at the Mankanshoku house, eating dinner. Aunt Sukuyo made her famous croquets and I made some tea for everyone. Ais, for the first time in a while, was smiling like Mako and Wu.

"Wow, Aisu." Ryūko said as she got my bro's attention. Guess she noticed how he's been acting. "You're in a good mood tonight."

"Well, why wouldn't I be?" Ais said to her, speaking rather cheerfully. "Today, I got to see my sweet chinchilla again!"

"Your what?" Mako asked as I realized she didn't know that was Ais' nickname for Miko.

"He means that girl we fought with this morning. You know, the one with the chains that works for Satsuki?" I said to her, trying to jog her memory.

"Ohhh! You mean Miss Jeeha, our vice-president." Mako said as she finally got it before she looked at Ais with confusion. "But why did you call her that?"

"Because that's his pet name for her." Sū said to her.

"Pet name?" Mako asked, still not getting it.

"Yeah, a pet name. That's what Ais always calls that girlfriend of his." Chi said to her.

"Girlfriend?! Wait, Aisu, you're Miss Jeeha's boyfriend?" She asked, shocked by this.

"Wow, Aisu, I'm impressed." Barazō said to my brother, complimenting him. "Didn't think you had it in ya."

"Way to go, cuz!" Matarō said as he went over and nudged Ais a bit before he got that sly smile of his. "So tell me: how is she? Is she hot?"

"None of your business, Matarō." Ais said as he scowled at our little cousin before pushing him away.

"Well, isn't that sweet?" Aunt Sukuyo said to Ais, causing him to smile at her. "I bet your mother was so proud that you found your zing."

"Yeah. She was." Ais honestly said to her.

"Zing?" Mako said before she turned to Aunt Sukuyo, confused by what her mom meant by that word. "Mom, what's a zing?"

"Wait, you didn't tell Mako what a zing is?" I asked my aunt as she looked at me with surprise, shocked she didn't tell her own teenage daughter about zings. "Why did you tell her? She's about as old as most of us at this table."

"Well, uhhh…" She answered nervously. "You see…I was waiting for the moment when she zinged."

Me and my bros groaned as we were disappointed that she didn't tell Mako when she was actually at the usual age to have a zing.

"Well, that explains why Mom decided to tell us about zings after Aisu and Sū got theirs." I said, speaking so everyone could hear.

"Sū, you've zinged too?" Aunt Sukuyo asked Sū, the news catching her by surprise. "When did you zing? Who did you do it with?"

"Oh, over 2 years ago." Sū said as he told her about his zing. "We went to New York and I met this amazing girl named Liz Thompson." I then watched as he looked up at the ceiling with a blissful smile. "Man, seriously, what a woman."

"You and Aisu have girlfriends?" Mako asked, even more surprised than before. "Do all of you have girlfriends?"

"No, it's only those two." I answered her, talking about Ais and Sū. "Yeah, Chi and Wu haven't really zinged yet."

"Actually I think I'm in the same boat as Ais and Sū." Wu said, shocking all of us as we looked at him.

"Wu? You zinged?" I asked my little brother as I never thought he would actually zing. "With who?"

"With the hottest chick I ever met in my life!" Wu said, telling us about his zing. "I can't remember her name, but I know I zinged with when I saw that wicked pink hair of hers."

"Pink hair?" I asked him as I realized who he was talking about. "You mean that 3-Star chick Jakuzure who Miko slammed you into this morning?"

"Jakuzure, yeah! That's her!" Wu said as he got a blissful smile, no doubt thinking about that Elite Four girl. "She's totally awesome."

"Didn't she push you to the ground twice?" Chi asked him as me and my bros doubted he actually zinged with that chick.

"Yeah, so?" Wu said to him. "Ais and Sū got their zings, why can't I have mine?"

"Don't." I said to Ais as I stopped him from starting an argument with Wu. "Zing or not, if you start anything with Wu, he's just gonna throw a fit."

"What are you guys talking about?" Ryūko asked, confused by all this.

I thought for a moment and decided to tell everybody at the table. I know that Matarō was still in elementary school, but, also considering that he's just as perverted his dad, he was bound to learn someday.

"Well, a zing is a thing for us Dragons." I said as I explained what a zing was. "It's sort of like our love at first sight. Basically, it's the same as us falling in love. Why else do you think my aunt got together with my uncle? The two of them zinged. It works both ways, both the Dragon on the one they fall in love with. What we mean by Ais and Sū zinging is that those two have found true love. Ais fell for Miko and Sū's got the hots for Liz. With Wu…I'm not really sure if it is a zing or not. Chi hasn't found his zing yet. You get it now?"

"Yep!" Mako said, cheerfully. "That's so cool! I can't wait till I find my zing!"

"So the zing can make anybody fall in love?" Matarō asked me with a sly smile.

"Don't even bother, Casanova." I said to my cousin, already know what he was thinking. "A zing doesn't work that way. It haves to be someone you truly love and they have to love you back for it to be in full effect. The zing isn't something you can take for granted."

"Oh, man." He said as he slouched in disappointment.

"He's right, Matarō." Aunt Sukuyo said to her son, brightening the atmosphere like always. "A zing only happens once in your life and you have to cherish it. You'll understand when you're older." It was only a moment until she looked at me and said "So, Roku, did you zing with anyone?"

"Aunt Sukuyo!" I said as that was a sensitive subject, feeling the heat coming to my cheeks.

I heard land in front of me and saw it was part of some chopsticks. Seeing where they came from, I looked and saw Ryūko looking at me with shock, some of the pieces of her chopsticks in clenched hand and the rest of them on the table beneath her hand. She didn't even turn her head, she only moved her eyes to look at me. I've seen that look before. Ais did that when Miko was asked that very question. That's when we first met her parents, before she and Ais started dating. He did that because he was worried that Miko like someone else. Another thing that my mom told me about zings was that, if one isn't complete and the one the Dragon loves falls in love with someone else, the zing can be broken. Something we Dragons call a "near zing", meaning that it was close to being a real zing but didn't even have the chance to become one. That look Ryūko was giving me was just like that. She probably thought I didn't feel the same. She was human, so she had no idea what the zing implied. The zing is only broken when the Dragon isn't able to have their feelings returned by the one that they love, not the other way around. Meaning that she and I shouldn't have the light of love, the only true sign that the zing is complete. I've been with Ryūko long enough to know that she's use to her tough girl image.

She knows how to be nice, but being a girl fawning over a guy isn't really something she's comfortable with. She's probably never experienced love like this. Another thing we have in common. I mean, I am a pretty nice guy and can be tough when I need to, but I've never been in love before. Sure, there were plenty of women back in Tokyo and in Drago-Terra that would love to have me as their zing, but I never zinged with any of them. I was flattered, but never felt like that like I did with Ryūko. I would believe that she's the one for me.

"Yeah!" Mako said to me, smiling like she always does. "Did you zing with anyone?"

"If ya did, was it with an insanely hot chick?" Matarō asked, just as eager as his sister to know the answer.

"Matarō!" Aunt Sukuyo sternly said to her son, no doubt not pleased with what Matarō asked.

"What?" Matarō asked, oblivious to what he just said.

I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks as I was just embarrassed. I know these guys would pressure me until I told the truth, but I couldn't tell that with Ryūko around. Telling her that was something I want to tell her in private, just the two of us. So I decided to change the subject.

"Uhhh…hey, Aunt Sukuyo." I said after I thought of a way to get out of telling about my zing as I got my aunt's attention. "You must've been surprised when you found out Miko was the vice-president, huh?"

"Hm?" she said confused by this. "Well, I was surprised to find out that one of my nephews zinged with her, but I really don't think I was actually surprised when Mako told me about her, how kind she is to students and the way she looks. Though I can't help thinking that I heard her name before or that she seems familiar."

That shocked me and my bros. how could she not know who Miko was? Her last name said it all. I decided to see if I could jog her memory.

"Aunt Sukuyo, come on." I said as I tried to see if she remembered. "You know who she is." She didn't say anything, just gave me a blank face. "Her name says it all. Miko Jeeha?" no answer again. "Come on. Jeeha, doesn't ring any bells?"

"Well, it does sound familiar." She said before started drinking her tea.

This was the woman who had known the answer for years and she couldn't figure out who Miko was. Though I was gonna be patient with her, Sū reached his limit and was pissed off.

"Oh, for God's sake!" Sū yelled out, finally giving our aunt the clear idea of who Miko was. "Miko is the daughter of Simon Jeeha, your old friend from Dia-Gurren!"

From there, we all watched as Aunt Sukuyo did a spit-take, no doubt in shock from realizing it and surprising us with it.

"Could've been a little more subtle, Sū." I said to my hotheaded brother as our aunt cough as she tried to catch her breath.

"Hey, she was the one who didn't figure it out sooner!" Sū said to me, still pissed off by this. "I mean, for crying out loud, Jeeha's the name of that village!"

"Simon…" our aunt said as we all looked at her as she gave us a shocked face. "Simon…haves…a daughter."

"And he's also got a son too, Miko's big brother Kamina!" Wu cheerfully said, void to the fact that our aunt was completely shocked.

"Wu! She just found out Simon's Miko's dad! Don't make it any worse!" I yelled at him and he hunched over in shame, his way of saying he wasn't gonna talk.

"He haves a son too?!" she said to us, her shock no doubt getting worse from hearing that. "But…how? Did he remarry?"

My bros looked at me and I knew they wanted me to break the news to her. I was the one who was best at softening blows like this.

"No. Simon didn't remarry." I said to her, speaking as subtle as I could. "And it wasn't by accident."

"Then…who did is the mother?" she asked me, nearly reaching her limit in shocking news. "Who helped Simon raise them?"

This was it. This biggest shock of her life. I had to be really, really subtle with this. If it wasn't, then she could have a heart attack.

I took a deep breath before I answered "Miko and Kamina's mother…is Simon's wife…Nia."

Aunt Sukuyo gasped in full shock before fell backwards, collapsing and passing out on the floor.

"And she fainted!" I said as we all gathered around her.

"Mom!" Mako said as she tried to wake her mother up. "Mom, wake up!"

After that, we took her to her room and I made her a cup of tea for when she woke up. After a while, she did woke up and we explained everything that happened before she passed out (Wu was the one who told her about the talk on the zings) and she managed to steady herself with all that information.

"So…Nia is…alive?" aunt Sukuyo asked as she held her cup in her lap.

"Yeah." I said to her. "We were just as shocked as you when we saw her…with Simon."

"Well…" she said as she then regained her smile. "I'm happy that they can be together."

"Bet it's a real blast from the past to hear the name 'Dai-Gurren' after so long, huh?" I said as Sū's outburst no doubt brought back some memories from the past.

"Yes. It is. Reminds me how much I miss everyone in Kamina City." She said, reminiscing those days.

"Wait, Mom, you've been to the big city?!" Mako asked her mother, shocked by this.

"Okay, would someone please tell me what's going on here?" Ryūko asked, no doubt confused by what we were saying. "What is Dia-Gurren?"

"That's a long story." I said to her, starting this little talk with that one question. "Ever heard of Kamina City?"

"Yeah. It's one of the biggest cities in the world, right?" she asked me.

"Yes. Though there's a story with that." I answered her.

"Ooh! Are you gonna tell the story?" Wu said as he loved hearing the story of the great Spiral Wars. "Please tell the story! Please? Please?!"

"Calm down, Wu." I said to him, a little amused by my little brother's eagerness. "I'll tell the story." I then looked to my aunt to see if she still had a copy of the story. "Aunt Sukuyo? You wouldn't happen to have…"

"It's in the book case, middle shelf." She said before Wu dashed over to the book case, grabbed one book from there, came back over, and gave it to me.

I took a look at it and saw it had the Dia-Gurren symbol on the cover, proof it was the right book.

"Hey, it's that book Mom looks at sometimes!" Mako said as she saw the book in my hands.

"Yeah, I've caught Mom looking at it a couple of times." Matarō said. "I tried to read it once, but she said I couldn't read it until I was older."

"Wait, I've seen that book before." Ryūko said as we all looked at her. "Yeah, my dad had it. I've always been seeing him read that book every time I saw him."

"Well, it would make sense." I said to her. "He was my dad's friend. So my dad would give him a copy of this book to share a little history with him."

"History?" Ryūko said, confused by what I meant.

"Yeah, history. History that goes back before Kamina City even existed." I said as I opened the book, starting to read the story. "A long time ago, the continent where Kamina City resides in wasn't always peaceful. In those times, the entire land was being terrorized by an alien race known as the Beastmen, led by their ruler: the Spiral King Lordgenome, who ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. Their goal was to suppress the human race, forcing them to go underground. The way they did was by the use of Gunmen, large and powerful machines that they controlled and used to strike fear into humans. Though they only did it to that one continent and it was enough to keep the human race at a certain world-wide population. As the rest of the world progressed, that one part of the world was stuck underground, struggling to survive. It all seemed hopeless for them. Until…one day, in Jeeha Village…"

"Wait, Jeeha?" Ryūko said with a look of surprise. "That's the name of that vice-president chick!"

"Yes, it is also the name of one of the underground villages that existed at the time. Miko's father was from that village, so he took the name 'Jeeha' as his last name to fit in with the rest of humanity and to honor his home." I said as I then continued with the story. "Now, as I was saying, one day in that village, a young digger came across something very odd: a strange, small, gold drill that gave off this bizarre green glow. He went off to show it to his big brother, who was attempting to escape the confines of the village and head to the surface. That plan failed and Kamina ended up in jail. The reason for this was because the chief didn't believe him about the surface. Back then, the villagers thought the surface was just a legend, a fairy tale from the past. Seeing as there wasn't much he could do for his big bro, the digger went back to digging, losing hope that there was another way besides just digging around. Then, as if a struck of fate, the little boy found another object as odd as the drill he found: it was a large, metal face with this cockpit inside. The eyes of this head's face glowed in the same light as the drill he found. Finding it to be an amazing find, the digger went off to bust his bro out of jail and show it to him. But, before they could even get to the tunnels, the chief found them and tried to stop them."

"He was going to punish Kamina for his crimes against the village until…suddenly, an earthquake struck through and the whole ceiling of the village's cave collapsed. When it stopped everyone was shocked to see, right there at the center of the village, a giant monstrous face. Kamina took this as proof that the surface did exist. Then…the face that fell from above began attacking the village. Though the digger wanted to escape this monster's rampage, his big bro decided to go up and challenge the face in order to protect the village. The face mocked him as it thought the man was insane to challenge it, which was actually true for it wasn't just a face, it was a Gunman. Then, straight from above, was a woman carrying a rifle and firing the face. This woman was from Littner Village, Jeeha's neighbor village that was forced above ground by a group of Gunmen that attacked them. After failing to stop it, the digger took his bro and the woman down the tunnel where he found the face, which was actually smaller than the Gunman. With this, the digger and his bro decided to take that face and use it to take down the Gunman. Though they couldn't get it to start until the digger saw that same light coming from port on the control console, one the same shape as the drill. Seeing this, the digger placed the drill into the port and turned it, the whole face coming alive like a car's ignition."

"Thanks to the help of that face, the digger, his bro, and the woman were able to defeat the Gunman. The prize of their victory, the two bros were able to go straight to the surface and see its great majesty and its beautiful sky. The trio, who would be the first members of Team Gurren, each had their own names, each taking the name of the village they came from. The woman was known as Yoko Littner, the older brother would be known as Kamina Jeeha, and the little digger who now be the pilot of Lagann, the face that had helped them defeat the Gunman, went by the name Simon Jeeha."

"Wait, Simon Jeeha?" Ryūko asked before she finally realized it. "Don't tell me that's…"

"Yes, the digger…was Miko's dad!" I said, making her gasp in shock. "Though this isn't where the story ends." I then continued on with it. "From this, Team Gurren went on to free their home from the tyranny of the Beastmen and their Gunmen. With their journey's together, Team Gurren encountered many foes, but also made friends who would fight alongside them. And here's the thing: one of those friends," I said as I then motioned to Aunt Sukuyo, "was this woman sitting before us."

"Mom?! You're a part of Team Gurren?" Mako asked her mother as she and Matarō looked at her with shocked faces. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well, it was something from a long time ago and I wasn't sure if you kids were ready to know the truth." She told them. "Though I wasn't the only one. There was also your aunts and uncles along with my sister and Shinigami."

"Wait, Aunt Mikoto and Uncle Shinigami were members of Team Gurren too?" Mako said, getting even more shocked by this.

"Guess that explains why your parents taught you how to fight." Ryūko said, finally getting it.

"Yeah." I said to her. "Also, believe it or not, the Element Gang was a part of the team."

"Wait, the Element Gang?" Matarō asked, shocked to hear that. "The most badass superhero team in the world?"

"Yes, but not the same one." I answered him.

"What do you mean 'not the same one'?" he asked.

"I mean…the way the Element Gang works is like with the Guardian Dragons, having the job being passed down from one generation to the next." I said to him. "The one that worked with Team Gurren was the one before the current Element Gang right now."

"Oh. Still, that's freaking awesome!" Matarō said.

"Speaking of Element Gang, me and the guys actually met their kids, the current Element Gang." I said to my cousin.

"Really? That is so awesome!" Matarō said, eyes full of wonder.

"Wait, how did you guys meet the biggest heroes in the world? No offense." Ryūko said to me.

"None taken." I said to her. "And to answer your question… Well, actually, Sū's zing is actually a member of the team."

"Really?" Ryūko asked.

"Really." I said before I realized I was getting off topic there. "Any who, getting back to the story. With the way it was designed, the team decided to consider Lagann a Gunman. In Team Gurren's adventures, Kamina had managed to hijack one of the Gunmen, which he later named Gurren. Their victories soon dragged the attention of a Beastman commander by the name of Viral. In their battle with the Beastman and his Gunman, Simon and Kamina learned how to combine their Gunmen into a new one which Kamina named Gurren Lagann."

"'Crimson Face'? Really?" Ryūko asked, thinking it wasn't a catchy name.

"I know. It's not very original, but it managed to stick." I said before I continued with the story. "Anyway, with the power of Gurren Lagann, Team Gurren was able to face off and defeat the toughest Gunmen they came across. Though their toughest challenge was against the Gunman Armor army: a faction of the Gunmen where the Beastman soldiers wore special armor that was as powerful as a regular Gunman, increasing the wearers speed, strength, and agility. Nothing unlike that of the power of a Kamui. This army was led by an evil man by the name of Tatsuo Draxum. Though Team Gurren managed to get some help from a couple of heroes from the surface: me and my bros' dad Shinigami with his team of Guardian Dragons, the Element Gang at the time with their leader Jamey Frank, along with their allies which included our mom and Aunt Sukuyo. The two teams worked together and managed to create their own Gunman Armor, the first ones to work belong to the two leaders: Jamey and his armor Gurren Nova and my dad and his armor Sōru Lagann. By working together with Team Gurren, they managed to create Gunman Armors for the rest of the Element Gang and the Guardian Dragons along with their allies. With this, Team Gurren was no more. They had now become Team Dia-Gurren."

"Simon and Kamina's actions with Team Dia-Gurren were so great that it inspired all the underground villages, including Jeeha, rise up and join in the fight. They even stole some Gunmen to use as their own. Though the team was put to the test as they faced off against Thymilph the Crashing Wave, one of the Spiral King's four generals, and the fortress Gunman Dia-Gunzan. They managed to defeat Thymilph and take Dia-Gunzan, which they renamed Dia-Gurren, as their own. But…this came a great cost. In the battle, Kamina tried his hardest to help win the battle, but it was just too much for him. That day…Team Dia-Gurren lost something they could never replace. This was a major blow to the team, Simon the most. After losing Kamina, Simon lost his fighting spirit. Seemed like he wasn't gonna be the same again. That is until…one day, Lagann went berserk and took Simon to a canyon where he was surrounded by all these weird crates. The drill used for the Gunman led Simon to one specific crate. What was inside was a girl who went by the name Nia. That girl Simon found…was Miko's mother."

"Whoa! Seriously?" Mako said, shocked by this.

"What was she doing in a crate for?" Ryūko asked me.

"Disposal, an order from the Spiral King." I said. "The reason for that is because the Spiral King didn't want her, even though she was his daughter."

"Wait, you mean to tell me is that chick was related to the guy they've been fighting the whole time?" she asked.

"Yeah, but Lordgenome didn't want her at all." I said. "She didn't have any other family, so the team took her in. they became the family she never had. With her a part of the team, Simon regained his fighting spirit and took on the responsibility as leader of Team Dia-Gurren. With all of them together, the team managed to defeat the other three generals and Lordgenome, freeing their home from the tyranny of the Beastmen once and for all. Though the Spiral King left Simon with one last thing: he told him 'when the land fills with one million apes, the moon will become hell's messager and eliminate the world of the Spiral.' In other words, he meant that once humanity was made up of a million humans, something will happen that will destroy the entire Earth. 7 years after that, peace still remained and what was left of the Beastman capital became what we know now as Kamina City. Everybody from Team Dia-Gurren retired and started to live their normal lives. In this, Simon proposed to Nia and it wouldn't have been long until they would gotten married. But it all went to hell after the birth of a single child, which now made the Earth's population of humans over a million. With this, the team discovered a new threat to Earth: the Anti-Spirals, a race of beings who's goal was to prevent the growth of Spiral Energy."

"Spiral Energy? What's Spiral Energy?" Ryūko asked.

"Spiral Energy is a power that all living beings possess." I said as I explained. "It's what allows creatures of all kind to transcend and become stronger. Basically this was the power of evolution itself. Everyone haves it. Even you. This power is what keeps evolution going. How else do you think everybody on that team was able to fight in the first place or use those Gunmen?" I then went on to continue the story. "Now, as I was saying, the Anti-Spirals were trying to prevent that. Any planet they found that high concentrations of Spiral Power they would destroy to get rid of the energy. With this, it was revealed that Nia was actually Anti-Spiral herself, an observer who was made without a single clue she was an Anti-Spiral so she could monitor and collect information they can use to prevent the rise of Spiral Energy. With the population reaching a million, they activated the extermination system where the moon was set to crash into the Earth three weeks after. With that, Nia's job was done and the Anti-Spirals took her to collect everything she learned about the Spiral Energy on Earth. Later, the team found out that the Anti-Spirals feared Spiral Energy as they thought it would lead to end of the universe itself. Remember Lordgenome? Turned out he was part of a group that went against the Anti-Spirals, up until the Anti-Spirals tricked him into destroying his own comrades."

"With this, Lordgenome sought out to prevent the extinction of any Spiral race out there. Oppressing humanity like that prevented the system made to destroy the Earth from activating. To help him, he made the Beastmen, who couldn't use Spiral Energy at all, and have them drive humans underground. But, because the Beastmen were no more, the system had been activated. The team knew they had to stop it. Bringing all the members that were still able to fight back with them, they managed to stop the moon from crashing into Earth, found out the moon was a fake and was really Lordgenome's old ship the Cathedral Terra which they renamed the Super Galaxy Dia-Gurren, and managed to bring back the real moon. With all of that, Team Dai-Gurren set out to fight the Anti-Spirals. They managed to get on their home turf in a dimension the Anti-Spirals created for themselves and managed to save Nia. With their battle, they found out that the Anti-Spirals were once Spiral beings just like them. Just like us. But, due to their fear of Spiral Energy, they put themselves into some kind of stasis, becoming something that was able to warp reality itself. They then told the team why they feared the power of the Spiral. They believed that if Spiral Energy was not kept in check, the power would eventually consume everything and bring about the universe's destruction like a massive black hole, a disaster they called the Spiral Nemesis."

"So, by oppressing the Spiral Energy, they believed that it would prevent the Spiral Nemesis from happening. Though this didn't stop Team Dia-Gurren from trying to prove the Anti-Spirals and that the Spiral race could stop it from happening. With their determination, Dia-Gurren defeated the Anti-Spirals and freed the entire universe from their tyranny. In their defeat, the Anti-Spirals asked of Simon and the rest of Dia-Gurren to protect the universe at all costs. After that, the team returned home and Simon and Nia finally returned home. Though, in the end and amongst all they lost in their fight against the Anti-Spirals, they had lost one final life. Because the Anti-Spirals were no more, Nia could no longer live for she was their creation. She held out for as long as she could to where she could marry Simon, but by then she couldn't hold out anymore. After that, Simon passed on Lagann to a new pilot and left and never came back. In his absence, Team Dia-Gurren continued on and managed to reach to all the Spiral races out there so they could all work together to protect the universe, a duty that they continue to serve to this very day. Nobody from Kamina City had seen Simon since he left, but his legend lived on. He was now a hero, one who inspired others to follow in his footsteps, to fight for what's right, and protect the universe from all who threaten it."

"From these stories, like his brother the Mighty Kamina, he gained his own title as Simon the Digger."

"Whoa." Ryūko said, amazed by this. "So yours and her parents were old friends."

"Nia was such a sweet girl." Aunt Sukuyo said, remembering her old friends. "She was always willing to help whenever she could. And Simon was such a nice boy. Even though he wasn't much the bravest, he was still there to help anyone who needed it."

"Wait. If Nia died, then how did she have kids with Simon?" Mako asked, confused by this.

"Yes, I'm wandering that too." Aunt Sukuyo said. "How was she able to come back?"

"We don't know." I said as we really had no idea how Nia was able to come back like that. "We tried asking her when we met her, but Nia just dodged the question and told us it was a long story."

"Yeah. It's weird. Why not tell us how she cheated death and come back to life?" Chi said before looking to me. "Do you think it has something to do with what Miko told you in that fight?"

"Yeah, maybe." I said to my bro. "But I'm not really sure what they could've done to have her own them anything."

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Ryūko asked us. "What did that girl tell you?"

"While we were fighting with Miko this morning, she told that she was working with Satsuki because she didn't have a choice, that she wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the Kiryūins." I said. "But I don't really see how Miko and her family owe them anything. Especially after…" I then had a flashback on what Ragyō did to me back then still creeps me out whenever I think about it, that moment sending a chill up my spine. "Never mind. Point is, for as long as I've known them, the Kiryūins have done nothing that would make anybody owe them anything." I then remembered what Miko did for me there. "Though I have to say I owe Miko for helping me back there."

"What do you mean?" Ryūko asked as I realized she didn't know.

"Right, you weren't able to see it." I said to her before I explained what really happen. "We didn't beat Miko, she let us win."

"Wait, what?" Ryūko said, shocked by this.

"Yeah, I managed to get through to her and get to her to help us." I said, telling her what happened. "With everyone focused on Satsuki, she managed to toss me so I could stop that bitch and let Aisu toss her into the wall to make it look like she got beat. She actually helped us out when we needed her."

"Whoa! That's cool." Ryūko said, impressed by this.

I sat up straight, proud for my achievement. Thought I would be able to savor the moment until…

"So what did you tell her that got to her to help out?" she asked me, making me lose my posture.

"I uh…" I said as I tried to come up with an excuse to get out of this. The only reason Miko let me go was because I zinged with Ryūko, but I couldn't say that around everyone. Then I finally came up with the perfect excuse. "Hey, look at the time! We better get some sleep. With Satsuki in the possession of a Kamui and practically the whole school after us, things just got a little tougher for us."

"Roku is right." Aunt Sukuyo said. "You all had a pretty rough day today and you're gonna need all your energy for tomorrow. Now all of you off to bed."

"Yes, Aunt Sukuyo." My bros said as we all went off to get ready for bed.

"Come on, Matarō! It's bed time!" Barazō said as he and Matarō dashed out.

"Right, Dad!" Matarō said.

"You better be going to bed and not any peeping or else I'm gonna beat you two up, tie you up, and lock you in a closet!" I yelled, making sure they got the message to not spy on Ryūko while she's changing.

Later, after I got dressed, I stood in front of the door to keep my two perverted relatives from peeping on Ryūko changing. After a while, I decided to check on her.

"Ryūko? Ya decent?" I asked after I knocked on the door.

"Yeah, you can come in." she said and I walked right in seeing her in pajamas as she hung up Senketsu. She then turned to look at me. "You know, you don't have to keep guarding the door. I can take care of myself."

"I know, but I just can't stand some perverts having their way." I said to her. "Besides, you're my friend. And I'll do anything for a friend."

"Right." Ryūko said to me, looking away from me with a smile. Her smile faded when she spoke again. "Hey, Roku. I want to ask. Don't want to be weird or anything, but…did you…zing with anyone?"

I was shocked by her question. I've seen this in movies. When a girl you love asks you if you got a crush on anyone that you have the choice: tell her they're your crush, lie and say you don't, or leave her a hint on it. Lying was out of the question because a zing never lies. Seeing how it was just the two of us in this room, I closed the door behind me and I decided to do the other two options: first the hint to prepare her for the answer, then telling her she was my zing.

"Well, yes." I said to her, trying to be as confident as possible as my nerves we're starting to get the best of me. "But I just zinged after I got to Honnōji Academy. It was with someone beautiful, strong, and amazing."

"Who?" she asked as she turned to face me with eyes of curiosity.

I took a deep breath before I walked over to stand in front of her. This was it. Moment was perfect. Nothing could ruin it.

I looked at Ryūko in the eye and said "Ryūko, I…I…"

"Hey, guys!" Mako said as she came in dressed in her night gown, shocking both of us.

"Mako!" I said to my cousin for she ruined the moment. "You can't barge into a room like that!"

"Sorry, I was just coming here to get to bed and I heard you guys talking." Mako said as she then closed the door and got started to setting up her bed. "What were you guys talking about anyway?"

"Uh. Nothing." I sighed in depression as I lost my perfect moment. I then recollected myself and decided to head off to bed to avoid any more embarrassment. "Well…I should…probably head off to bed now. You girls have good sleep."

I turned to walked out to my room, but then…

"Wait!" Ryūko said as she grabbed my arm. I turned to her as she looked to the side. "Roku…would you mind…sleeping here?"

"Sleep here? With you and Mako?" I asked, still couldn't believe what she was saying. "But why?

"Please." She said to me as she looked with a grave expression, though I could see the pleading in her eyes. "Just this one night."

I wasn't sure what to think of this. Me and her in the same room together? I know we zinged, but that seems a little much. We weren't even dating yet. Plus, I've never been in a room with a girl before. I never had any sisters, only my brothers. This would be the first time I would be spending time in a girl's room. But Mako was gonna be here, so it won't be so embarrassing. Also…the way Ryūko was looking at me… Well… I found it to be…really… cute. The way her eyes were, I couldn't help but accept it.

"Okay, I'll sleep in your girls' room tonight." I said to her. "Let me just get my bed over here and we'll be set."

"Okay." She said to me as I then went off to get my bed.

Ryūko's view

After he left to get his bed, I really couldn't help but smile at the thought. Roku, sleeping in the same room as me. Don't know why, but I couldn't help feeling excited about it. I know I said I would focus on finding out who killed my dad, but I can't help thinking about him. Guess it was that zing thing he was talking about. Then I remembered something. Roku said that his aunt and uncle got together because they zinged and they're now married and have kids. Was that going to happen to us because of this zing? Could me and Roku actually…

"That was pretty nice of you, Ryūko." Mako said, breaking me out of that thought. I forgot that I was still sharing a room with her. "With Roku sleeping here, it's gonna be like a sleepover!"

"Yeah. I guess." I said, looking back at the door.

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

"Nothing." I told her, not even looking away from the door.

It was only a few minutes before she talked again.

"Ohhh! I know what it is!" she said to me. "You zinged with Roku, didn't ya?"

"W-w-what?!" I stuttered, shocked she figured it out as my cheeks started feeling hot. How could she tell? She didn't zing before. Was it really that obvious?

"You did! You totally did!" she said as she came right over to me.

"What? No. No, I didn't!" I told her, trying to get her to stop talking.

"You love Roku!" Mako said, still not giving up.

"No! No, I don't!" I said, still trying to get her to drop it. "Now knock it off!"

"Come on, admit it!" She said as she kept on going, really pushing her luck there. "You zinged with Roku and now you love him! Love, love, love, love!"

"Alright, fine!" I said as I just reached my limit and told her what she wanted to here. "Yes, I did…zing with Roku."

"I knew it! Aah!" Mako squealed in excitement. "I can't believe it! My cousin! My best friend! Ah! Roku's gonna be so happy once I tell him!"

"What? No, Mako, wait!" I said as I stopped her from telling Roku about the zing. "You can't tell Roku!"

"What? Why?" she asked me, confused by this.

"Because…because I don't want to lose him." I said, feeling depressed just thinking about Roku not loving me anymore.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I mean…if I tell him now, is he gonna like me back? I mean, look at me. I'm nothing but a punk and he's a prince. He wouldn't want to be someone like me."

"Ryūko, are you crazy? Of course he likes you!" Mako said, spazzing out like crazy again. "Look at you! You're really strong, you're pretty, you got a totally smoking hot bod! Big boobs, a great ass, and slender legs! My dad and little brother wouldn't peeping on ya if you didn't have all that! And Roku knows this because I know he's seen it all! I also know that you two are perfect for each other! A zing only happens once in your life, so Roku will love no one else but you! He's your zing! You're his zing! You both zinged! And nothing will change it! Got it?"

Okay, I only got parts of that. Guess she was saying that Roku wouldn't have anyone else but me to be his zing. Well…I want him to be my zing too. I mean, he's done so much for me. He's been able to help me this far and we do having things in common. He's also brave, kind, strong, and…also pretty cute.

"Okay, I get ya." I said to her as I smiled, accepting Roku as my zing. "But don't tell Roku or anyone else, okay? I want to do it myself."

"Got ya." Mako said as she winked and gave me a thumbs-up.

She might be the brightest and might be just plain crazy, but at least I got a friend to talk to about this.

Roku's view

After I got to my room, I got to work on rolling up my bed and moving it over to Ryūko and Mako's room, I told Sōru what had happened and she was giving me a hard time. Though it wasn't the same kind of hard time as you think.

"So you chickened out on tell her you love her and now she's letting you sleep with her?" Sōru said to me in that coy voice of hers as she was on her hanger and I got my bed rolled up before using singing. "Sounds like someone thinks you're playing hard to get."

"Sōru, I'm just sleeping in her room and nothing more." I said as I knew what she was thinking. "We're not gonna be sharing a bed. I'm bringing my own. By the way, I did not chicken out. Mako just barged in and ruined the moment."

"So? It was just one person and it was your cousin, your girl cousin." She said to me in a normal voice. "I mean, seriously, she didn't ruin anything. That was your chance to finally say it!" she then switched back to her coy voice. "And she would've left once she saw you two getting it on."

"I told you, I'm just spending the night in there." I said to her. "Me and Ryūko will be sleeping in separate beds. I'll sleep there for tonight and be back to sleep here tomorrow night."

"If you say so." She casually said before she used her coy voice again and got that mischievous look in her eyes. "But you might not be into doing it, it doesn't mean that Ryūko isn't gonna try get some…" she then rolled up one of her sleeves to make a ring and started moving her other sleeve in and out of the ring.

I was shocked that she was doing that gesture. Where'd she learned it, I have no idea.

"God, Sōru!" I said as I felt my cheeks heat up. "Do you really have to be so perverting?"

"What? Just saying." She said as she stopped doing that gesture. "If I were you, I would be ravage that beautiful body. Squeezing those big boobs, spanking that luscious ass, tasting her sweet spit, licking her intoxicating…"

"And that kind of talk is why I'm leaving you here while I sleep with Ryūko and Mako." I told my Kamui as I opened the door to go and stepped out of my room to back to Ryūko and Mako's room.

"Oh, come on, Roku! At least take me to see Ryūko in her pjs." She pleaded as she hated being left alone like this. "You didn't let me see how sexy she looks in them!"

"Good night, Sōru." I said to as I closed the door behind me and went over to Ryūko and Mako's room.

After getting there, I set my bed on the floor and the three of us then got ready to close to sleep.

"Thanks for letting sleep here, girls." I said to Ryūko and Mako. "I kinda missed sharing a room with others."

"No problem. Glad to have you here." Ryūko said.

"Well, night, girls." I said as I then drifted off to sleep.

"Night, Roku!" Mako said as she went to sleep.

"Night." Ryūko said as she hit the hay too.

That night, as I slept, I had this weird dream.

It was peaceful. Me and my bros were back in Tokyo and I had Ryūko with me and I was showing Ryūko the amazing sights. It was pretty good for a while, but then in turned into a nightmare as three figures appeared. Two of them I recognized while the third was hidden under a cloak, wielding a Scissor Blade like Ryūko's with their malicious grin poking out of the hood's shadows. The other two were Satsuki and Harime, the former giving that damn glare while the other gave a smile just as malicious as the cloaked attacker's. They both went out attacking everything, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Me, my bros, and Ryūko went off to stop them, but we were defeated. Then, I watched out in horror as they dealt with my bros and Ryūko. One by one, my brothers were killed by Harime, cut to pieces along with their Kamuis by her whips. The mysterious figure then took Senketsu of Ryūko and, as the Kamui looked at them in absolute fear and no doubt pleading for his life, used the Scissor Blade to cut him to shreds right before they pinned Ryūko and stabbed her through the heart with that blade. I then watched as Satsuki came over to me and managed to rip Sōru off of me.

"No." my Kamui said out of fear. "Please, no. No. Nooo!"

"Soruketsu!" I yelled out after Satsuki sliced Sōru to shreds.

The Kiryūin then looked at me before grabbing me by the neck and holding me up. As I struggled to get away from her, she positioned her sword to where it would hit directly at my heart. Then, with one quick jab…

I shot my eyes open as that last action got me to wake up from that nightmare. I was gasping as that was the most terrifying nightmare of my life. But then, I began to wonder about it. I was able to understand why Harime was there with Satsuki and what it meant by those killed me and my friends as they both gave me chills up my spine. But…that guy in the cloak…that Scissor Blade… Was I dreaming about the doc's killer? Why would I be dreaming about that thieving bastard? I don't even know who killed the doc. And that cloak? What was that about? Harime and Satsuki being there? That was normal. That cloak dude? That was weird. I've had this kind of nightmare before. The first one was with Harime as she took my bros and killed them off one by one before finishing me and Sōru. The second was when Satsuki put on that Kamui and my Life Fibers reacted to its energy burst. This was the second time, both a Harime nightmare and a nightmare here in Honnō Town. Though I still couldn't figure out what the latest addition to the killing terrors. Even though it was a hard scratch that looked important, I decided to shrug it off and deal with it another time. Still had that deal with Satsuki. Starting today, me, Ryūko, and my bros will be facing off against the entire student council, starting with the clubs and their captains.

It's gonna be tough, but we'll get through it. We had to. For the sake of all our friends and family. I looked to the window and saw it was morning, about 4 in the morning. I knew because it was what it said on the alarm clock I got from Ais. Yeah, he packed this metal case with five alarm clocks so we don't end up late for the day. With this, I decided to get out of bed and get ready for today. Though, as I tried to get up, my chest felt a little heavier. For the moment, I thought it was Mayhem sleeping on me again, but I was proven wrong when I gently put my hand on what I thought was Mayhem as I was about to wake him up, but what I felt was skin, not fur. I heard a meow and looked to see that Mayhem was sleeping on Mako, who was fast asleep while my cat laid on her chest. The one thing I forgot to mention was that Mayhem followed me to Ryūko and Mako's room. He tends to worry when I'm not around him at night. He's been like that ever since I found him on the night his previous owner was killed by Draxum. But, if he was over there, then what was on my chest? That's when I looked and saw that it was Ryūko, still fast asleep and with her head on my chest. I looked over to see if she was in my bed with me. Luckily, she was just laying over the covers, on top of me. Though I couldn't stop wondering how this happened.

I soon found out when is saw the blanket that covered Ryūko lying next to her bed. Looked like Ryūko had been rolled around in her sleep and got out of bed to find a better spot to sleep, which happened to be me. This had to be a zing thing. I heard that people who zing and become close get this urge to share a bed with the one they zinged with, such as doing what Ryūko did. Though this was with Dragons and it was the scent of their zing that caused it. Being that close to their zing, the scent of them would be so strong that the Dragon would practically be lying on their zing while they sleep. That's what made it weird. Ryūko was human and, if she was actually like this, she should've been a little tired during the day. What would cause her to act like this? Though I found it a little flattering, but it was also embarrassing with this situation. I could see her in those skin-tight pajamas and the way she was lying left a little certain gap back there. From being this close, I saw that Ryūko was a D-cup. Don't ask how I know that. It's a really long story involving a bunch of crazy fan girls. Though it made me really uncomfortable, I was less tense when I looked at Ryūko's sleeping face as my hand cupped her cheek. So peaceful. So…beautiful. And the way she smiled when she nuzzled my hand? It was so cute.

Seeing all that, I decided to lie there until Ryūko waked up. It wasn't very long as the school siren sounded and it woke her up. With this, I decided to remove my hand from her face so I didn't scare her.

"Mm… Huh?" Ryūko groaned as she lifted her head up and opened her eyes.

"Um…" I said to her with smile, my cheeks feeling hot as I was a little nervous on what to say to her. "M-morning…Ryūko."

"Aaah!" she yelled out as jumped off me and scurried away from me a bit with a blush on her face, no doubt shocked on what had happened.

Though we didn't have time to talk as Mako jumped out of bed, screaming. Her sitting up so quickly set Mayhem straight to the floor.

"Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!" Mako said as she went off in a panic, taking off her night gown right in front of me and Ryūko and tossing it at my face. "Ryūko! Roku! Hurry up and get dressed! We're gonna be late! We're gonna be late! We're gonna be late!"

"Geez! Calm down, Mako." Ryūko said as she turned to my cousin, getting to her feet. "It's like 4 in the morning."

"Actually, it's 3:53." I said as I got Mako's night gown off my face as I stood up. "But Ryūko's right. Calm down. You're spazzing out even more than usual."

After getting that gown off my face, I had to look away from my panicking cousin as she was getting dressed shirt first.

"Roku!" my bros yelled as they barged into the room, looking just as freaked out as Mako as they all spoke to me at the same time.

Wanting to figure out what got them all so worried, I decided to get to the bottom of it.

"Guys! Guys! One at a time!" I said as I got my brothers to calm down and stop talking. "What's wrong?"

"Roku…" Aisu said to me. "This morning, I woke up and found Fuyu gone along with my Scythe. At first, I thought it was some prank from Wu, but I searched his room and found out it wasn't him and that Arashi and his Kusari-fundo were gone. We went looking for you, but you weren't in your room. Also we found that your Tonfa and Sōru were gone too."

"What?!" I said, shocked by this. "Our weapons and our Kamuis are gone?!"

"All of our weapons and Kamuis are gone!" Wu yelled out. "We've been robbed!"

"Yeah. I woke up and my Gauntlets and Furea were gone!" Sū said in panic.

"I can't find Ishi or my Ōdachi anywhere!" chi said, just as worried as the others.

"Wait, if all our weapons were stolen, then…" I said as I looked at Ryūko, who I looked at as she gave a look of shock before running off to check to see if she was robbed too.

She looked around and found her weapons case.

"Whoo!" she sighed in relief as we all gathered around her and saw her Scissor Blade was still in its case before she closed it. "My Scissor is still here."

We all sighed in relief there. At least we still had one anti-Life Fiber weapon with us.

"Uh…guys?" Wu said as we all looked at him as he pointed to the dresser with a look of worry.

We all then looked and saw wha made him so worried. There, laid a lone hanger, the one used for Senketsu. Whoever robbed us didn't take the Scissor Blade, but Senketsu along with the rest of the Kamuis.

"They took Senketsu!" I said as my bros and Ryūko screamed in shock.

"What are you standing around for?" Mako said as she was eating breakfast while running around the house in a panic after finally getting dressed in her uniform. "Hurry up and get dressed! We need to get to school now!"

"I think that's the least of our problems, Mako." I said to her. "If you haven't noticed, we don't have uniforms!"

"Help me!" a voice yelled, one only Ryūko could hear. "Ryūko! Heeeeelp!

"Senketsu?" Ryūko said as we all looked at her as she looked around.

Then the sound of some girls screaming came around and me and my brothers began looking around, knowing those screams anywhere. Those were me and my bros' Kamuis. Even Mako stopped as she began looking around too as we heard them talking.

"No!" Sōru yelled out, her voice coming from above us. "Please! Anything but that!"

"Sōru!" I yelled out as the Kamuis spoke out in fright.

"It's coming from upstairs!" Ais said, before we all went running upstairs to see what was happening, Mako following behind.

We followed the screams to a room. Whatever was happening to them, it was intense. What sick and twisted torture could this bastard thief be putting them through.

"Okay, on 3." I said as we got ready to bust through the door. "1… 2… 3!" With that, the six of us Kamui wearers barged right into the room. "Alright, hand over the Kamuis or…" I gasped as I saw a terrible sight.

Me, my bros, and Ryūko were horrified to see…Senketsu being grinded against a wash board in a water-filled wash tub! The one who was washing him was…Aunt Sukuyo.

"Help me! I'm being murdered!" Senketsu yelled out as soap suds covered him.

"Sen-Senketsu!" Ryūko yelled, no doubt worried about her Kamui.

"Oh, good morning, kids. I hoped you slept well." Aunt Sukuyo said to us as she saw us right in front of her before speaking to her daughter. "Mako, I have your lunch all packed up and waiting in the kitchen. I also made some for the rest of you too."

"Sukuyo, please! You can't do this!" Sōru pleaded with her as we turned to see.

"Now, now, Soruketsu." My aunt said to her in that friendly manner of hers, oblivious to Sōru's plead. "You know I cannot let any of you go until you're clean and ready for today."

"Madam, you don't understand!" Fuyu said, trying to reason with her.

"Yeah, you can't wash us!" Ishi said, supporting Fuyu.

"I'm completely fine!" Furea said, trying to get off her hanger. "So let me off this thing!"

"No! I'm too young to be washed!" Arashi yelled out in horror.

"Come on, girls." Aunt Sukuyo said to them as she pulled a dripping went and probably traumatized Senketsu out of the tub. "A little soap and water never hurt anybody."

"Aunt Sukuyo! Unhand that Kamui!" I yelled out as I took Senketsu from her. "Senketsu, sorry about this." I then wringed him out to get rid of the water that was still on him. I then unwrapped him and flapped him a few times to completely dry him off before put him on the floor. No doubt he was groaning to recover as he was having trouble opening his eye completely. Since I couldn't understand him, I then asked the only person who could understand him to make sure he was okay. "Ryūko, is he okay?"

"Senketsu?" Ryūko asked her Kamui as she sat beside him.

"I'll be alright, Ryūko. Tell Roku I said thanks." Senketsu said to her.

"He's alright. And he says thanks for saving him." Ryūko said to me.

"I'm just glad I got here in time before it got any worse." I said in relief.

"Roku! Damsel in distress here!" Sōru yelled out as I looked back and saw my aunt getting ready to wash her.

"Soruketsu!" I yelled out as I then dashed over and grabbed Sōru. I then looked at my aunt as she looked at me with confusion and my bros got their Kamuis and went over to Ryūko. "Aunt Sukuyo, what are you doing?"

"I was just giving Soruketsu and the other uniforms a little scrubbing for good measures." She said to me. "I didn't notice how filthy they were."

"I guess you're right. It has been a while since Sōru and the girls got a proper cleaning and Senketsu hadn't been cleaned since we found him." I said, seeing how it made sense. "I appreciate the thought, but I think me and the others can handle cleaning our Kamuis."

"No, you won't!" Aunt Sukuyo as she got up and stood in front of me, looking angry and actually scary. "Listen here, young man! You are a student. And what is your job? To get educated." I started backing away as she kept on getting closer, still glaring at me. "I am a mom. What's my job? To do the laundry." As I got to the others, I tripped and ended up scurrying over to them as we were all now afraid of Aunt Sukuyo as she stood in front of us. "That goes for the rest of you too. You live in under my roof, which means you follow my rules. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am." The six of us nodded in fear.

The reason we were scared of her was because we've never seen this side of her. That glare she gave us was just like my mom's when she scolded me and my bros. Man, who knew Aunt Sukuyo could be so scary.

"But…if I can just say something." I said as she looked at me. "You can't clean a Kamui by washing it." I then got back up on my feet as I explained. "Kamuis are made with a different fabric than normal clothes, one that doesn't blend well with water."

"Really?" she said, surprised by this.

"He's right." Sōru said, supporting me. "He usually uses water to wash me as a punishment. And I'm pretty sure you traumatized Senny there."

"Senny?" I asked my Kamui.

"Yeah, that's my nickname for him." she said as she explained. "Short and cute, just like him."

"Okay." I said, a little weirded out by that before getting back on topic with my aunt. "Anyway, if you're going to be cleaning our Kamuis, I'm gonna have to show you how to do it. Do you have an ironing board?"

"Yes, why?" my aunt asked, curious about this.

After getting the ironing board along with the clothes iron, I set up at in the living room, put Senketsu on the board, and got ready to iron him. Though he was proving more difficult with this.

"Aah! Hold still, Senketsu!" I said to the Kamui as he struggled to get off the board. "It's just a little ironing."

"Get that thing away from me, you assassin!" Senketsu said before he looked at Ryūko with a look of fright. "Ryūko, help! He can't hear me! You're the only one who can understand me! Please, don't let him do this!"

"Okay, that's it!" I yelled as I had enough of his stubbornness before stamped the iron right on the Kamui.

"Aaaaah!" Senketsu yelled as he felt the iron slam on him.

"Senketsu!" Ryūko said as she about to come over and stop me, but Sōru stopped her.

With that, she was able to see what I was trying to do.

"There. Not isn't that better?" I said to Senketsu in a much calmer manner as I saw him relaxing into it.

"Ooooh! That feels nice." Senketsu moaned in pleasure as I ironed him. "I can feel the wrinkles just melting away. Ahhhh!"

"You see?" I said to my aunt as she was amazed by this. "The only way to clean a Kamui without hurt it is by ironing it. To them, it's like getting a massage." I then stopped and looked at my aunt. "Think you got it now?"

"Yes. I do." She said to me. "Sorry for trying to wash your uniforms. You've had them longer than I have. I should've asked before I tried to clean them."

"It's okay, Aunt Sukuyo." I said as I then moved over as she then went on to finish Senketsu. "At least now you know how to properly clean them."

"Right." she said in her usual tone before she started talking to Senketsu as she ironed him gently. "Okay, Senketsu. Let's get you cleaned up."

"Once you're done, I'm next!" Sōru said as she stepped up, ready to be ironed.

"No way! I'm next!" Furea said, shoving her aside.

"Brains before brawn." Fuyu said to Sū's Kamui.

"Yeah, so move over!" Arashi said, moving past the two.

"She said 'brains', genius." Ishi said to her. "Back of the line!"

"No way! I'm always the last one!" Arashi said, throwing a tantrum like a child. "I want to go first! I want to go first! I want to go first!"

"Not if you blow a fuse like that, you're not!" Sōru said to her before she and the other Kamuis then started fighting, which turns into a brawl.

Me and the others backed away as the Kamuis continued to fight, not wanting to get involved.

"Now, now, girls." Aunt Sukuyo said, trying to get them to calm down. "There's no need to fight. You'll all have your turn."

After a while of watching them, I turned and saw Ryūko looking at me, no doubt wondering on what's going on.

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "They like to be ironed."

"Well, I have everything covered here." Aunt Sukuyo said to us as we looked at her. "Now eat your breakfast and get to school."

"But I can't go to school without my uniform." Ryūko said in dismay.

"Don't bother." I said to her. "Aunt Sukuyo's not gonna give them up until they're all cleaned and Sōru and the others can't resist a good ironing. We'll just have to wait for them until she's done." I then decided to ask Aunt Sukuyo about me and my bros weapons. "Hey, Aunt Sukuyo, you didn't happen to clean our weapons or see them around, have you?"

"No, I don't think so." She said to me right before that damn siren went off.

"Aah!" Mako screamed out, surprising me, Ryūko, and my bros. "I totally forgot about today! Come on, guys! It's the big day!"

"Big day?" the six of us said at the same time as we didn't know what made today so different from any other day.

"Wait, is it really today?" Barazō asked his daughter.

"No way! It's your big day?" Matarō said with an excited look on his face as he popped out of nowhere.

"What are you guys talking about—Mm!" I said before Mako showed some toast into my mouth and did the same with the others. She also strapped Ryūko's weapon case on the gear-eyed girl. "There's your breakfast! Now let's go!" Mako then starting pushing us around to the stairs.

"But, Mako…" I said to my cousin as she kept shoving us and I got the toast out of my mouth and held it, "what about our Kamuis?"

"Hey, don't worry." Barazō said as he came over. "Once they're done, we'll get your uniforms to ya later."

"Yeah, you can count on us!" Matarō said with confidence.

"But we're not dressed yet!" I said to her as we reached the door with Ryūko, Chi, Sū, Ais, and Wu right behind me (exactly in that order) and Mako opened the door, us Kamui wearers finishing the toast we had.

"You guys are fine in your pjs! Let's go!" Mako said as she began pushing us out the door, but I stopped us by grabbing onto the door frame.

"Oh, no!" I said, against the idea of me walking around in those damn tight duck pants. "There's no way I'm going out there wearing these pants!"

"Come on, Roku!" Mako said as she started pushing harder, making things a little too close for comfort for Ryūko and my bros. luckily, it was less worse as my bros were seperated from Ryūko by her case. "We…have to…get…to school."

"Don't care! There's nothing that's gonna get me to… Wait." I said as I then realized something. "Ryūko? Are you back there?"

"Yeah." She said with a strained voice.

I then looked back and saw she was pressed hard against me. Seeing this, I could now feel her nipples and her boobs poking into my back. The shock of this was enough to make me lose grip and we fell to the ground like dominoes.

"Aah! Guys, get up! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Mako said, pulling all of us out the door and back on our feet before shoving us again, moving us to the street. "We've have to get to school now!"

"But, thanks to Roku and his girlfriend, everyone wants to kill us!" Chikyū said as Mako kept shoving.

"She's not…/I'm not…" me and Ryūko said at the same time before we all screamed as we tripped at the last set of stairs to the streets which had a bunch of No-Stars going through it.

When we landed, the other No-Stars coming around went around us like a flock of sheep. Luckily for us, it was only five stairs on that set.

"Oh!" I groaned out as I saw we were all in a dogpile with Mako on top. "Is everybody alright?"

"I'm okay." Mako said.

"I think I bruised a rib, but otherwise, okay." Chi said.

"I'm good." Wu said.

"I'm good." Ais said.

"Same here." Sū said.

"We're all fine, Roku." Ryūko said. "What about you?"

"I'm okay." I said before we all then got off of each other and back on our feet. "Okay, so—Whoa!"

I didn't even have enough time to talk as we were all swept up by the crowd of No-Stars like a wave. We all tried to fight through it, but the crowd was too strong. Seemed like we couldn't escape until…

Boom!

There was this huge explosion that got the No-Stars to stop. There I was able to find the others as we all gathered up and saw it was Sū with a pissed off look on his face.

"Okay, listen up, you idiots!" Sū yelled, talking to the No-Stars. "I've had a damn bad morning! So, here's what's gonna happen! Either you guys start helping us get to school or I'll kick all of your assess! Got it?!"

After that, some of the No-Stars went over to Sū, asking him how they could help. Sū asked Ryūko if he could borrow her case. I managed to get her to do so and he laid it down and told me, Ryūko, and Mako to get on. He then told some of the No-Stars to carry it with us on it to school. He then got a large piece of a floor and then told the other No-Stars to carry it while he and the rest of my bros rode on it. With this, the crowd started moving again as we were being carried to school. Though the students carrying my bros seemed to be having a little trouble with carrying Sū's muscle weight.

"Way to go, Sū." Chi said, thanking our brother for getting us some rides to school.

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Wu said to him.

"Hey, a guy's got to do what a guy's got to do." Sū said to them.

"What's with everyone?" Ryūko said to herself. "They're acting like a bunch of lemmings."

"That's an inaccurate term." Ais said, correcting her. "The term 'like lemmings' is only to be used for a group that does the same actions as someone else, no matter how idiotic, threatening, or dangerous they are. So really…"

"We get it, Ais." I said to get my brother to stop talking. "No need to be accurate."

"There's always a time to be accurate, Roku." Ais said.

"But Ryūko's right. What's with the sudden rush?" I said, just as confused as her. "I haven't seen this many No-Stars in the streets since I got here."

"That's because today's the day." Mako said.

"Everybody keeps saying that, but I have no idea what that even means." I said to my cousin. "What's today that makes it different from any other day?"

"Today's when the No-Stars of Honnōji Academy risk their lives to get to school." Mako said, explaining what was going on. "It's a day of reckoning. It's a day of death. It's…" she then stood up as looked down on us with a serious look on her face. "No Tardies Day!"

"No…Tardies Day?" I asked, just plain confused by what my cousin said.

"What the hell is that?" Ryūko asked, just as confused as I was.

CLASH!

As if right on cue, or somebody expecting it really, suddenly as things grew brighter, many of the packed in houses suddenly began moving as some kind of secret pathway opened up…and along with it, came this massive podium. On top of it was a familiar 3-Star giant accompanied by a few other students.

"A-HA-HA-HA! Do I detect some confusion, Ryūko Matoi? You as well, Roku Ryū?" The 3-Star yelled as things came to a pause with the student's arrival.

"This guy again." I groaned to myself, not really in the mood to hear from one of Satsuki's dogs.

"Bite us, Elite jerk!" Ryūko snapped at Gamagōri.

"My title is Chair of the Disciplinary Committee! And my name is Ira Gamagōri!"

懲戒委員長

[Disciplinary Committee Chair]

蟇郡苛

[Ira Gamagōri]

Just as he said that, he moved out of the way as a fireball came around and nearly hit him.

"Shut up, Mr. Discipline!" Sū said as me and the others joined him on some nearby pipes big enough for three people. "That was a little way of saying I don't give a shit about who you are!"

"Stand down, Sū. I'll take care of this." I said to my brother before speaking to the 3-Star. "What do you want, Gamagōri?"

"Well, if you must know, I am here to explain to you of the very importance of today." He said as Miko popped up from behind.

"Look! It's Miko!" I quietly said as we all looked to see her.

"Pay attention, new girl, you as well, sons of the Dragon King!" Gamagōri yelled, rendering things quiet again. "You are participating in No Tardies Day! Once every semester you will be required to run an obstacle course designed by the Disciplinary Committee! It begins at 4 AM, when the siren goes off in the slums! No Star students will then have to avoid the Disciplinary Committee's traps on the way to school! The objective is to make it to the academy by the time the first bell tolls at 8:30 AM! BUT…if you happen to be late you be expelled on the—WHAT THE HELL?! THOSE ARE NOT REGULATION UNIFORMS!"

"Finally noticed, huh?" Chi joked, earning a blast from me as my face went red and gritted my teeth. Ryūko was the same as we were both embarrassed by how we were dressed right now.

I know my bros wouldn't be much embarrassed with the way they looked. Ais was wearing violet and white vertical striped button-up pajamas, Chi wore this blue robe, Sū wore a white tank top and some shorts, and Wu wore these Hawaiian theme pattern pajamas. But, me and Ryūko…we were pretty embarrassed on what we got.

"B-But our Kamuis are still in the laundry! They're getting delivered!" Ryūko said, covering herself with her arms.

"Yeah, it's not like we have much of a choice! Do you really think Ryūko would go out wearing something that shows her panty line like that?" I said. Realizing what I saw, I managed to catch the kick Ryūko aimed at him as he tilted his head to the side. "Had that coming. Sorry, Ryūko. Just—boom!—popped into my head."

"Just keep your eyes up, dummy." Ryūko said as I let go of her foot.

"Hah! Spare the excuses! The evidence is clear! You left for school in slovenly outfits!" Gamagōri declared, Miko looking down at us with guilt in her eyes. "You're a disgrace to the academy and Lady Satsuki! IT'S A MORTAL INSULT!"

致死恥辱

[Mortal Insult]

"Blow it out your ass! The only insult I see is… Wait, where's Mako go?" I said as I saw that Mako was around and then he saw where she'd somehow ended up as I heard her voice.

"It is so not!" Mako said, now somehow on top of the podium and standing on the rails next to Gamagōri, who looked confused to see her there, while me, my bros, and Ryūko sat down with me and Ryūko just leaning on one hand as we were used to this. Miko was just as surprised Gamagōri as she stood in the back of the podium. "She was asleep till a minute ago! It's normal for people to wear pajamas when they sleep isn't it? It is and you know it, and you can't deny it! Maybe you don't know about pajamas, is that it? Don't you wear them when you sleep?"

"Yeah, me and Ryūko don't really have a choice in what we were to be right now." I called out, purely for the hell of it. "What's your excuse? You wear some kind of fancy pajamas to bed?"

"No, I sleep in the nude." he answered, causing all kinds of murmurs from the crowd.

Me and my bros were grossed out by this piece of news, I did hear a girl from the crowd say she thought it was hot. Something was wrong with that girl. Yeesh!

"Ugh!" I groaned out as I spoke to Gamagōri as I was completely grossed out that guy slept in the nude. "TMI, dude! TMI!"

"Who sleeps in the nude?" Chi said as the rest of our bros groaned as the five of us were grossed out by this.

"If you sleep like that you'll catch a cold!" Mako said as Ryūko yawned like this was nothing, my cousin yammered on. "What happens if there's an emergency and people need punishing?! You'd be at home in bed!"

"She does have a point there, Gamagōri." Miko said, flipping around her tessen. She got that back in Tokyo from Master Splinter.

"W-Well, that's…" Ira, surprisingly, looked downright beaten by Mako in this verbal exchange…which was odd to see considering Ira was more than twice the girl's size and towered over her immensely.

"From now on, please wear pajamas like everyone else!" Mako shouted.

"Did she just render Gamagōri speechless?" I asked, surprised to hear Gamagōri actually stutter.

"Guess that crazy apple didn't fall too far from its tree." Chi said, making the rest of our bros nod in agreement.

"No-Star, what's your name?" Gamagōri asked, Mako standing as tall as she could against the giant.

"My name is Mako Mankanshoku! And my jammies have Mount Fuji, two hawks, and three eggplants on them!" As Mako declared so, making me and my bros wonder how she was able to be so confident right now. I mean, I understand her standing up to a 2-Star for us, but this was a 3-Star and a member of the Elite Four.

"Mankanshoku. I'll remember that." Gamagōri said before turning back to me, Ryūko, and my bros. "MATOI! RYŪS! I've decided to overlook your choice in wardrobe for now! But I'm curious as to how you'll reach the school without your previous Kamuis! BEHOLD! THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE'S IMPREGNABLE BARRIER!"

And, with just a mere click of a button, more entire sections of the city began to move aside as paths popped out, each stretch leading to all kinds of weird and crazy obstacles along the way to the top of the school.

"My god!" I said as I was shocked to see it all.

"Am I the only one thinking this is completely crazy?" Wu said, just as shocked as I was.

"What are we looking at, Ais?" Chi asked Ais as our technical genius began examining the path to the academy with a pair of binoculars he managed to bring along.

"Let's sees. It appears the barrier is layered with drills, spikes, some tiger traps, acid pits, and…a ball trap?" Ais said as he told us what he saw.

"Seriously?" I said, couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Where do they even find the time for this?"

"It's like the whole city's become an amusement park!" Mako shouted. There, I noticed there was something taped onto her back.

"What the…?" I said as I then took it off her as looked it over.

"What is it, Roku?" Ryūko asked as she came over.

"It's note from Miko." I said before I started reading. "It says…"

Dear Roku,

If you're wondering where your weapons are, they're in Mikisugi's classroom. I took them while you and your brothers were asleep and placed them there for safe keeping. I'm sorry, but I only did this because you need to prove to Satsuki that you have what it takes to face her. If you can complete the course and make it to class on time, you might be able to impress her enough to make her hold up her side of the bargain you made. Same goes for you, Matoi. I let you keep your weapon because it will be enough for you to get through the barrier.

Good luck, you guys.

-Miko

"So it was Miko who took our weapons." I said, finally getting it.

"Seriously?" Sū said, not really getting what Miko meant. "Why would she do that?"

"Because she's right." I said as I explained. "So far, we've only shown the power of our weapons. We never really showed Kiryūin what we can do without them. This might be the only way we can prove ourselves worthy of the answer."

"But how are we gonna get up there before the first bell?" Wu said, feeling pretty hopeless about this. "We can't fly without our Kamuis!"

"Hey, come on, guys. Have a little faith." I said to my bros, trying to get their hopes up. "We fought The Foot, we dealt with the Purple Dragons, and faced off with all kinds of crazy mutants for 2 years. All that and we made it out alive. Even though we don't have our Kamuis or our weapons, we can still be able to get through this. It's just like Master Splinter's obstacle course. So what do you say? Are you with me?"

It was only a moment. Just when it looked like they were gonna drop out, I heard Chi say…

"Roku's right. We dealt with things worse than this. Our Kamuis might've helped us, but that doesn't mean we can't handle things on our own."

"Yeah. And we managed to take down every crook in Tokyo before we got those weapons." Sū said, his faith in himself and the rest of us now brought back. "We did it once, we can do it again."

"I know it's impossible…" Ais said before smiling. "But we've done the impossible before and we can do it again."

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Wu said, his hope regained.

"Then let's go!" I said as me and my bros punch our fists in the air.

"BWAAHHH!" Mako yelled as we all looked and saw her looking at her watch. "Do you see what time it is?! We've only got three hours until first period!"

"5:30?" I said, seeing we needed to get moving. "Then we better hurry to class!"

"Huh. The way he talked it up, I was expecting something scarier." Ryūko said, smirking up at Ira and all his fancy traps galore. "Alright then. I'm with you guys. I'm up for this!" She then drew out her Scissor Blade and pointed it at Gamagōri.

"Ya hear that, Gamagōri?" I said to the 3-Star. "We're gonna bust through all the lame traps you made!"

"We'll see." Gamagōri smugly said in reply, a wicked smile on his face. He then turned to the No-Stars and yelled "STUDENTS! YOUR COMMUTE BEGINS…NOW!"

And right on cue, the mob of students began rushing up the stairs to the paths of the barrier.

"Stay close to us, Mako!" I said to my cousin as we all ran up those stairs.

"Okay!" Mako said, though the run didn't last long as a press of the button caused the stairs to turn into a solid ramp instead, the crowd proceeding to slide down. The seven of us managed to dodge the trap as Aisu made a platform for me and the rest of our bros on the ramp. Ryūko managed to hang in there too by using her Scissor Blade to stop herself and grab Mako.

"Thanks, Ais." I said to my brainiac brother. "Man, they're not wasting any time on the traps."

"The hell?!" Ryūko shouted as we looked at her as she gave a look of shock.

"Hey, we're elementals, remember?" I told her.

"Oh, yeah." She said before she then widen her eyes. "Oh, I almost forgot. Roku…"

"Yeah?" I asked her, wondering what she wanted.

"What Wu said, is he telling the truth?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" I said to her, wondering why she asked that.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" she said to me with shock. "You can fly?!"

"I'm a Dragon, Ryūko." I said to her. "Flying's part of the whole package. It's the same with my bros, but we can't fly without our Kamuis."

"Well, then why didn't you flies up there before?" she asked.

"Because flying takes more blood out of me than just using our Kamuis themselves." I said to her. "We only use them for emergencies."

"Yeah, but still…" Ryūko said to me before Ais interrupted her.

"Can we talk about this later?" he said to us. "If we don't want to be expelled, we better hustle."

"Right. Sū, mind getting me up there?" I said to Sū as he gave a smirk.

The reason I asked that was because the ice was a little too unstable to do a jump off of. Don't want my bros sliding down there. Though I regretted asking Sū for that as he tossed me over there.

"Aah! Oof!" I yelled as I landed at the top of the ramp before looking back at Sū. "I meant gently!"

Just as I said that, Mako promptly came flying through the air and landed right on a button at the end of it, causing the screen behind it to light up. As Mako continued sitting on the button, I looked as I heard screaming and found Chi and Ais landing right in beside me.

"Guys! Perfect timing!" I said to them as I did need them right now. "Come on! Let's help Ryūko!"

With that, we then formed the Dragon Chain and Ais and Chi sent me down so I could grab Ryūko and pull her up. But…I didn't really think it through and grabbed her when I got to her. This ended up getting my face in her boobs…again. At least they were out bare like last time. As we were doing this, I managed to hear Sū and Wu get on top of the ramp.

"Roku! What the hell are you doing?" Ryūko said to me, no doubt embarrassed that I had my face in her chest again.

"Getting you out of this trap." I said to her, my mouth covered by her chest. "Get you Scissor Blade out of the ramp and let's get going!"

"Right!" she said as I then heard her remove her Scissor Blade from the ramp and my bros pulled us up. I then let go of Ryūko and we got up and joined my bros with standing with Mako as she was still sitting on the button.

"A-ha-ha-ha!" hearing Gamagōri again, we looked and saw the dude was riding the way up in a gondola, Miko nowhere in sight. Guess she scrammed and went back to the academy on her own. "Congratulations on clearing the first checkpoint. I forgot to mention, use of the No-Star cable cars is prohibited. Obey the rules and stick to the prescribed route! See you at the academy. Maybe."

"Don't you count us out yet, Gamagōri!" I said to him as the gondola went to the academy. "Me and my bros raced through the rooftops of Tokyo!"

"999 more traps to go? That's more than usual!" Mako said, surprised by this.

"Miko must've updated it to make it more difficult." Ais said, that theory making sense as she did take away our weapons and she did know about the power of the Kamuis.

"He's trying to psyche us out." Ryūko said, talking about Gamagōri. "Come on, guys!"

Ryūko took a step forward, though then immediately was bumped intoby somebody…who proceeded to give what I could only see as the worst fakedramatic fall before whining about the arm she had in a cast, guessing she hit it when she bumped into Ryūko.

"Look! It's our classmate, Maiko Ōgure!" Mako commented, making me remember her from one of my classes with my cuz.

大暮 麻衣子

[Maiko Ōgure]

"Hey, you're right." I said before speaking to Ōgure.

"Well, if it isn't Mankanshoku and Ryū." She said as she saw me and Mako.

"Ōgure, how did you get up here?" I asked her.

"I managed to jump before the trap was set." She said to me, giving off a dramatic performance, which somehow seemed familiar. "I tried to go on, but I ran right into another trap that broke my arm. I was lucky to have gotten to the medical tent around here."

I looked around and saw that there actually was a medical tent. At least the school was fair to help the students with their injuries.

"Yeesh!" I said, seeing the bad luck she got. "You barely got a quarter way through and you got a broken arm."

"Are you okay? Can you get up? Can you move?" Ryūko asked.

"It hurts a little, but I'll live." Ōgure said as she struggled to get up. "It's gonna take…a lot more…than this to…stop…me."

"Whoa! Take it easy!" I said as I caught her and helped her to her feet. "You're in no condition to go any further by yourself. You're gonna have to stick with us."

"Just leave me. I'll only slow you down. It's fine." She said with a reassuring smile. "I'll be okay."

"Well, she's got a point there." Ryūko said to me.

"Ryūko, look at her." I said as I motioned to Ōgure. "She just went through one of the traps and nearly lost her arm. She needs help if she's ever gonna be able to get school."

It was only a moment that she gave it a thought as she looked at Ōgure.

"Geez." Ryūko said before giving Ōgure a gentle smile. "Alright, you win." She then went over and slung Ōgure's good arm over her shoulders. "Hang on tight, okay? We'll all get to school together."

"Oh, thank you, Matoi." Ōgure said to her.

"Eh, no worries." Ryūko said. "You're a girl that doesn't give up and I gotta respect that."

"Because that's like you?" I said to Ryūko with a smug.

"Oh, shut up." She said with a laugh as she gave me a friendly push.

"Alright. Let's get moving!" I said as we continued on towards Honnōji Academy.

While we were walking, I stepped back so I could talk to Ais. The reason I did this was because I had this strange suspicion about Ōgure.

"Hey, Ais." I whispered to my bro so no one else could hear. "You got the feeling that there's something…off about Ōgure?"

"Yeah." Ais said to me in the same volume. "Seems awfully convenient that she was heading toward us the same time we were heading out."

"I know, right?" I said to him. "I can't help but feel that I've seen her before. Got a bad feeling about this."

"Should we tell the others?" Ais asked me.

"No." I said to him. "She's hasn't done anything to cause us trouble yet. Though we better keep an eye on her in case she tries to pull something. Satsuki said that the entire school would be after us, so we have to be careful on who we trust."

"Hey, guys, look!" Wu said as we all looked and saw the physics defying second obstacle that was a loop lined in, of course, spikes.

"Seriously?" Chi said, still couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Where do they get this stuff?"

After he repeated what I said earlier, I then said "I know, right? This is freakin' insane!"

"There's the second checkpoint!" Mako said, pointing to the button which was at the top of the loop. "How are we supposed to get up there?"

"I got this." Chi said as he got ready to run. "Watch the master of speed at work!"

"Chi, wait!" I said, but I was too late as he started running.

"Cowabunga!" he said as he ran up the loop.

Thought, when he was getting close to the middle, he suddenly stopped. We all looked and saw he was still running, but he was moving at all. It was when something hit my forehead and I wiped it off to find it was some kind of black grease. I went over to the track of the loop and swiped my finger on it, finding more of that stuff. With this, I realized what it was.

"Oil." I said as I figured out the trap. "The track is covered in oil!"

I then watched as Chi tried to get himself moving, but, after a while, he slipped and was sent sliding down the loop and crashed right into us. As we all recovered, we all saw the situation we were in. The checkpoint was all the way up at the top and we couldn't run on the track because of the oil.

"Great, what do we do now?" Sū asked as I tried to think of a way to get up there.

"Oh, ho-ho, we're so screwed." Ryūko said. "This would be a piece of cake if I had Senketsu."

No one's view

In the streets of Honnō Town, Barazō, Matarō, Guts, and the Kamuis were riding in a truck.

"Coming through!" Barazō yelled as he drove like a maniac through the streets. "I got a family house call! So unless you want a car up your ass, move out of the way, man!"

"Whoa-ho! That's Ryūko and the guys up there!" Matarō said, seeing the Kamui wearers, Maiko, and Mako climbing up the loop from the spikes.

Roku's view

With climbing the loop, I had Wu carry Ryūko's weapons case and Sū to carry Mako. Though I volunteered to carry Ōgure, Ryūko refused and said she would carry her. Not being able to change her mind, I let her. Though climbing this thing was hard.

"Geez!" I said as I hung onto spike after getting pass the middle of the loop. "This is harder than it looks."

"Oh, I can't hold in any longer." Ōgure said as hung onto Ryūko's waist.

"Hang on, Maiko. We're almost there." Ryūko said to her. "Don't let go, okay?"

"Hey!" I heard a voice as we all looked and saw a truck bust through a house roof and start driving on the roofs. I saw Barazō was driving the truck with Matarō in the back and Guts in the passenger seat. "Your uniforms are here and ready to go!"

"Oh, great! Perfect timing!" I said to him. "Tossed them over here and we'll…"

"That's it! I can't hold on any longer!" Ōgure said as she let go of Ryūko.

"Ōgure!" I said as she started to fall, but my worry disappear when I saw her grab the back of Ryūko's pants.

Her weight with grabbing them actually pulled Ryūko's pants down, revealing her blue striped panties.

Aisu's view

"No! Grab something else!" Ryūko said as she was hit with a blush as she tried to pull her pants back up. "Anything else!"

I understood that Ōgure was trying to grab onto something else, I just wish it wasn't something that would give me an eyesore.

"Oh-ho!" I heard Roku groan as I saw him let go of his spike and start falling backwards.

"Roku!" I yelled as he was beginning to fall.

"Don't worry, bro! I got you!" Sū said as he caught Roku by the leg.

"What happened to Roku?" Mako said as she hung onto Sū.

I took a look at my brother and saw that he was unconscious and had a nosebleed. Guess seeing Ryūko's panties like that caused that nosebleed and knocked him out.

"Roku! Are you okay?" Ryūko said as we all looked and saw her looking at Roku with concern.

"He's fine, just knocked out." I said to her.

Ryūko's view

Knocked out? I thought to myself. What knocked him out? When I looked and saw the blood trails coming from his nose. That's when I realized it. I remembered that time I let him see me naked, he covered his mouth and there was this red stuff coming out from between his fingers. He must've covered his mouth because he was having a nosebleed. Did he see my panties and got a nosebleed? God. Now I got a chick with a busted arm and a knocked out Dragon to deal with. Could it get any worse? It then got worse as I looked and watched Roku's shirt slip down, revealing what he was hiding underneath. It wasn't much but I saw his…abs. he had rock hard abs hiding under his shirt. From that, I actually felt a little blood flowing from my nose.

Aisu's view

Well, this was fantastic. Now we had a girl with an injured arm and Roku was knocked out. Could it get any worse? I had to say it as it actually did get worse. Hearing some strange panting, I looked and saw Uncle Barazō, Matarō, and Guts looking forward with nosebleeds of their own. Had no doubt they were looking at Ryūko's panties as they were smiling and blushing. We all watched as they drove past us and right off the roof, crashing the truck in the street.

"Shit!" I yelled out as we now lost our Kamuis.

Soruketsu's view

Thanks to that alluring view, Barazō drove off the rooftops and sent the truck crashing into the street.

"Seriously?" Furea said as the truck rolled around on the street, talking to Barazō. "Watch where you're going when you're driving, you asshole!"

The truck finally stopped rolling as it hit a telephone pole and it was now upside down. I got up as I recovered.

"Oh!" I groaned out, feeling like I just got wash, put through a wringer, and then used as a punching bag. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm okay. Luckily, Guts broke my fall." Ishi said as she laid on Guts, who was still awake.

"I'm okay too." Furea said.

"I'm good." Arashi said.

"I'm good." Fuyu said before she started looking around. "Wait, where's Senketsu?"

Seeing that Senny hadn't showed his face, we all then went looking around for him. After a while, I felt something touch my collar. I looked up and found Senny.

"Found him!" I said as I got my fellow Kamuis attention. "He's still in a seatbelt." I then looked to Senny as my fellow Kamuis gathered around. "Really stuck there, huh, Senny?"

Though I couldn't really understand him and he couldn't understand me, it was nice seeing his expressions with his eye. He scowled at me as he no doubt saw the smug look in my eyes.

We then heard some footsteps and looked at the door to see Matarō there.

"You guys alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." I said, my fellow Kamuis and Guts agreeing with me.

We then heard some groan and looked to see Barazō unconscious with blood coming from his forehead.

"Dad!" Matarō said with concern as Fuyu went on to check on him. "Is he…?"

"No, he's alive. Just knocked out." Fuyu said to Matarō.

"Great! Just great!" Furea said as we got out of the truck and Matarō helped Senny out of the seatbelt. "Now how are we supposed to get the others?"

"Don't worry, I'll get you there!" Matarō said before he pointed to his left and we saw a bike with a seat basket and a front basket. "Look, I found this bike lying around. I'll use it to get you to Ryūko and the guys."

"Then let's get going!" I said as we all got on the bike and headed off to catch up with the Roku and the others somewhere along this crazy track.

"Hang on, guys! I'm coming!" Matarō yelled as we rode off.

Roku's view

When I woke up, I saw I was still in the barrier, but had no idea where in the barrier I was.

"Huh? Where am I?" I asked myself before huge log went right pass my face, nearly hitting me. It was enough to catch me by surprise and make me scream.

"See you're finally awake." Sū said as I looked to see he was carrying me on his shoulder.

"Sū?" I said to him as I then saw the others running in front of him. I saw that they were running through a gauntlet of these swinging logs. "What happened? Where are we?"

"In another one of the barrier's traps." Sū said to me as he explained. "You blacked out at last trap, so I'm carrying you until you recover."

"Well, thanks." I said to him. "But I think I can handle myself right now."

I then jumped off of Sū and went off to join the others in running. I then remembered what happened just before I blacked out and saw I had a nosebleed on my face. I quickly wiped it off and continued running to keep up with the others.

The next trap was a log over a vat of acid. We were getting ahead until Ōgure stopped when she felt a twinge in her arm, which didn't make any sense as it was barely moving, and stopped, making Mako, Sū, and Wu stop behind her.

"Hey, don't stop!" I said as the rest of us went over to them right before the log broke and we all fell into the vat. Luckily, there were some stuff me, my bros, and Ryūko could use as platforms over the acid.

That was weird. Why did Ōgure stop like that for? She could've gotten herself killed. This wasn't the last time she nearly killed us. In one part of the barrier, a large metal ball came out of nowhere and was rolling right at us. We ran as fast as we could to escape it, but it kept getting closer. That's when I got an idea to escape it. I then told Chi and Wu to grab Mako as I took Ryūko and me and my bros jumped over and landed on top of the ball. After a little while, we jumped right off behind it and let the ball continue on the rest of the way down the track. Boy, were those No-Stars down there in for a surprise. With that, we then kept going towards the school.

A while after that and going through a few more traps, we were just walking along when…

"Ooh! Swiss cheese!" Mako said as we all looked and saw a trail of cheese, which she followed like a little mouse. "Cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese!"

"Mako, no! Look out!" I said as I then pushed Mako out of the way after she reached the end of the trail which led to a basket held up by a stick which was an old deadfall hunting trap. I did that because I thought it was gonna be some kind of guillotine or something, but I was wrong as I saw something else inside. "What the…? A cake?"

After seeing it was harmless, I tried to get up but realized I tripped the trap when I pushed Mako out of the way. The basket fell on me, pushing that cake right in my face. I then got up with basket on my and walked over to the others and Mako rejoined them. After getting in front of them, the basket slid off, showing my cake covered face. After that, I wiped the cake from my eyes and saw Ryūko and my bros laughing at me as I had cake on my face.

"A cake to the face!" chi said as he kept on laughing. "Classic!"

"Can I lick your face, Roku?" Mako asked me.

"No." I said before shaking the cake off my face, not really finding this joke trap funny. "Okay, I hope the joker who set this up gets what's coming to him!"

After that and a few more traps, we got to an alligator pit with stone pillars placed over it. We were actually doing pretty good. Sū, Chi, Wu, and Mako made to the other side. Me, Ais, and Ryūko stayed behind to make sure Ōgure got to the other side.

"I got ya!" I said as I reached to grab Ōgure after she jumped to the next pillar and lost her balance. When I went over, she moved out of the way and regained her balance and I fell off the pillar and straight into the pit. "Whoa!"

"Rock those crocs, Roku!" Mako cheered as I began fighting the alligators.

"Actually, Mako, those are alligators, not crocodiles." Ais said, correcting her. "Crocodiles have a V-shaped snout while alligators…"

"Shut up, Aisu!" Ryūko said to him, not really in the mood to hear him talk like that.

"Geez!" I said as I fought those gators. "I could really use Sōru right now!"

Soruketsu's view

Back with us, we were still going through the streets on the bike, looking for Roku and the others.

"I'm coming, guys!" Matarō said as he kept on pedaling.

"Whoa! Speak of the devil, there's Roku and the others!" I said as I saw them on a rope swing with a floor of spikes below. "Step on it, Matarō!"

"You got it!" Matarō said as he then got off the road and got to the nearby roofs, heading straight for the others.

Roku's view

After escaping that pit, we then got to the next trap: a rope swing…over spikes. Seriously, what the hell is up with the spike?

Most of us made it over. We were just waiting on Ōgure.

"Okay, Ōgure! You ready?" I said as Ōgure was still on the other side, holding on to the rope.

"Um…I'm not sure I can do this!" she said to us, nervously. "You go on without me! I'm just slowing you down!"

"Come on, Ōgure! It's easy!" I said to her, trying to encourage her to swing over. "Just take a deep breath and swing! Ryūko will be here to catch you!"

"Hey, Roku!" I heard a familiar voice said as we all looked down and saw Matarō riding a bike with Guts in a basket in the front, most of the Kamuis hanging onto him, and two of them in the basket. "I'm here! I got your Kamuis!"

"Way to go, kid!" I said to him, glad to finally have my Kamui back. "Toss Sōru and the others over! We'll take things from…"

"Okay, here I go!" Just when Matarō was getting closer, Ōgure swung her way over. Though she let go of the rope too early and she fell short.

"Oh, no." I said, worried she wasn't gonna make it.

"Grab on! Aah!" Ryūko said as she put her hand out for Ōgure to catch, but Ōgure then started failing her arm out, missing Ryūko's hand and instead grabbing her pants, repeating what happened at the loop, this time Ōgure dragging Ryūko down with her.

"Ryūko!" I said as I went in and grabbed her as she lost her grip on of the spikes she was holding. I would've fell with them too if it wasn't for my bros.

"Thanks, Roku." Ryūko said as she smiled at me.

"No problem." I said, returning the smile.

We then heard groaning and looked to see that Matarō and Guts had gotten nosebleeds, no doubt from seeing Ryūko's panties again.

"Matarō, watch where you're going!" Sōru said before Matarō rode that bike right off the roof and into an alley.

"Matarō! Sōru!" I said, concerned for what happened to them for talking to my bros. "Guys, pull us up!"

After getting up (along with me getting a little nosebleed from seeing Ryūko's panties again without blacking out again), Ryūko pulled her pants back up and, after helping them back to their feet, we kept on going towards the academy. Though, as we walked, I began thinking on the way Ōgure's been acting. First, Ōgure shows up and bumps into Ryūko just as we just got done with the first trap, then she nearly gets us dumped in acid by stopping right in the middle of the trap, then she loses her balance on the pillars and only got it back when I tried to help her and get myself in the alligator pit, and now she's pulled Ryūko's pants down twice. The last part was the strange part. The first time was on the loop and she let go of Ryūko and grabbed onto her pants just as Barazō and Matarō came around and right now when Matarō came around, both times with them bringing Sōru and the other Kamuis. And she also only swung on that rope right when Matarō showed up and let go of the rope early enough for her to fall like that. Was she doing this on purpose? After we were done with this barrier, I was gonna find out.

Soruketsu's view

After falling off that roof, Matarō ended up going down that alley, which apparently was a bunch of stairs back to the same road we were on before getting on the roof in the first. Luckily, me and the other Kamuis managed to recover. So did Guts.

"Doesn't anyone watch where they're going around here?!" Furea said, pissed off that we crashed again.

"How's Matarō doing?" I asked Fuyu, who was checking Matarō as he wasn't moving and had some blood dripping down his forehead.

"He's okay. He's just knocked out like his dad." She said to me.

"Well, looks like Guts is the only one left to take us." I said, knowing that Guts was the only option left to get anywhere and before I got on the dog and looked to the others. "Come on, guys! We're riding dog-back our way to the academy!"

"Really?" Furea said, giving me a questioning look. "A dog is gonna take us all the way up there?"

"You got a better idea?" I asked her.

"Uh!" she grunted as she saw we didn't have much of a choice here. "Okay, fine."

With that, the others then got on, each of them hold onto to me and each other as we got ready to ride. Though I then realized that there wasn't enough room for Senny to ride of Guts back.

"Oh, right." I said as I saw Senny just standing there. "Guts, mind getting Senketsu?"

Guts barked before he went over and grabbed Senny with his mouth.

"Ow! That hurts!" he said as Guts held him in his mouth. "Don't bite so hard, you vile hellhound!"

"Alright, let's go!" I said as we were all ready to go. "Ride like the wind, Guts! Hiyah!"

With that, Guts began running as fast as he could through the streets, taking us straight to the academy.

Roku's view

Back with us, we finally reach the last stretch to the 1-Star District, though we were all pretty tired from all those traps here in the No-Star District.

"What time is it?" Ryūko asked as we tried to catch our breath.

"It's eight." Ōgure said now sounding hopeless.

"Seriously?" Sū said, seeing what that meant. "That only gives us 30 minutes!"

"Sū's right." chi said, feeling just as hopeless as Ōgure. "We just got to the 1-Star District. We won't be able to make it in time."

"I'm afraid that is correct." Ais said as he started doing the math. "At this rate, we'll only arrive by third period."

"Oh, I wish we had our Kamuis!" Wu groaned in frustration.

"This is hopeless!" I said as I was more than ready to give up. "We'll never make it in time!"

"But we can't quit now!" Mako said, trying to get us to keep going. "If we don't get up there, I won't be able to go to school anymore!"

"Unless we find a way to get up there before the first bell, we're all gonna be expelled from the academy." I said to my cousin as she didn't really do anything to get our spirits back up.

"Hey, guys! Look!" Wu said as he pointed down somewhere below.

We looked to where he was pointing and saw a group of No-Stars hanging around in some field with one of them stand on a pile of girders holding a book while the others just sat on the grass. Made it look like some kind of religious meeting.

"Well, that's strange." Ais said, which we all agreed to.

"There's a bunch of No-Stars down there." Sū said.

"What are they doing?" I asked, seeing if Mako or Ōgure knew what was going on down there.

"Pseudo Homeroom." Ōgure answered.

"Pseudo Homeroom?" I asked her.

"Yes." She said as I watched as the group of students began raising and lowering their hands one by one. "It's where all the kids who gave up trying to make it to school gather."

"But, if they gave up, why aren't they going home?" I asked.

"Because they can't face the reality that they'll be kicked out of school and their homes tomorrow." she said. "So they sit there like zombies and take roll call."

"Those poor bastards." Ryūko said, looking at those No-Stars down there.

"Kicked out of their homes?" I asked, not really getting what she was saying. "What are talking about? They might not be attending school anymore, but they still get to live in the city, right?"

"I wish that was the case, but it isn't. You're only allowed to stay in the city if you're student enrolled in Honnōji Academy. If you're expelled, you have to leave immediately."

"So that's why everybody was trying to get to school on time. And why they can't fight back." I finally realized what had this whole city doing anything that Kiryūin says. "If they try to resist the system, they'll lose their homes. But…that's not fair. They shouldn't be kicked to curb if they're not in school here."

"That might be where you're from, but not here at Honnōji Academy."

"I can't stand it!" I said as I got back on my feet before speaking to the others. "Guys, get up!"

"What? Why?" Sū asked me, just as confused as the rest of our bros.

"Because Mako's right." I said as I explained. "We have to get up there! If we don't then everything we worked for will be for nothing. Not only that, but this city is in trouble and it's up to us to save it. There are people down there that are suffering. Friends and families, struggling to survive. All of them are hardworking citizens with blood-sucking tax collectors. They've earned their right to stay in this city. This is injustice incarnate! All of this pain and those up there don't even give a damn about it. We can't just lie around and let this happen."

"But we've barely gotten to the 1-Star District." Chi said to me. "Who knows what kinds of traps they got there. Without our weapons or our Kamuis, we'll never make it on time! We're so screwed."

"Guys, we've faced tougher things that this." I said to my bros. "We faced off against The Foot, dealt with the Purple Dragons, and faced off a whole bunch of crazy mutants, including the Super Shredder. We can do this! We can do this! Just don't give up without a fight!" with that, I then decided to see if they got their will back. "So what do you say? Are you with me?"

It was only moment as they thought about until they got back on their feet with smiles of determination and nodded. We all then looked to Ryūko for her answer. It was only a moment until…

"Oh, what the hell?" Ryūko said before she got back on her feet, giving me the same smile as my bros. "Alright. I'm with ya." She then put her up to me. "Let's do it, Roku!"

I returned the smile before using my own hand to grip hers, showing her that I was grateful that were willing to go on.

"Yay!" Mako cheered as she and Ōgure stood up, both of them giving us smiles.

This last for a moment until…

Boom!

There was this huge explosion that came from the 1-Star District.

"What the hell was that?" Sū asked, wondering just like the rest of us.

"Ais?" I asked my brainiac bro as he checked over the 1-Star District with the binoculars.

"Okay." He said as he looked around the area over there. "Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Wait!" He then tried to look more carefully at one spot. "I think I see a school bus going by."

"Let me see." I said as he gave me the binoculars and I looked to see he was right. "Hey, you're right! It is a school bus!" then I saw some explosions coming up from the ground as the bus kept going, moving very slowly. With all that, I finally realized what the explosion was. "And there's minefield. Great. That bus isn't gonna last long."

"Don't worry. It'll take it." Ōgure said as I lowered the binoculars to look at her. "It's armor plated. That's 1-Star privileges for ya."

"Armor plated?" I said, couldn't believe the stuff this cities got. "Where the hell do they get this stuff?"

"It's passing the checkpoint!" Mako said after she took the binoculars and took a look at the bus. "Oh, man! They got it so easy." She then whining like a little kid. "I wanna ride in it too! I wanna! I wanna! I wanna!"

That's when I got a good idea. Why not ride it up to the academy? By the look of it, I saw it would be fast enough for us to get there. And with that armor plating, it would be perfect to get through the 2-Star and 3-Star Districts.

"We could use a ride." I said as I hatched an idea. "By the looks of those condos, it might be tougher getting through there." I then looked at my bros, who had the smile I had. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

They all nodded to say they did have the same idea. And I figured out how to get that bus to stop.

"Hey, Ōgure." I said to the injured No-Star as she looked at me. "I think I found a way you can be able to help us out on this one."

With that, we set our plan in motion. We would have Ōgure jump right in front of the bus, pretending to be badly damaged and get the driver to come out and check on her. With the driver distracted, we can sneak over to the bus, knock out the driver, get Ōgure, and ride it all the way to the academy.

Though, after Ōgure got in front of the bus, the driver had a different reaction to this.

"Damn it! Get out of the way, No-Star!" the 1-Star driver said to Ōgure after he stopped the bus and got out, acting like a total asshole. While he was distracted with his ranting, I decided to make a change to the plan and sneak up behind him. "Move your…" he said before I tapped his shoulder, making him turn around. "Huh?"

"Surprise." I said before I punched him, knocking him into the side of the bus and knocking his lights out. "Not was I planning on, but it worked." I then looked to Ōgure as she then got back to her feet and dusted herself. "Good job, Ōgure!"

"Thanks." She said to me with a smile.

With this, me and my bros got into the bus, which was filled with 1-Stars students. When they tried to attack us, we kicked their asses straight out of the bus. I then went over to take the wheel. After buckling my seatbelt, I then opened the doors for the girls.

"All aboard!" I said as the girls began walking into the bus. "Next stop, Honnōji Academy!" after they got in and everyone was seated, I then got ready to drive. "Buckle your seatbelts, people! I'm kicking this thing into high gear!"

"Quick question, Roku. Do you have a license to drive?" Ryūko asked me.

"Are you kidding? I don't have a learners permit!" I said to her with a smile.

"Are you serious?!" she said with shock.

"I'm from Tokyo! Who needs a license?" I said to her. "Besides, I'm a pretty good driver! I drove an armor plated subway car Ais souped up with parts from a garbage truck and an old armored truck back home. This is no different. We'll get there okay."

"He's right, Matoi. Don't worry too much." Ōgure said. "Lady Satsuki owns everything in Honnōji. So unless she says so, nobody needs a license to drive around here." She then gave a look of determination. "So let's show them what a No-Star can really do!"

"That's the spirit! Now let's ride!" I said as I pushed the throttle down while pushing the bus into gear, driving it as fast as it could go.

Soruketsu's view

Back with us, we finally made it to the 1-Star District. While going the route that didn't have mines as we already found out about the minefield, we came by a mother and walking with a baby carriage at a nearby building. Only, when I got a closer look, I found out it wasn't a mother, it was a 1-Star in disguise. She then picked up a radio and began talking to someone. Thanks to drinking Roku's blood I was able to hear what was being said.

"Hello, Miss Jeeha?" the 1-Star said. "I got a hijacked bus. With No-Stars at the wheel. They're clearing minefields, over."

"Understood." Miko said over the radio. "You have permission to execute with extreme prejudice."

Extreme prejudice? Didn't like the sound of that. I then watched as the 1-Star pulled back on the carriage's canopy.

"Okie-dokie!" she said as she then pulled out a gun from the carriage, that's what got me worried.

First, there were those suicidal traps, now they allow the 1-Star District to use guns on people? If this what it's like right now, me and the other Kamuis had to get to the others fast!

"Faster, Guts! Faster!" I said, making the dog running faster.

Roku's view

After clearing that minefield, I then got us onto the road to the academy.

"We're motoring now, guys!" I said as I drove the bus. "We'll be at the academy at no time!"

"Uh…guys?" Wu said as he looked out the window.

We all looked around and saw a bunch of town folk looking at us.

"Why are those guys looking at us like that?" Chi asked before those people took off their clothes, revealing themselves as 1-Stars.

"Those aren't people! They're 1-Stars!" I said after the 1-Stars revealed themselves.

Ais then took out the binoculars and took a look at those 1-Stars.

"Oh, my gosh! They have guns!" he said with fear in his voice.

"Get down!" I said as the 1-Stars began firing at us, all of ducking down.

"Aaah! You got to be freaking kidding me!" Ryūko yelled out in frustration.

Miko's view

With me, I was in the surveillance control room, watching how Aisu and the other were doing. They were doing pretty good. It was smart to take that bus. Though I wouldn't expect any less from my zing.

Please, guys. I thought to myself. Make it in one piece.

"How are preparations coming for the last trap?" I heard Gamagōri say as I turned my chair to see him coming in here. "Jeeha, where is everyone?"

"I have no idea." I told him as I stood up and walked over to him. "The room was empty when I arrived. Though I believe there's something you need to see." I then took him over to the 5-foot scale model of Honnō Town used to show the designs of the barrier, which had a lights spiraling down in a single row around the entire city for the final trap. I then motioned to the one addition to the model, laying on top of it. "Look."

"Hm?" Gamagōri hummed in confusion as he saw it.

Roku's view

As we tried to get out this goddamn shooting range trap the 1-Stars pulled on us. This whole thing was getting really ridiculous.

"Man, these guys aren't letting up!" I said as I ducked as low as I could while still being able to see.

"Seriously? We went through dozens of traps and they go trigger happy on us? This is bullshit!" Sū shouted, grumbling as I drove.

"Thank god this bus is armor plated." Ryūko said.

"That means it's time for a counter-attack!" Ōgure said.

"With what?" I asked her as I really didn't see how we could counter-attack.

Me and my bros might be tough, but we're not bullet-proof. At least, not without our Kamuis.

"There's a button somewhere near the pedals!" she said to me. "Push it! It'll bring out the turret!"

"A turret?" I said as I realized who would be best at this. "Wu!"

"On it!" Wu said as he got ready to take the turret.

I found the button and slammed it, causing a turret, which Wu jumped on to man it, to deploy from the floor and rise up…taking Mako with it.

"Whoo-hoo! This is awesome!" Wu said before he began firing at the 1-Stars.

No one's view

Meanwhile, as the group is driving, a couple of 1-Stars students pull out rocket launchers and aim them at the van.

Roku's view

"Whoooo!" I heard Mako yell, no doubt holding onto Wu as he fired at the 1-Stars, ripping through whatever that turret raked over in a rain of explosions. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ryūko you gotta get up here and try this!"

"Get down, Mako! It's not safe!" Ryūko shouted.

"RPGs!" Ōgure said as one of those 1-Stars sent a missile at us. Seriously, where do they get this stuff?

"Might wanna grab something too, ʹcause we're going to do the old serpentine!" I said, cranking the wheel to make the bus curve as much as I could as RPGs started being fired at us.

"Retract the turret!" Ryūko screamed and I then pressed the button to do so. The only problem was that Wu didn't stop firing and the rest of us had to duck down even more. The roof came off as the gun finallyran out of bullets. Of course though we were still taking fire from the 1-Stars in the condos.

"Dude!" I said as we all looked at Wu with looks of disbelief he did that. "Seriously?"

"Yep, that's my bad." Wu said as he put his hands up, a look of guilt on his face. "I got a little carried away."

"I like riding in convertibles!" Mako said as I then went back to driving.

"Priorities, Mako!" Chi snapped at her.

"How are we doing, Ais?" I asked my bro.

"Just a little further and we're in the 2-Star district!" Ais said to me and I floored it as hard as I could.

"Hold on tight!" I shouted.

Another volley of RPGs were fired and they were moving too fast for us to escape from and this thing was already hitting top speed. I knew I only had one choice left to get us going.

"Sū, blaze burst quick!" I told my muscle bound bro.

"Flare burst? But I haven't done that move in years!" Sū said, making a good point.

"Just do it!" I told him as we didn't have an option.

"Okay!" he said as he then went to the back and tried to get a blaze burst going.

A blaze burst was a move Sū made to make now vehicle faster. It's the same as having a rocket engine on it. It was just what we needed to get through this. The only problem was that Sū was still rusty on using it. He usually does it with his Gauntlets, but he now had to do it by himself. The missiles were closing it and it seemed like we weren't gonna make it as Sū kept trying on making a blaze burst while the rest of us braced ourselves. Then…

Ryūko's view

Boom!

I kept my head down as I thought we were goners until I heard Roku's voice.

"Ryūko? Ryūko. Ryūko!" he said and I then looked up at him and saw his smiling face.

"Roku?" I asked, confused by why he was smiling. "What happened?"

"We just escaped the 1-Star District!" he said to me before looking back. "Nice job, Sū! I knew you could do it!"

I looked back and saw him holding up this huge fire with his hands. So that's what Roku meant by blaze burst. Okay, I gotta say, that was pretty cool.

"Was there any doubt?" Sū said, talking like a smartass.

I then looked out and saw that we were flying. Guess that explosion made this bus airborne.

"How are we looking, Ais?" Roku asked as he looked at that brainiac.

"Pretty good. We're on a short cut!" Aisu said as the bus kept flying. "If we going straight, we'll make it to the academy in no time!"

"I'll say! Look up ahead!" Chikyū said as he pointed and we all looked and saw the school was straight ahead.

"Okay, Sū!" Aisu said to Sū as he kept that on the blaze burst. "When I say now, cut off the blaze! We'll have enough to make a safe landing!"

"You got it!" Sū said to him.

"Um…if Sū stops doing that blaze burst thing, aren't we gonna fall?" I asked Roku, not really liking the idea.

"Don't worry. Ais knows what he's doing." He said to.

"Ready?" Aisu said, talking to Sū as we got closer to the gate. "Ready?" we were almost there. "Now!"

Just like that, Sū stopped it and we kept on going towards the gate.

"Brace yourselves!" Roku said as we all grabbed onto something as we headed right to the gate.

We got right through and spun around a bit after getting on solid ground. But we did stop. After we did and we all got up, there was this weird notice and what was left of the bus totally broke apart, leaving us sitting on nothing but a junk heap.

"Hey, guys! Look!" I said as I saw that we were in the courtyard. "It's the school!"

"Ah-ha! We did it!" Roku said as him and the others got up and saw the school right in front of us. "We made it!"

I watched as Roku and his brothers cheered out as we finally made it. Though he kinda surprised when he grabbed into that hug. His eyes got all wide as we looked at each other.

"Oh! Sorry, Ryūko." he said to me as he put me down and backed away a bit with a blush.

"It's okay." I said to him with a smile.

"Ha! Eat your heart out, Gamagōri!" Sū said as he got right in front of us and pointed at the school. "We just broke through your impenetrable barrier!"

I then looked at Roku as he smiled at me. That stupid grin of his… Can't believe I'm saying this, but it was actually pretty cute. Hanging around Roku really is the best. This might not last long, but I'm still gonna make the best of it. After all, he's…well…my zing.

Roku's view

I couldn't believe it. After all that, we finally made it to Honnōji Academy. Though my suspicion hadn't changed. After hearing what Ōgure said back there, I was beginning to smell a rat among us. I am gonna find out the truth about Ōgure.

"How much time do we have?" I asked, hoping Ais or Mako to answer.

"We still have fifteen minutes before first period starts." Ōgure said.

"Piece of cake! Awesome!" Ryūko said, pumping a fist, Mako echoing her friend with a similar gesture. I just stood back and watched as Ryūko. "Maiko, you rock so hard! Couldn't have done it without ya!"

"Ais, tell the guys to surround Ōgure." I whispered to Ais. "I think I figured out what the truth about her."

With that, Ais then went off to tell the rest of our bros while I listened to the girls talk.

"Not at all! I was just backing you up. But still, you're sweet." Ōgure said, Ryūko scratching the back of her head.

"Now we're friends! Yay!" Mako said as she grabbed the two of them into a huddle, smiling brightly.

"Don't get your hopes up, Mako." I said as the girls breaking the huddle to look at me as I began walking up to Ōgure with a glare. "Still got one little problem to take care of."

"Problem?" Ryūko said as I kept on walking.

"Roku, why are you looking at me like that?" Ōgure said as she began to sweat with a nervous smile on her face. "Why are walking towards me?"

She then began walking backwards after I got a few away from her. After a while, I stopped, which made her stop and leave in the middle of the circle as me and my bros had her cornered.

"Roku, what are you doing?" Ryūko said as she and Mako came over to me.

"Saving us from running into another trap." I said to her.

"Trap? What are you talking about?" she asked me.

"Back in the No-Star District. Those weren't accidents." I said, explaining all of this to her. "Everything Ōgure did back in the No-Star District, nearly getting us killed, she did it on purpose!"

"What?" Ōgure said with shock before trying to dismiss it. "That's crazy. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. I'm a No-Star like you."

"Oh, yeah?" I said before the crucial piece of evidence that she can't deny. "If you're No-Star, then how did you know that the bus was armor plated or about that button for the turret it had?"

"Um… Uh… Well…" she stuttered before I decided to check on the one thing that would prove she had been tricking us the whole time: using my Dragon power to grab the bandaging of her cast and unravel it. "Hey!"

With the cast gone, we all saw that her arm wasn't broken like she said, it was completely fine. There wasn't even a single scratch on it.

"Oh, look at that." She said nervously, trying to lie her way out of this. "It's all better now."

"Nice try, Ōgure." I said as I tossed the bandage on the ground. "The jig is up!"

"Ōgure, why?" Ryūko said to her, still couldn't believe that Ōgure tricked her. "Why did you do this?"

"She was trying to get us expelled." I said as I explained the whole plan, Ōgure glaring at me as I did. "She was already ahead of us, but couldn't get farther than that. Seeing how the whole school knows about us, when she saw us after we cleared the first trap, she decided to make us think she was injured so we would help her. While she hitchhiked with us, she tried to slow us down so we wouldn't have enough time to get to class. She knew about our uniforms and made sure we didn't get them as she knew that would ruin her whole plan. She was trying to make us late to get us all expelled!"

Ōgure looked around as all my brothers glared at her and spoke with anger in their voices.

"Not cool, brah!" Wu said to her.

"There is one thing you should never do: cross with a Dragon." Ais said.

"I don't usually fight, girls." Sū said before he cracked his knuckles. "But you just made the exception, you little bitch!"

"I'm with you there!" Chi said to Sū before looking back at Ōgure with a smile. "Let's give this Maiko a K-O!"

"There's still one thing I don't get." I said as Ōgure looked back at me. "You were stuck with us. Making us late would make you late too. What would a No-Star gain from that?"

"Grrrrrrr!" Ōgure growled in anger before she yelled "You ruined everything! You always ruin everything! Why can't you just butt out of my plans, skunk head?" with that, she then covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide with shock.

"Skunk head?" I said as it finally hit me. I did know Ōgure as she's the only one who had ever called me that. "Wait a minute…"

"Hey, guys!" before I could say anything else, I heard a voice and some barking and we all turned back at the gate to see Guts, somewhat covered in soot, come careening along with the Kamuis riding on his back. Well, most of them. Guts was carrying Senketsu in his mouth. "Sorry we're late!"

"Hey, look at that!" Mako called out. "It's Guts and he's got Sōru and the others with him!"

"Why is Guts bringing them?" Ryūko asked.

"Guess they didn't have much of choice." I answered her as we watched the dog run over to us. "With all that happened with them, Guts would be their only option left."

"But how did he get up here?" Chi asked as he came over.

"My guess is that he must've run into some RPGs and the explosion launched him over through the gate." Ais said as he came over too. "That soot all over him is proof of that."

"Wow. That is one tough little dog." Sū said, impressed by Guts surviving RPGs as he joined us.

"Oh, yeah, boy!" Wu cheered as he popped out of nowhere with excitement. "We're finally getting our Kamuis back!"

As we all looked back at Guts with smiles of relief, I then realized that me and my bros weren't surrounding Ōgure anymore.

"Uh, guys?" I asked my bros as they looked at me. "If you're all over here…who's watching Ōgure?"

Then we all looked as Ryūko's pants fell down completely, revealing her panties again.

Aisu's view

With Ryūko's panties now exposed, Roku got another nosebleed and was knocked down and unconscious. I looked behind Ryūko and saw Ōgure smiling with wicked glee, which meant she pulled Ryūko's pants down. After Ōgure got some distance, I found out that Roku wasn't the only one who got that blow as I watched a Guts got a nosebleed, creating an oil slick of blood that made him slip down it.

"Aah! We're sliding!" Senketsu said as he freaked out. "Stop, you cur! Stop!"

As he tried to stop himself, Guts began spinning. He spun so fast that he knocked Sōru and the rest of the Kamuis off his back, the five screaming as they crashed into Sū, knocking him down as Guts slid right past us.

"Wait, stop! Where are you going?" Ryūko said to Guts as he kept on sliding while she pulled her pants back up.

"Ha! Knew that would work." Ōgure said as we all turned to look at her as she stood in front of Guts path. "And knocking out old Skunk head was a bonus." Just when Guts was closing in on her, she pulled her leg back and kicked him right in the face, causing the dog to drop Senketsu.

Roku's view

When I heard some barking, I woke up and saw Guts falling right down to me. Seeing how he needed help, I jumped up and caught him.

"Guts?" I asked the dog as he groaned in a daze.

I then heard laughing and looked see ogure as she was holding Senketsu.

"Well, I didn't get all of the Kamuis," she said to us before holding Senketsu in front of her. "This one's all I need!"

"The hell?! Why'd you do that, Maiko?" Ryuko shouted, Maiko laughing as she held Senketsu, who was now sweating nervously.

"Ryuko," I said as I got her attention. "Ōgure wasn't just trying to slow us down. She wanted Senketsu!"

"So you named your Kamui too." Ōgure said to Ryūko before looking to me with that smug look of hers. "Guess you two are perfect for each other. The weird match made in heaven. Right, skunk head?"

"Why, you…" I growled as I was ready to pumble that no-good bitch into the ground. "I knew you looked familiar!"

"Roku, what's going on? why is Maiko calling you skunk head?" ryuko asked.

"Skunk head is what she's been calling me ever since when we first met." I answered her, glaring at Ōgure.

"First met? What are you talking about?" she said, still not getting a clear idea.

"Ōgure isn't a regular girl. She's not even human." I said to her as I explained who Ōgure really was. "She's a Dragon from Tokyo, one that tricked me into giving her what she wanted."

"She's a Dragon?" she asked, shocked by this. "But what does she want? Why does she have my Kamui?"

"The way she tricked me was no different than what she did now." I said to her. "2 years ago, she came around and pretended be my friend. Then, when I had my back turned, she stabbed me in the back and stole Sōru!" just when I said that, Sōru came over and jumped into my arms, glaring at Ōgure as I held her. "Everything she told me about her was a lie. Her family's made of thieves and tricksters who only care for themselves. She tried to take my Kamui and now she wants yours!"

"What?!" Ryūko said with shock before looking at Ōgure.

"That's right!" Ōgure said with her. "You shouldn't have let your guard down, Matoi. Oh, excuse me. I meant Ryūko Matoi! I've been waiting ages for this moment! You fell for my injured No-Star classmate disguise! You see, after hearing about the upcoming No Tardies Day, I decided to put my skills to good use and make you all think I'm a No-Star student like you. I was worried that you might have seen through it, but I was better than I thought for fell for it too, skunk head."

"Wait, you're not a No-Star?" I said to her, shocked by this.

"Correct. I'm not lowly thieving mongrel anymore." Ōgure said. "My true identity is…the Head of Trap Development for the Disciplinary Committee, Maiko Ōgure!"

トラップ開発責任者

[Head of Trap Development]

大暮 麻衣子

[Maiko Ōgure]

"Trap development? For the Disciplinary Committee?" I said as I realized it. "This is where you been doing for the past two years? Having that job means your Gamagōri's lackey!"

"Actually, I'm undercover operative at the academy, who's job is to spy on the students and develop diabolic traps to trap them." she said.

"That explains why most of the traps were made specifically for us." Ais said.

"Yes, after I found out you five were enrolled, I redesigned the traps so they could actually trap you!" she said. "My world revolves designing tracks."

"But having a position like this means you and your family have the good life you want." I said, now confused by her actions as the first she did this was so her family could have the good life. "What do you need a Kamui for?"

"Because it's not enough for me now." She said. "After doing it for so long, I'm so over that life. I want more, I want the life that Lady Satsuki and the Elite Four have, but I didn't have the strength to do it. Then I remembered the power I felt when I first wore a Kamui and had a flash of inspiration. The only way to face anyone like Lady Satsuki is with a Kamui powerful like hers. If I had one like that, then I would be able to have whatever I want." She looked at Ryūko as she continued. "I knew I could take any of the Kamuis belonging to the Ryū Brothers, so I decided to take yours! When I heard your conversation with Gamagōri today over the surveillance feed, I saw I had my chance to take it. With your uniform, why, I could be a 2-Star. No, be one of the Four Elites. No, become the new vice-president. Wait, no! I could steal the throne from Lady Satsuki herself! I'll be the new empress of Honnōji Academy and I'll gorge on all the luxuries the academy haves to offer!" she shudders as she then said "I can hardly wait!"

"Well, you're gonna keep on wait!" I said to her after I put Guts on the ground and then quickly got my pajamas off and let Sōru get on me, my brothers doing the same with their clothes and Kamuis. "Hand over the Kamui, Ōgure, or else!"

"Maiko…" I heard Ryūko growl as I looked to her and saw her take out her Scissor Blade and glaring straight at Ōgure. "If there's one thing hate, it's freaking liars!"

"Maiko!" Mako said as she started spazzing out again, making poses to show what she was saying. "Give it back! That's Ryūko's uniform, not yours! She needs to have it! ʹCause, when she puts on that uniform, she transforms—like this! My cousins do the same with theirs! They act really shy, but they really like this! In fact, they really love it when it happens!"

"What? No, we do—oh!" Sū said before Mako knocked him down in her ranting.

"So give that her uniform back right nooooooow!" Mako said as she finished her spazzing.

"Hmmmm… No." Ōgure said to Mako. "But thanks for reminding me about the transformation. I'm gonna try it on right now!" She then began taking off her clothes, tossing them at Sū after he got back up. "Remove this, get rid of that." She then began putting on Senketsu, the Kamui getting a horrified look in his eye. "Put this on, add this. And finally…viola!" she now Senketsu completely on. "Now let's see what this thing's got!"

"Whatever." Ryūko said as she looked away with smug. "If you think you can transform so easily, knock yourself out, you deceitful bitch."

"Ryūko, she knows how to do it!" I said as Ōgure then pulled the pin and instantly transformed.

"How do you like that?" Ōgure said as she took stance in her new form.

"What?!" Ryūko said, shocked to see Ōgure transform just like that.

"Life Fiber Synchronize! Kamui Senketsu!" Ōgure said, standing tall wearing Senketsu.

"Oh, come on!" Ryūko said, stunned by what she was seeing. "She figures out that Synchronizing crap on the first try? How'd she do that?!"

"Forgive me, Ryūko." Senketsu said to her before closing his eye in discomfort. "But this girl…has no shame."

Me and my bros were also stun too, but not by shock. What Senketsu turned into was hideous. Maiko's personality mixed her complete lack of shame made Senketsu as revealing as hell. The skirt and the crest were flipped to the other way. There weren't any sleeves, just gloves and cuffs. And the boots just looked like socks. And I thought it was bad when she put Sōru on back then. Me and bros were just disgusted by this. Even our Kamuis used their wraps to shield their eyes from it.

"Oh!" Sū said, trying not to look at Ōgure. "Didn't need to see that!"

"Look away!" Furea said, covering her eyes.

"Aah! My eyes! They burn!" Wu yelled out as he saw what Ōgure turned Senketsu into, covering his eyes.

"Oh, why?!" Arashi said, covering her eyes.

"Well, I just found something worse than Satsuki wearing a Kamui." Ais said and I agreed with him that this was worse than Junketsu.

"Oh, lord, have mercy!" Fuyu said. "This is just wrong!"

"Mako, cover your eyes!" chi said as he tried to save our cousin from this terrible sight.

"Yeah, there are things in this world that no man, or woman, are meant to see!" Ishi said.

"Oh, god! Girl, have some shame! You're worse than Satsuki!" I said to her before talking to Sōru. "Man, this is totally worse than when she put you, Sōru."

"Don't have to tell me! Aah!" Sōru said, horrified by the sight. "No Kamui should have to deal with this! Bleck!"

"Hey, hold on." Ryūko said as I saw her looking at me with confusion. "Roku, what do mean that this is worse?"

"Remember when I said she stole my Kamui?" I said to her as I explained. "Well, when we cornered her, she actually put Sōru on and tried to use her against us."

"Say what?!" Ryūko said, shocked to hear that.

"He's quite correct, Matoi." Ōgure said as we all looked back at her, me, my bros, and our Kamuis trying not to look below her chin. "Seeing how I could handle the five of them on my own, I had no choice, but to put on that sailor suit so I could take them. Though, after I put it on, I found out that I didn't need to sell it to make a living in my family. Its power alone was all I need to get everything my family ever wanted! If it means getting to be top dog, I'll gladly rip off all my clothes! Though, with your Kamui, it's totally unlike than Ryū's sailor suit." She then started flexing as she admired the power she was getting. "Yes, I can feel it flooding into me! The strength! The power! The stre-power!"

"Man, this girl's lost it!" I said as Ōgure was talking like a lunatic.

"Now who should I test this new stre-power on first." She said as she looked over to us as she tapped her chin. She stopped tapping her chin as she looked right at Mako. "Oh, I know!" she then dashed right over to Mako and started pulling back her fist to punch my cousin right in the face. "How about I start with you?"

"Mako!" Ryūko said as she pushed Mako out of the way as Ōgure started delivering it.

Ryūko closed her eyes as she thought she was gonna get hit, but Ōgure suddenly stopped mid-punch.

"Huh?" Ōgure said in confusion as she tried moving her first closer, but couldn't get it to move farther than two inches from Ryūko's face. This made Ryūko open her eyes as she watched Ōgure try and do it again only to get the same result. "What? Why can't I punch her?"

We all watched as she tried to throw a punch at Ryūko, only to have it stop at those last two inches. It was like watch a car's near-miss in the road as Ōgure didn't even figured out why she wasn't able to attack or even noticed to expression Senketsu was making right now. I was actually pretty funny and me and my bros tried our best to hold in our laughs. Even our Kamuis were snickering at this.

"The hell's her problem?" Ryūko said to herself as she didn't really get what was happening.

After a while of Ōgure's failed attempts in attacking, me, my bros, and our Kamuis burst out laughing, making the girls look right at us and making Ōgure stop trying to throw a punch.

"I think it's obvious there." I said to her as I kept on laughing with my bros. "The problem's not her, it's Senketsu!" I then looked at Ōgure and said "Hey, Ōgure! Try punching her again! You all will get what I mean if you do!"

We all stopped laughing as Ōgure got ready to attack again.

"Alright! Now I'm not gonna miss this time!" Ōgure said as she then threw another punch. "Raaaaah!" and, just like before, the punch stopping just like that and Ōgure tried to get to go further.

With that, me and my bros got back to laughing at her.

"Hey! Stop laughing!" Ōgure said as she looked at us with anger. "I said stop—huh?" me and my bros then stopped laugh as we all looked to see that Ōgure was now unable to move her body at all. "What's going on? It's like my body's turned to stone! What's causing this?"

"Huh?" I heard Ryūko say as I looked and saw her looking at Senketsu, who had this strained looked in his eye that made her smile as she figured it out. "Senketsu! It's you!"

"Don't waste your time, Ōgure!" I said as I got that thief to stop trying to move as she looked at me. "You're not gonna move from that spot!"

"What?!" Ōgure said to me in shock. "What did you do to me?! Why can't I move?!"

"Nobody did anything." I said as I got ready to remind her what I told her the last time we met. "Didn't you learn from last time? A Kamui has a mind of its own. It only responds to true wearer. Which means…Senketsu will make sure you won't lay a single finger one us." My bros got ready to give her the beating she deserves, but I stopped them. "Hold on, guys. This one's mine."

"Aaaaaah!" Ōgure screamed as she then tried to get away and as I walked over to her, Senketsu keeping her still. "No! Stay away! Ngh! What's wrong with this thing? It won't let me move!"

I then looked over as I watched Ryūko jab her Scissor Blade right into the ground as she glared right at Ōgure, who looked and saw her pissed off face which made the thief become even more worried.

"What's up?" Ryūko threateningly said to Ōgure, making the thief shake in fear. "I thought you were gonna test out your new power."

"Shouldn't have tricked us like that, Ōgure." I said as I got over to Ōgure and Ryūko started cracking her knuckles. "Now you're really gonna get it."

"Aah!" she yelped in fright as she tried to talk herself out of this. "I was just kidding! I swear! It was a joke!" she then got a nervous smile as me and Ryūko towered over her with me smirking and cracking my own knuckles while Ryūko kept glaring at her. "I'm sorry I tricked you!"

"Oh, we're way past any apologies you can give." I said to her. "And there's no way in hell that Kamui's gonna help you."

"Please, no!" she said before she looked at Ryūko, Senketsu finally letting her move. "Look, I'll give it back! I'll give it back!" she then tried to remove Senketsu, pulling at him to remove him. Yeah, when she was wearing Sōru back then, I took my Kamui off her myself. It makes sense she doesn't know how to properly deactivate a Kamui to actually get it off. "Come on! Get off me, damn it! Damn, stupid rag! Get off me!"

"You dumbass!" Ryūko said as she then went over and punched Ōgure square right in the chin.

As the thief tried to get herself up, I went over and deactivated the synchronization, returning Senketsu to normal.

"There." I said as Ryūko then came over and we both towered over Ōgure once again. I looked at her as I said "Mind giving me a hand in teaching this bitch a lesson?"

"Don't mind if I do." She said as we both got ready to beat up Ōgure, who looked at us with fright.

"No, wait!" she said as we both then tackled her and gave her the pumbling of a life time.

After we were done, Ōgure now had dark bruises all over her, her glasses were broken, a swelled-up bruised cheek, and a black eye. After that, Ryūko then went on and got Senketsu off that crazy-ass bitch. After getting him off, Senketsu stood up and spit out all the blood Ōgure forcibly gave him, leaving a whole puddle of blood. Yeah, Sōru did the exact same thing when I got her off Ōgure.

"Ugh! Her blood was absolutely filthy! Pwah!" Senketsu said as he spit some more out, trying to rid of the taste of Ōgure's blood. He then looked at Ryūko who smiled at him. "I'm sorry I was late."

"Nah! It's cool." Ryūko said to him, shrugging it off. "It's not like you cheated on me or anything."

"Hey, Sōru." I said to my Kamui as I realized something. "You both had a taste of Ōgure's blood. Can you…?"

"No, I can't be able to talk to Senny." She said to me. "Like I told you before, unless I accept the blood of anyone else who wears me, they can't hear me or any the Kamui they wear. Besides, he rejected the blood too, so neither of us can talk to each other."

"Oh, right." I said, disappointed that I was still left out on what Senketsu was saying to Ryūko. "Wish I could understand what that guy's saying so Ryūko doesn't have to bother being a phone with me."

"Aaah!" Mako screamed, making all of us look at her. "Look what time it is!" she then showed us her watched as it showed it was 8:25. "We only got five minutes left before the bell rings!"

"Oh, man! We gotta hurry!" I said before I looked at Guts, who I laid down on the ground before me and Ryūko beat up Ōgure and was now awake. "Go home, Guts! We'll see ya after school!"

With that, the dog then began running back home as me and the others started heading straight to class with me carrying Senketsu by the collar, Wu carrying Ryūko's weapon case, and Sū carrying her Scissor Blade.

"I don't want to be late! I don't to expelled!" Mako said as we got closer to the academy. "Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"Huh?" I said as I saw that the academy was looking a lot smaller the closer we got to it. "Is it just me or does the school look smaller?"

We all then stopped after Mako suddenly slammed into what looked like nothing.

"I bumped into nothing." Mako weakly said as she then fell backwards, getting knocked out.

"Mako!" chi said as he then caught here.

"What the hell was that?" Sū said as I then decided.

I felt whatever Mako slammed into and was able to recognize what it was as this was something I worked with.

"This isn't the academy." I said as I then grabbed a piece of it and tore it off, revealing it as just a canvas with the picture of the school on it. "It's a painting! The whole thing is just a giant canvas."

"Why is there a painting in the courtyard?" Wu asked.

"I don't this is in the courtyard." Ais said as he then stepped up and decided to push on the canvas.

When he pushed it, the whole thing fell backwards, falling down something and then…

CRASH!

"Huh? What?" Mako said as the loud slam woke her up. "What happened?"

We all looked forward and were all shocked as we saw what was behind it: the wall of the academy. We were all right in front the right side of it.

"What the hell?!" Ryūko yelled out in shock.

"The wall?" Wu said, couldn't believe what he was seeing. As he talked, I decided to take a closer look at where the canvas fell. "But we went through the gate! How can we be at the wall?"

When I looked over there, I was shocked to see that we weren't even on the ground around the wall. We were all above the 3-Star District!

"Uh…guys?" I said as they all came over and saw what I saw.

"What the…? How did we get all the way up here?" Chi said, just as shocked as the rest of us.

We all then heard creaking and looked back up and saw the wall falling the other way from where they were facing, revealing them as canvases too.

"What the hell?!" I said as we saw the courtyard we were in was just a fake. "The courtyard was fake?!"

We all then looked at Ōgure as she laughed, standing proudly in her underwear.

"I got ya!" Ōgure said to us with a smile. "I had a feeling you'd get past me, so I made this trap as a contentiously: a fake school!"

"Doesn't seem like much of a trap." I said as this trap was actually not really hard to escape from. "We can just hop right over to the other side."

"Ha! That's what you think." Ōgure said. "But this trap is more than a distraction." She then pulled out a remote with just a big red button on it. "I don't have a Kamui, but that doesn't mean I can't get you all expelled! HA!"

SLAM!

With just a push of that, we then looked behind us and saw a huge hammer appear out of nowhere and hit the back of the trap, pushing it forward. When it move down, we all saw that we were on a large track as the trap began moving down it. Now I see what Ōgure meant, the trap wasn't just a fake school, it was a rolling platform meant to send us away from the academy! We all gripped onto the platform so we wouldn't be blown away from the gust of wind made by the platform going down so fast. Me and my bros gripped the ground, Ryūko managed to grab her Scissor Blade from Sū and use it to ground herself, and Mako held on to Chi. Ōgure even kept herself down on the ground so she didn't get blown off either.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha! It's all over for you!" she said, giving us that damn smug. "I call this trap 'Begin at the Beginning'! My masterpiece! Once it starts rolling, there's no stopping it!"

"Like hell it's over!" Ryūko said to Ōgure as she stood up with the use of her Scissor Blade.

"Yeah! Once we get over there, we'll beat the living hell out of you!" I said to Ōgure as I pulled myself over to Ryūko. "And we'll keep beating you until you tell us how to stop this thing!"

"Sorry, but I would rather die that let you all keep coming to Honnōji Academy. I'm still a member of the Disciplinary Committee. My work here is done." Ōgure said before she then jumped right off the platform. "So long, suckers!"

Me and Ryūko managed to get over where she jumped off and watched as she fell down into the district below…before a parachute popped open and she started floating down to the ground.

"What the…? Where did she…?" I said as we looked around to see where she got that parachute. It couldn't have been from the bus. That's when we saw it: a hatch hanging open near where she was standing. "Are you kidding me?! She packed a parachute on this thing?!"

When the platform leaned to one side, me and Ryūko were sent straight on our backs. That meant it just lost a wheel.

"This thing's breaking apart!" I said as the platform kept going. "We got to stop it quick!"

"Ryūko, guys, help!" Mako screamed as she was holding onto the platform for dear life.

"Mako!" me, Sōru, Ryūko, and Senketsu said with concern.

"Ryūko, put me on quick!" Senketsu said to his wearer.

"Oh, right! I forgot!" Ryūko said as she then quickly put Senketsu on.

"Guys, unleash the dragons!" I yelled out to my bros as we then transformed with Ryūko.

"Earth Power!" Chi yelled out.

"Fire Power!"Sū yelled out.

"Ice Power!"Ais yelled out.

"Lightning Power!"Wu yelled out.

"Gold Power!" I yelled.

"Life Fiber Synchronize!" The five of us yelled out at the same time. "Kamui Ishiketsu! /Kamui Fureaketsu! /Kamui Fuyuketsu! /Kamui Arashiketsu! /Kamui Soruketsu!"

"Life Fiber Synchronize: Kamui Senketsu!" Ryūko yelled out.

"I can't hold on any longer!" Mako said before she lost her grip and started flying off the platform until me and the guys managed to form a chain with Ryūko supporting us with her Scissor Blade and Chi grabbing Mako.

"We got ya, Mako!" Chi said as he held onto her.

"Uh…guys?" Wu said as he gave a look of horror. We all looked forward and saw we were heading straight for the end of the track which had barriers to stop the platform.

"Oh, no." Chi said as we closed in on the blockade.

"Brace for impact!" I yelled out right before the platform hit it.

The force from it was strong enough to send the platform flipping off the track, launching us right off it as it then went off the track and sunk right into the bay. Good news was that we survived the crash and managed to land somewhere on land. But the bad news was that we weren't back to where we started, we ended up right outside the city. We all got up after recovering from the landing.

"What the hell?" Ryūko said as we all looked to see the whole city in front of us. "This ain't nowhere near the starting line!"

"The trap was too unstable to stop where it was supposed to be." Ais said as we all got back to our feet. "And the force from the collision was enough to send us straight out of the city."

"Even with my help, you'll never make it up there in time." Senketsu said to Ryūko. "You'll be late!"

"Roku, can't you and the guys fly us up there?" Ryūko asked me.

"Sorry, Ryūko." I said to her as I explained how flying there won't be able to help. "Even with our speed, it'll take too long to fly up there."

"Then how are we gonna get up there?" chi asked.

"OH, MY, GOD!" Mako shouted as we all looked and saw her around some cable cars, the girl wowing as she looking them up and down. "This is where those non-stop express cable thingies are that only the rich kids get to ride on to get to school! Oh! I've always wanted to ride one!"

"It's non-stop?" Ryūko said, just as surprised as the rest of us.

"Wow. How convenient." I said before I spoke to Sū. "Think you can give us a boost on that thing, Sū?"

"Now that I got my power back, it'll be a piece of cake." He said to me with a confident smile.

"Great!" I said before we got moving. "When I give the word, boost it from the back. Let's get going!"

"Hey! You're not supposed to be here! Aah!" a 1-Star said to us before I grabbed him by the shirt.

"You know how to get the thing running?" I asked the 1-Star, talking about the cable car, and he nodded. "Good. Now listen. We're in a bit of a hurry, so you're gonna get that cable car to take us right to the academy."

"I'm not taking orders from a sharp mouth No-Star!" he said in defiance.

"I'll show you sharp." I said to him as I put my claws out right in front of his face, scaring him.

I then took him over to the controls and put him right at it so he could get the cable car moving as I held my claws right behind his head, ready to claw him if he tries to make a fast one on us.

"Stop yapping and get this thing moving!" I said to the 1-Star as he got typing on the controls. "And step on it!"

With that, the cable car was ready to get going, everything sounding like it was in put into high gear. Me and Ryūko held it down to make sure it didn't leave without us. My bros managed to get on. The only one left was Mako who was rummaging around her pockets.

"Mako, get on, quick!" Ryūko said as we tried to keep the cable car still.

"Wait," Mako said to us, "we have to pay the fair to ride it first." She then pulled her empty pockets out. "Crap! No money!" she then pulled out her boxed lunch and slowly started putting croquettes on the toll box. "Oh, well. I'll just leave some of the yummy croquets my mom made."

Having enough of this, I decided to get Mako going myself after she left three croquets on the toll box and was going for four.

"Just get in!" I said as I used my Dragon power to grab Mako and toss her in the cable car. Then me and Ryūko got in and closed the doors as the cable car speed off towards Honnōji Academy.

"Yay! I'm riding it!" Mako cheered as we rode the cable car, which was going like a subway train. "It's like a dream come true!

"How much time to we got?" I asked, checking to see if we got enough time to get to the academy.

"Two minutes." Mako said, too happy from getting to ride the cable car to realize how bad it was. "After that, we're late. Then expelled." She then gave a look of horror as she finally realized what she just said. "No way! We're gonna be expelled!"

"Ais, can we make it?" I asked my brainiac brother.

"Let's see." Ais said as he did the math, muttering to himself. "Calculate wind resistance… Volume of the cable car… current speed…" After that, he then spoke out. "No, we're moving too slow! We won't make it!"

"I was afraid of that." I said before speaking to the only one who could help right now. "Sū!"

"I'm on it!" Sū said as he then got to the back of the cable car.

"Everybody, hang on!" I said as Sū then broke the window.

After everyone got a good hold of something in the car, Sū then unleashed a flare burst, making the car sped off faster than before.

"Is this fast enough?" I asked to Ais.

"Hold on. Recalculating…" Ais said to me as he did the math again. "Yes! At this rate, we'll be at Honnōji academy in no time!"

Maiko's view

After escaping that magnificent trap of mine, I managed to land somewhere in No-Star District. Though I managed to escape, I wasn't able to get that Kamui.

"Damn that skunk head!" I said to myself, knowing that was all skunk head's fault. "I had all that power in my hands!" I then gained a smile as I then remembered I could try again tomorrow. "Oh, well, it's cool. I'll just play the good subordinate. Another chance will come along soon enough."

"I wouldn't count on it." I froze as I heard that voice, knowing who it belonged to.

I slowly turned around, hoping it wasn't who I thought it was. But…I was wrong as I saw her glaring at me.

"Aah! Miss Jeeha!" I said, frightened by her appearance.

"We saw and heard everything, Ōgure." Another voice I knew as I turned and found it was my superior, who was glaring at me like Miss Jeeha.

"Aaah! Ga-Gamagōri!" I said, now terrified that both of them were here.

"So you wanted to overthrow Lady Satsuki, eh?" Gamagōri said before he started walking away. "You have more ambition than brains!"

"Please, sir, I was wrong!" I said, begging Gamagōri to forgive me as fear tried to force me to be silent. "Forgive me!"

Before I could speak any further, I felt something wrap around me and saw that Miss Jeeha had wrapped me in her chain.

"You defied against Honnōji Academy and were planning on take control of Honnōji Academy, not to mention that you were nothing more than a common thief," Miss Jeeha said to me, her voice sounding threatening, "and you ask the chairman of your committee to forgive you? There is only one answer for you."

"NEVER!" Gamagōri said to me as he turned to face me. "YOU'RE EXPELLED!"

放追

[Expelled]

"You don't deserve to attend Honnōji Academy!" Gamagōri said, making me absolute horrified. He then turned and started to walk back to Honnōji Academy. "Miss Jeeha, will you please get this disgrace out of my sight?"

"With pleasure." Miss Jeeha said before she then lifted me up with her chain.

"No, wait! Please!" I said, pleading them to spare me. "Give me another chance! I promise I won't disobey you again!"

My begging didn't work as Miss Jeeha swung me around and sent me out of Honnō Town, sending me straight into the bay. Good thing I snuck into the swim club and got those swimming lessons.

"You'll will pay for this!" I said as I floated there in the water. "I'll be back and you'll be sorry you ever messed with Maiko Ōgure!"

Miko's view

With Ōgure gone, I decided I would inform Lady Satsuki on this latest development when I returned to Honnōji Academy. Though, before I could leave, I looked up and saw Roku and the others riding in a cable car with an obvious flare burst from Sū coming from behind.

"Damn those six." I heard Gamagōri say as I looked to see him glaring at the group as they went by.

Though, as I smiled at the sight, there was only one thought I had about this: Well done, you guys. Well done.

Roku's view

"Oh, my god! There's only a minute left!" Mako said as we kept on riding the cable car.

"Don't worry!" Ais said to us all. "We're almost there!"

"Hey, what's that smell?" I said as a strange smell hit my nose.

"Smells like something's burning." Chi said as he caught a whiff of it too.

I looked outside and followed the smell. I was shocked to see what was burning. It was the cables that was holding up the cable car. The heat was starting to melt through it. Just as we were closing in on the station, the cable snapped off.

"Oh, boy." I said as the flare burst kept us moving, sending the car flying through the air.

All of us except Sū screamed as we reached the academy. Unfortunately, without the cable, Sū's flare burst was only enough to get us over the wall and we started falling towards the school.

"Sū, that's it! You can stop now!" I said to my bro as he stopped.

"Why'd you tell me to stop?" Sū said before he looked at where we were heading and got his answer. "Oh."

We screamed as we were heading straight for the school.

Mikisugi's view

After class started I started to take roll call, seeing a few certain students absent today.

"Okay, next is Matoi. Ryūko Matoi." I said as I looked around to see if see she was around.

CRASH!

Suddenly, a cable car crashed through the window, making quite the mess in my classroom. It had only been a day and the window had already been shattered again.

Roku's view

After crashing through that window, I got up and tried to look around to see if the others were okay.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked as I then saw Ryūko, my bros, and Mako getting back up, recovering from the crash.

"Oh, my head!" chi groaned in pain.

"Hey, guys!" Wu said as we joined him to look out the window to see…our homeroom class. "We made it to class!"

"Then let's change back and get seated." I said as me and my fellow Kamui wearers then transformed back.

Mikisugi's view

I watched as the door of the cable car flew open, Matoi, the Ryū Brothers, and Mankanshoku step out. The brothers took some desks from the pile of desk and students on the other side of the room and set them around the room before sitting down in them. I simply watched as Mankanshoku and Wu instantly fell asleep while Ryūko and the rest of the brothers looked done with this day already…despite it only being 8:30.

"Uh…Ryūko Matoi." I said, the girl in question giving a long sigh and raising her hand.

"Here." She said.

"Okay. I already see that Mankanshoku and Wu are here, so…" I said deciding to skip those two and move on to the rest of the brothers, each one raising his hand as I called on their name. "Sū Ryū."

"Here."

"Aisu Ryū."

"Present."

"Chikyū Ryū."

"Right here, sir."

"And… Roku Ryū."

Roku hung his head back as he sighed even more than Matoi had, throwing his hand up loosely. "Here!"

After seeing all of this, I decided it was time to put Matoi to the real test. Been a while since I called him and the brothers won't be to happy once he arrives, but it is the only to make sure that Ryūko is up to face what lies on ahead.

After managing to escape Maiko Ōgure's traps and stopping her from taking over Honnōji Academy, the Dragon Force have managed to get through No Tardies Day and ensure their continuing enrollment in Honnōji Academy. Now, the only task left is to face the entire Student Council of the Academy. Though what does Mikisugi have in store for Ryūko and how will it affect them? Find out next time on Mystic Dragon Force!

Well, there you have it. The Dragon Force in No Tardies Day. I know some of you might have like the day being called "No Late Day", but I think the original name puts more emphasis on this chapter and the events within it. I thought that the plot of this certain segment was a bit short, so I decided to put in more detail and make the effects less literal and more accurate. You know, give it some more…content. And, in case you're wondering, the answer is no. Maiko will not be making another appearance in this story as she is no longer able to return to Honnōji Academy for now. By the way, when you read Draxum's point of view, listen to this: Rebellion Theme (Link: watch?v=NzHHPG-1vW8) while you're reading the part where the group is flying on the bus with the help of Sū's flare burst, listen to this: Pierce the Heavens with Your Drill! (Link: watch?v=Z7klyQsmVa8)

The links I've given so far are youtube links. Just saying that in case anyone's confused. That's all I got for now. See what'll happen next time in Chapter 4: Trigger!