One More Time, One More Chance
is a Kill la Kill fic by RaineSage.
The Kiryuuin family has a dark hidden secret. Soichiro tried to get the word out, and now it's up to Satsuki to undo the wrong that her mother has done.
This is a look at an alternate universe where Satsuki is trying to find her younger sister, and trying to rebuild an entire life that's been lost for over a decade.
Tropes for One More Time, One More Chance:
- Adults Are Useless: With the exception of Rei and Satsuki, the staff at the orphanage and Ryuko's school do practically nothing to protect her from bullies and, in the latter case, especially, they bully her, too. Satsuki is really not amused with this trope.
- Afraid of Needles: Ryuko in chapter 8:“Blood sample? D-Don’t— Satsuki you can’t agree to this, I-I’m really scared of needles!!!”
- Chapter 14 takes this a little further to imply that she's Afraid of Doctors, which comes from some bad experiences in the past.
- Big Sister Instinct: A driving factor of the plot and, if there is something wrong with Ryuuko, Satsuki will stop at nothing to correct it.
- Broken Bird: Ryuko. This is made especially the case in chapter 9 where Ryuuko comes to think that Satsuki doesn't want her around.
- Companion Cube: Ryuko's stuffed rabbit, Senketsu. He also acts like her Security Blanket.
- Crazy-Prepared: In chapter 12. With her history of escaping and running away, Ryuko figures out that Satsuki anticipated this and took precautions, rendering her escape through the window moot, as the gate is closed and Satsuki has security outside the house.
- Cruel to Be Kind: In Chapter 12, Satsuki views bringing Ryuko to Honnouji Academy as this. She knows the latter hasn't had too many positive experiences at a school but she does know that, if Ryuko is to progress and become less dependent on Satsuki, she has to start attending school.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: True to canon and, according to later chapters, Ryuuko probably wouldn't have survived otherwise.
- Dark Secret: Ragyo had a baby in secret and left her abandoned in a village. From what's implied, her car accident was from her trying to find out where Ryuko was hidden to make sure that secret was kept hidden.
- Deadly Euphemism: While not deadly, the word "maltreatment" is a very serious one.
- Department of Child Disservices: Apparently, Ryuko was sent or adopted out to terrible homes (chapter 6 mentions her being "kept in a basement for someone's entertainment").
- Doorstop Baby: Ryuko was left on the doorstep of an orphanage by Souichiro.
- Emotional Regression: Ryuko is prone to throwing tantrums in much the same way a toddler would. This is a slight deconstruction, as, because of the abuse and mistreatment she's suffered, she hasn't learned proper coping mechanisms
- Freudian Excuse: Ryuko's antics are because she's been minus parents, mistreated, and moved around a lot.
- Foster Kid: Ryuko, as mentioned above.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: In Chapter six, Ryuko cuddles a stuffed rabbit.
- Homeschooled Kids: Discussed. Compared to Ryuko being bullied and getting into fights and dealing with terrible staff, Satsuki considers this as a better alternative. Confirmed in chapter 12, where Ryuuko gets a tutor. However, this is to be temporary.
- Internal Monologue: Ryuko has a lot of these, the which she argues with.
- Kids Are Cruel: Ryuko is bullied at the orphanage and at school. This trope is a reason as to why, in chapter 8, Satsuki decides to pull her out of it.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: How Ragyo killed Souichiro. It's not said exactly how she did this but we do know that she made it look like an "unfortunate accident".
- Noodle Incident: Played for drama. We do know that Ryuko's past before meeting Satsuki wasn't pleasant but this is played especially case in chapter 14 where there were some events where she had to go to the hospital and her experiences with hospitals were just as not nice.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Besides hitting her, it's not made clear as to what else her teachers did to Ryuko. Likewise, it isn't made clear exactly what happened in her previous foster homes either.
- Older Than They Look: Ryuko, according to chapter 11, is small for her age. Similarly, one would think her to be younger because of how she acts.
- Orphanage of Fear: Well, for Ryuko, anyway, as she isn't a favorite.
- Parental Abandonment: Soichiro was killed and Ragyo passed away in a car accident.
- Parental Neglect: While not her actual parents, the guardians and orphanage Ryuko stayed with failed to get her proper medical care, as we find out in chapter 14, where it's found out that Ryuko has missed out on a lot of vaccinations.
- Parental Substitute: Oruga (Satsuki's maid) plays this role to Ryuko in later chapters, being one of the few people Ryuko trusts.
- Poor Communication Kills: In chapter 7, when Ryuko is brought to her office, she initially thinks Satsuki that want to send her back to the orphanage. Actually, Satsuki was intending to take her out to lunch after her meeting.
- Primal Fear: Due to her experiences, Ryuko is afraid of the dark.
- Promotion to Parent: Satsuki resolves to make an effort and goes about some parental motions.
- Retail Therapy: Satsuki does with Ryuko in an effort to bond. She does it again in chapter 10.
- Sadist Teacher: As we find out, Ryuko's teachers have no qualms about picking on her either and, to add insult to injury, apparently, they went a more physical route with their treatment.
- Shown Their Work: Bullying and mistreatment can have pretty bad effects on the psyche, if Ryuko's case is an indication, especially since those things have started to have an effect on her sleeping and eating, along with that she's started puking.
- As touched upon in chapter 10, due to being mistreated and having no one to bond with during her formative years, Ryuko has an awfully hard time trusting.
- Chapter 11 has an accurate portrayal of night terrors and how distinct they are from nightmares.
- Shrinking Violet: Ryuko has some shades of this.
- Spell My Name With An S: For most of the fic, Ryuko's name is spelled "Ryuko" but, in the first few chapters, it was spelled "Ryuuko".
- Stress Vomit: A variant. Ryuuko is suffering stress from some sort of bullying or mistreatment at the school and she vomits.
- Tantrum Throwing: A brief flashback in chapter 13 mentions Ryuuko doing this with a vase.
- Tell Me About My Father: In chapters 6 and 14, Ryuko, having been abandoned when she was a baby, asks something akin to this. This leads into some Unpleasant Parent Reveal, as Satsuki tells her about how Ragyo was in life.
- Vague Age: Apparently, according to chapter 10, Ryuko is in her teens, although some of her behavior would imply that she's younger. Before that, the only clue we had to Ryuko being in that age range was an author note saying that Satsuki is about five years older.
