Chapter 24: The Clearing
Muko promises to make Kalita her tag partner by defeating her in their third fight.
Kalita refuses to become a Combagal and demands to be paid in a week, much to the dismay of Muko and Cookie. Unwilling to give up, Muko challenges Kalita to a rematch, demanding that the vixen become Muko's partner if Muko wins. Feeling reinvigorated by the fight she saw, Cookie takes Muko to the gym to begin her Combagal training. However, the events that transpire as they try to enroll Muko are something that neither of them saw coming.
- Amazonian Beauty: Patchwork is tall, muscular, and easy on the eyes. Muko gets a crush on her immediately.
- Bait-and-Switch: Cookie thinks that all of the rejections have to do with Trilamity Day. In reality, she's been forgiven enough to enter the gym. It's because of a Spotter article about her current Combagal that she has trouble getting in.
- Berserk Button: Muko despises being underestimated. She challenges Kalita to a third fight after being called a loser and told she was too weak to be her partner.
- The Bet: Kalita promises to get the money from Cookie within a week. However, Muko tells her that she will fight her and if she wins then Kalita will become her tag team partner.
- Boxing Battler: Implied with Patchwork as her gym, the Megaton Punch offers boxing as part of the services.
- Broken Pedestal: Matroshka says that she became this to her family and her fellow teachers after her relationship with Muko.
- The Bus Came Back: Several characters that didn't appear many chapters ago or were just limited as The Cameo via flashback or Imagine Spot return thanks to the Spotter article.
- Miho appears as an Intrepid Reporter in the Spotter article.
- Shira, Mel, and Tunky talk about Muko's time at Cafe Carrots. Mel and Tunky don't hesitate in badmouthing Muko while Shira looks guilty.
- Roora reappears, angrily recalling Muko spying on her and Fenny while they showered.
- Call-Back: There's lots of continuity in this chapter that is relevant to the plot.
- The Cameo: Shun, Nyarai, and the Cyclone Crushers appear in the Imagine Spot as Muko's future opponents. Nyarai also reappears in a footage of her fight with Muko. Donkizari also appears at the end of her Imagine Spot with her partner being shaded.
- Double Standard: Rape, Female on Female: Subverted. The Spotter paints Muko as a sex offender by having her perverted antics previously Played for Laughs now Played for Drama as all of the women she groped or peeked on angrily recall her actions against them. Matroshka even accuses Muko of manipulating her into thinking she was a lesbian to have sex with her, thus ruining her marriage, family, and career.
- Final Boss: Invoked by Cookie as she considers Donkizari as the last enemy that Muko has to defeat in her Combagal career.
- First Love: Implied with Matroshka as she and Muko had a Teacher/Student Romance that was implied a few chapters ago.
- Get Out!: Muko and Cookie are told to leave the gym three times. Most notably, the second one, an angry eel guy just yells at them to leave.
- Hidden Depths: Miho shows a surprising talent for journalism, essentially making a documentary about Muko's darkest secrets.
- Imagine Spot: Cookie has one of her and Muko climbing a mountain with temples as a fog slowly disappears, signifying her recovering her foresight and with her the ability of knowing what to do. She figures out Muko's future enemies (starting with Kalita, then with Nyarai and the Cyclone Crushers), which will move on until she faces Donkizari.
- Intrepid Reporter: Miho reappears, showing a knack for journalism as she investigates Muko's past, including some secrets about her background.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Kalita points out that Cookie has a revenge agenda against the Cyclone Crushers and that Muko won't become strong enough to be her partner in two months, meaning that she'll be forced to fight Skully and Bolouma on her own.
- Kick the Dog: Miho tries to destroy Muko's reputation by visiting former acquaintances to get dirt on her. None of them have anything nice to say about her. when she goes to Matroshka who reveals the Teacher/Student Romance she had with Muko, whereafter Miho paints Muko as a sex offender.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Kalita may be strong, but even she knows when she's outmatched. She knows that Muko won't be strong enough to reach the necessary fighting level to be her partner in two months and therefore she expects face a losing battle fighting Skully and Bolouma on her own.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The Spotter article is a poorly timed one for Muko as she underwent Character Development and the person responsible for the karma is not doing this for morality as she later incriminates Muko for the Matroshka incident.
- Mama Bear: Cookie is enraged upon finding out that the Spotter wrote another article to tarnish Muko's reputation.
- Never My Fault: Matroshka acts like Muko manipulated her into a relationship. This is in spite of the fact that she was an adult and Muko not being the manipulative type.
- Oh, Crap!: Cookie is worried upon seeing Muko's reaction to the Spotter article, so she takes her phone to give it a look. Her reaction is one of horror when she sees what they wrote about her.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Cookie believes that she and Muko are getting rejected by gyms because of the events of Trilamity Day. Having started to make peace with it after earning forgiveness from Muko, she's getting pissed at everybody not getting over it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Muko gets unusually quiet and sports a Thousand-Yard Stare upon seeing the Spotter article, implying that its contents about her were very hurtful.
- Perpetual Smiler: Patchwork has a cheerful expression on her face even she shoves Muko and Cookie out of the door.
- Persona Non Grata: Muko isn't welcome at any of the gyms she and Cookie visit because of the unflattering Spotter article about her.
- Pet the Dog: The third gym owner at least bothers explaining to Cookie why he can't train Muko, mainly because of the Spotter article. Likewise, despite shoving them out of the door Patchwork still wishes them luck at another gym.
- Race Fetish: Besides being happy that Patchwork is an Amazonian Beauty that she'll see every day, Muko is overjoyed that Patchwork is a bunny just like her. She spends the whole scene saying "bunny" and is disappointed and heartbroken when Patchwork's kicked out.
- Rage Breaking Point: After being rejected in two gyms, Cookie immediately loses her patience when they're rejected by the third one. She angrily points out that she's been punished enough for Trilamity Day. To his credit, the owner of the third gym points out that he's not rejecting her for Trilamity Day but for a Spotter article about Muko.
- Revenge: Kalita recognizes that Cookie has a grudge against the Cyclone Crushers and refuses to take part in her vendetta.
- Rule of Three: Muko and Cookie go to three gyms and they all reject to take Muko. By the third time, Cookie reaches her Rage Breaking Point and voices her opinion about it. They find out why...and it isn't pretty.
- The Scapegoat: Matroshka ends the chapter by painting Muko as a sex offender who manipulated her into a relationship, ruining her marriage and work to satisfy her desires by tricking her into thinking she was a lesbian.
- Sinister Silhouettes: The partner of Donkizari is portrayed as a shadow to keep her identity a secret. She does have an avian shape though.
- Smarter Than You Look: Miho is surprisingly enough great at research and journalism. Finding out stuff about Muko, like where she worked or where did she studied, and even finding out people who associated with her.
- Starter Villain: Muko and Cookie consider Kalita this, as she's the first opponent Muko needs to defeat to acquire a tag team partner. Fittingly enough, Kalita was also her first fight in the series.
- Taking the Kids: Matroshka claims that her husband left her and that he took her sons with him after the incident.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Muko used to be in a romance with her high school teacher, Mrs. Matroshka back in her senior year eighteen months before the start of the series. This caused her to drop out of high school.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Muko pulls a traumatized look when she sees the Spotter article, especially when it shows her personal life for everyone to see.
- Tragic Dropout: The chapter reveals that Muko dropped out of school eighteen months ago when she was a senior. It involved a Teacher/Student Romance that was discovered and it's implied that it complicated her family life for a while until the events of the main comic.
- Villain Has a Point: Despite her personal agenda to destroy Muko's reputation by using the Matroshka incident, Miho makes a valid point with the Cafe Carrots staff and Roora. Muko didn't control her impulses prior to her Character Development around attractive women. And just because she's resolved to be a better person doesn't mean they won't forgive her prior behavior, especially if they're unaware of the change.
