KILL la KILL IF: The World Where Senketsu Didn't Burn Out
A half year has passed since the final battle in space—since Senketsu burned away, leaving Ryuuko with nothing but a scrap of memory and a father's Scissor Blade. She drifts through an ordinary high school, doodling a black sailor uniform in the margins of her notebook, skipping class to chase rumors, and shutting out the friend who keeps texting to ask if she's alive.
Then a letter arrives in her shoe locker, written in round, bubbly handwriting she'll never forget: Harime Nui is alive, Senket
KILL la KILL IF: The World Where Senketsu Didn't Burn Out - Breaking the Encirclement — A First Battle Without Senketsu and Nui's Play
The moment the school gates swung open, Ryuuko stepped into the courtyard of Honnouji Academy.
The setting sun painted the ground blood-red. Until half a year ago, this was the place where Ryuuko had fought her battles. Together with Senketsu. With that black sailor uniform—the two of them.
(...This isn't the time to get nostalgic.)
Ryuuko tightened her grip on the guitar case. Inside the case slung across her back was the Scissor Blade—one half of the giant pair of scissors her father, Matoi Isshin, had left behind. Now that she'd lost Senketsu, it was her only weapon.
The air in the courtyard pulled taut, sharp as a wire.
She felt them. From the front. From the sides. From behind.
Ryuuko stopped walking.
Students emerged from the shadows of the school building, from behind the gymnasium, from both sides of the gate. One, two, five, ten. She stopped counting. At a glance, there were at least thirty.
Every one of them wore a Goku Uniform.
But these weren't the Goku Uniforms Ryuuko knew. The shoulder armor was thicker. Red thread embroidery ran across their chests, and the fabric covering their arms and legs glowed faintly, as if pulsing with a heartbeat.
(New models...)
Goku Uniforms. Uniforms woven with Life Fibers—special threads that sent physical ability skyrocketing the moment you put them on. Rank was determined by the number of stars, from one-star up to four-star. Once, they had been the symbol of power that ruled Honnouji Academy.
After Ragyo's ambition was crushed, all the Goku Uniforms should have been disposed of. And yet the students before her now wore Goku Uniforms that looked stronger than ever.
"...Out of my way."
Ryuuko spoke in a low voice.
No answer. Instead, the students moved as one.
An encirclement. Perfect coordination. When one stepped in, another cut off Ryuuko's escape route. They struck simultaneously from left and right while projectiles came from behind. Their breathing was too perfectly synced.
(These guys are trained.)
Ryuuko slammed the guitar case into the ground. The case burst open and the Scissor Blade flew out. Ryuuko caught it midair and spun in a full rotation. The blade cut through the wind.
Zan!
She struck one of the approaching students with the pommel, sending him flying. His body tumbled across the ground.
"Come at me, then. I'll take you all on at once!"
Ryuuko shouted. She bared her fang-like teeth and grinned like a wild animal.
But deep down, she knew.
(If I had Senketsu... this would be over in a second.)
Frustration churned in her chest. Senketsu. That black sailor uniform. Her father's keepsake. Her partner. With that, her physical abilities would multiply several times over. She could draw out the Scissor Blade's true power, too.
The Ryuuko of now couldn't do any of that.
Senketsu had burned out in space. She hadn't recovered even one of the seven fragments.
"Uwooooh!"
One of the students swung his fist down at her. The arm armor of the new Goku Uniform tore through the air. Ryuuko dodged by a hair's breadth and deflected it with the flat of the Scissor Blade. Clang—sparks scattered.
Heavy.
Each blow was far heavier than the old Goku Uniforms. Higher Life Fiber content. The fibers woven into these uniforms were so dense they could rob the wearer of their reason.
(Life Fibers...)
Ryuuko gritted her teeth. Life Fibers were fibrous energy organisms that fused with human cells to unleash superhuman power. The raw material for Goku Uniforms and Kamui alike. Overdose, and the mind collapsed.
These students were surrendering themselves to that dangerous power.
"Haaah!"
Ryuuko swept the Scissor Blade in a horizontal arc. Three students went flying at once. But three more stepped in to replace them. It was endless.
A kick landed in her side.
"Guh—!"
Ryuuko rolled across the ground, broke her fall, and pushed herself up. The taste of iron spread through her mouth. Her lip was split.
(Shit. There's too many of them.)
Her breath was coming hard. Her arms felt heavy. Her legs were slowing, bit by bit.
Even so, Ryuuko couldn't afford to fall. She still hadn't found Senketsu's fragments. She had to take them back from that woman.
"Hah... hah...!"
Breathing through her shoulders, she reset her grip on the Scissor Blade. In the corner of her vision, she saw the students closing the encirclement again.
(Damn it... if I only had Senketsu...)
The thought crossed her mind for what felt like the hundredth time.
That was when it happened.
"Ahaha, is that all? Without Senketsu, that's the best you can do?"
The voice rained down from above.
Ryuuko looked up.
The school rooftop. With the setting sun at her back, Harime Nui stood there. Her soft, pale-pink twin-tails swayed in the wind. Large blue eyes. A petite frame. The hem of her white dress fluttered.
Fingerless gloves on her fingertips. Her left eye hidden behind her bangs. She was smiling brightly. Her eyes weren't smiling at all.
"I went to all the trouble of inviting you, and you're struggling this much? You used to be so much stronger."
Nui raised her right hand. Between her fingertips, she pinched a scrap of black cloth.
A red light.
Senketsu's right eye.
Ryuuko's heart lurched. That cloth was unmistakably a piece of Senketsu. The large eye on the fabric glowed faintly—weakly, but definitely red.
"You bitch... How dare you take Senketsu..."
"Oh my, you should be thanking me. After that final battle, I went and picked up every last piece from space for you."
Nui waved the scrap of cloth back and forth.
"Senketsu isn't dead. He's just been torn apart. Seven pieces in all. Right eye, left eye, torso, right leg, left leg, right arm, left arm."
Nui's voice echoed across the courtyard. The students surrounding Ryuuko stopped moving entirely. They were waiting on Nui's words.
"Hey, Ryuuko-chan. Want to play a little game?"
Nui leaned out from the rooftop. So far that she looked about to fall.
"I hold all seven fragments. If you can collect them all, I'll stitch Senketsu back together. With my Healing Silk threads."
Healing Silk. Special threads only Nui could use—threads that sutured Life Fibers and repaired damaged Kamui and Goku Uniforms.
"...What's your angle?"
Ryuuko kept the Scissor Blade raised and glared at Nui.
"My angle? Isn't it obvious? Because it's fun."
Nui smiled sweetly.
"Just picturing you desperately hunting for the fragments is enough to make me laugh. And besides, Satsuki-sama will surely come to watch. If I'm here, she won't be able to stay away."
Satsuki.
Ryuuko's biological sister. After that final battle, she had vanished without a trace.
"Leave my sister out of this!"
"Oh my, already calling her your sister? What close siblings you are."
Nui's smile turned cold for just an instant.
"But you know, Ryuuko-chan. A game needs a wager. If you can't collect all seven—I'll take something precious of yours."
Ryuuko's fingers dug into the Scissor Blade's grip.
(Something precious...)
"...Fine by me. Let's do this."
Ryuuko said it clearly.
"I'll collect every fragment and bring Senketsu back. And then I'll play your little game."
"That's the answer I wanted."
Nui nodded, satisfied.
"Then let's start by having you play with a one-star, shall we? I'll show you to the underground arena."
Nui snapped her fingers.
The students surrounding Ryuuko parted as one, clearing a straight path to the school entrance.
"Follow me. It'd be boring if you got left behind."
Nui vanished from the rooftop.
Ryuuko hoisted the Scissor Blade onto her shoulder and started walking toward the school building. Her legs were heavy. Her whole body ached. But she couldn't stop.
(Senketsu... just wait. I swear I'll get you back.)
She made that vow in her heart.
The underground arena was on the third basement floor of the school building.
The moment she passed through the iron door, the air changed. Cold and clammy, reeking of mold. The walls were bare concrete, and naked light bulbs hung from the ceiling at regular intervals.
"What was this room originally?"
Nui asked without turning around.
"...How should I know."
"It used to be a place for performance-testing Goku Uniforms. Now we use it like this. See? Plenty of space, isn't it?"
Nui spread both arms wide.
The underground arena was about the size of the school gymnasium. The floor was dirt. There were no spectator seats—just a few old benches lined up against the walls. Aged lights hung from the ceiling.
In the center, a circle was drawn in white lines. A circle for duels.
"So which one's the one-star?"
Ryuuko looked around.
"He's already here."
Nui snapped her fingers, and a single student stepped out from the shadows in the corner of the arena.
A male student. Tall, with a solid build. A buzz cut. His Goku Uniform was a size larger than the others'. The shoulder armor was especially thick. On his chest, a one-star mark glowed.
"This is your first opponent. His name is... well, it doesn't really matter."
Nui said it as if she couldn't care less.
"Doesn't matter? He's your comrade, isn't he?"
"Comrade? No. He's a test subject."
Nui smiled sweetly.
"For the new Goku Uniforms. What happens when you raise the Life Fiber content too high. He's a precious test subject for collecting that data."
Ryuuko looked at the male student before her.
His eyes were vacant. His pupils were dilated, unfocused. His mouth hung slack, drool dripping from the corner.
(This guy... he's barely conscious anymore.)
"...How far gone are you?"
Ryuuko's voice dropped.
"Oh my, did I make you angry? But don't worry. If you win, I'll pull the Life Fibers out of his Goku Uniform. That'll bring him back to his senses."
Nui stared at Ryuuko, who stood with the Scissor Blade on her shoulder.
"Now then, let's begin. My cute little test subject and Ryuuko-chan's little game."
Nui took a step back.
The male student moved.
"U... uwoooooooh!"
A battle cry. He kicked off the ground and charged in a straight line. His speed was abnormal. The legs of the new Goku Uniform were driving his legs with several times the normal force.
Ryuuko leaped sideways.
Dogooh!
The male student's fist buried itself where Ryuuko had been standing. Dirt exploded, leaving a small crater in the ground.
(Brute strength...!)
Ryuuko landed and immediately put distance between them. The male student pulled his fist from the ground and charged at her again.
"Uwoooooooh!"
This time, a flurry of wild swings with both arms. Each blow tore through the air. Ryuuko dodged by a hair's breadth and retreated.
(If one of those lands clean, it'll break bones.)
Ryuuko reversed her grip on the Scissor Blade.
(Then I'll take him down before he lands one.)
Ryuuko stepped forward to meet the male student's charge.
Zan!
She deflected his arm with the flat of the Scissor Blade. The instant his stance broke, Ryuuko dove into his guard.
"Oryaaah!"
She drove the pommel of the Scissor Blade up into his solar plexus.
"Gufuh—!"
The male student's body folded like a jackknife.
But he didn't fall.
"U... uwoooooooh!"
Spitting blood, he swung his fist down again.
(It didn't work...?!)
Ryuuko instinctively leaped backward. But the male student's fist grazed her left shoulder.
"Gh...!"
Pain. The bone in her shoulder creaked.
(Is this guy not feeling pain?)
Clutching her shoulder, Ryuuko studied the male student. His eyes were as vacant as ever. Drool hung from his chin down to his chest.
(The new Goku Uniform's side effect... The Life Fibers are numbing his nerves.)
"What's wrong, Ryuuko-chan? Struggling against a one-star? How pathetic."
Nui's voice rang through the arena.
"Shut up! Just watch and keep quiet!"
Ryuuko shouted.
(I know I'm pathetic. With Senketsu, this would be over in a second. But...)
Ryuuko set the Scissor Blade in a center guard.
(Even without Senketsu, I can fight. If I don't fight, I can't take anything back.)
Ryuuko drew a deep breath
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