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“There!” Sanageyama shouted, finger shooting upward.
The crowd turned in unison, eyes drawn towards the sky. Even from this distance, there was no mistaking the red sparks filling the sky, crimson embers slowly burning a glowing trail among the clouds until they were suddenly extinguished, leaving nothing in their wake.
“What was it?” Satsuki demanded, turning expectantly to Sanageyama.
He squinted, relying on his sensory powers more than his eyesight. “It’s Matoi. She’s coming back…no, wait! She’s falling! Look!”
Whipping her head back towards the sky, Satsuki saw the listless body of her sister plummeting downwards, headed straight for Honnouji.
“Ryuko!”
No response came to her desperate cry. Dread filled her stomach, icy tendrils snaking their way through her gut as fear gripped her heart, setting her into motion. She began sprinting, the rough ground cutting into the soles of her feet.
“Snap out of it! SNAP OUT OF IT, RYUKO!” The shout ripped from her throat as she pushed herself even harder, ignoring the burning in her lungs and the fire in her limbs.
Faster. I have to move faster!
Ryuko had opened her eyes then, giving Satsuki a sense of hope.
She’s alive! She’s going to be alright! She’s--
Satsuki’s eyes widened as she mentally assessed the amount of time left before Ryuko crashed; based on her calculations, Ryuko would be landing sooner than she’d imagined, further away than she’d anticipated. Satsuki released a distressed scream as she pushed her body to its limits, reaching inhuman speeds. She felt as though her limbs were a blur, frantically propelling her forward.
“RYUKOOOOOOO!”
Just a little further. Come on, move! Just a little bit faster!
Ryuko seemed to sense it first; her eyes filled with terror, fixing Satsuki with a look that took her breath away. Satsuki watched as Ryuko’s face transformed from one of fear to something akin to apologetic, followed by a visage of peace. Brows furrowing, Satsuki outstretched her arms as she bolted forward. Tears sprung into her eyes.
I’m not going to make it. Oh god, I’m not going to make it!
Everything seemed to slow in those final moments; Satsuki became hyperaware of her pulse hammering through her entire body, sensed the way her long hair whipped behind her, heard the desperate slaps of her bare feet on the destroyed stadium floor, felt the heat radiating from the rapidly descending body of her sister, no doubt a result of traveling through the atmosphere at high speeds.
Fifty feet away, Ryuko gave Satsuki one last look, attempting to convey a myriad of emotions in the final seconds before she hit the ground. A sob broke from Satsuki’s throat as she watched Ryuko’s lips moving, leaving Satsuki with a final message before she crashed head first into the ground. Satsuki was launched backwards by the impact, her naked body rolling violently away from the newly formed crater, succumbing to a multitude of bruises and cuts in the process. When her body had stopped moving, she took a moment to recover. Her ears were ringing, her limbs felt uselessly gelatinous, her lungs struggled to function.
I failed.
She blacked out then, submitting to the dark numbness of unconsciousness.
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When Satsuki finally came to, her entire body ached. She had been moved; her body was resting upright against some upturned rubble. Ignoring the pain shooting through her entire body, she stood on shaky legs and slowly staggered towards the Elites, who were standing together not far from where she’d awoken. Sensing her approach, Nonon turned to face her; any words of consolation she could have offered were swallowed forcefully when she saw the deadened visage of her leader. Nonon nudged Inumuta, alerting the entire group of her presence. Automatically, the Elites split apart, forming a pathway to the only body that was still lying on the ground. Despite the way her body swayed with each step, they didn’t dare move out of formation.
Satsuki stopped abruptly over her sister’s body, eyes losing focus as she tried to control her breathing. Raising her arm, she gave a quick flick of her wrist before letting her hand fall limply against her side, dispersing the Elites and giving her privacy. Tentatively, she lowered herself down to her knees in front of Ryuko’s lifeless body.
The first thing she noticed was the streak in her hair; it was no longer a vibrant red but a dull, faded maroon, as though the blackness of her hair were bleeding into the red, tainting it. A shaky hand reached forward, two fingers outstretched, and palpated the neck of the girl lying beneath her, searching for a pulse. She flinched as her fingertips detected the coldness of Ryuko’s body.
She couldn’t find a pulse.
Any semblance of denial she had upheld until this point came crumbling down, making her shoulders shake with suppressed sobs. Gritting her teeth to stop herself from wailing, she reached out and slid a hand under Ryuko’s neck, pulling her upwards and cradling her carefully. Tears began streaming down Satsuki’s cheeks as she bumped her forehead against Ryuko’s. Desperation took hold of her then, causing her to grip her sister’s corpse tightly as sobs shook her frame. Time stopped as her world condensed to nothing but the two of them.
Unable to contain her grief, she allowed herself to cry as loudly as she pleased, filling the air with anguished wails and slurred pleas, begging someone, anyone, to allow her to switch places with the sister she’d just found and lost once again. She wept for what felt like hours, ignoring the sky darkening around her and the pleading of her friends to relinquish her grip and come in out of the cold. She did not even acknowledge their existence until Gamagoori’s strong hands wrapped around her body, attempting to lift her from the ground. Immediately Satsuki began lashing out, prompting Sanageyama to spring to action, restraining her arms to prevent them from flailing and injuring anyone.
“Put me down! That’s an order! Please! Let me go!”
Satsuki’s shouts echoed around the now empty stadium as she was carried towards shelter. Inumuta and Nonon carefully lifted the limp body from the ground, pretending not to notice the tears clinging to her pale skin, a remnant of Satsuki’s grief. Following the sound of Satsuki’s distressed screams, the two shortest Elites carried Ryuko indoors and placed her on a cot before covering the body with a spare blanket. Sounds of a scuffle ensued from a distance, followed by frantic footsteps echoing in the hallway; Satsuki appeared suddenly around the corner, pursued by a bloodied Gamagoori and a bruised Sanageyama. The crazed look in her teary eyes as she approached rapidly caused Nonon and Inumuta to flinch and back away from the obscured body.
Rising up to her full height, Satsuki took on her most commanding posture and visage before bellowing, “All of you! OUT!” The Elites scattered, unwilling to test their luck against their leader’s emotionally fueled strength.
Once they’d disappeared from her sight, Satsuki deflated and moved to the cot, lifting the blanket and sliding underneath before positioning herself on her side next to the still body. She ran her fingers gently through the fringe of Ryuko’s hair for a while, letting the motion soothe her frayed nerves and settle her into a state of numbness.
Before she knew it, she was recalling the moment before Ryuko had plummeted to her death: the emotions in her eyes, the changes of her facial expressions, the words she’d mouthed in her last seconds. Moisture sprung into Satsuki’s eyes once more as she reflected on the message her sister had relayed to her. Lifting her head to make sure no one was around, Satsuki peered around through the blur created by her tears before laying her head back down, mouth near her sister’s ear. For a few minutes she was silent until she was finally able to respond to Ryuko’s final imparted message. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her voice quavered and her heart ached with the weight of her admission.
“I loved you too, Ryuko.”