Ranma stumbles into a completely different friendship in junior high. Ranma's new best friend Makoto is a regular girl with an unorthodox vision. Ranma's curiosity, mischievousness and determination leads to a wholesale adoption of Makoto's favorite hobby - and together they are completely unstoppable!
Even if Makoto isn't there when Ranma steals the first piece of bread from Ryoga's grasp, she recognizes that Ranma has also stolen a piece of Ryoga's heart at the same time! Therefore, it is a sacred duty of Ranma and Makoto to team up and give the lost boy's heart exactly what it wants! Even if Ryoga hasn't found the truth himself.
The plan for Rivals-to-Romance hits a few snags along the way. Ryoga is a little bit too oblivious. Makoto is a little too excited. Ranma… forever remains a mess of contradictions. The heart beating in Ranma's chest might just not belong to a boy - and that means the whole plan is a wash… or needs someone else with a boy's heart to step in.
Note: Hi. 💙 I'm trying to learn how the forum works, for I have far future dreams of trying to run a quest, so this is a training thread with a story I'm currently writing. Hopefully things are in the right place, and get formatted right. This is very much a "crack taken seriously" kinda story, because "pathos makes the crack funnier". This AU also pushes the start of the manga forward in time and except for prologue takes place sometime in 2006. I'll add an information post about Makoto (she's something of a shared fandom OC). The story is also cross-posted on Ao3. All art is commissioned from Beedok. She's amazing.
Rivals' Kiss
Prologue
Lost
"Ryoga, over here!" a tearful girl's voice caught his attention. He had almost walked past, so focused was on his goal of finding Ranma, and finding the way back to Itabashi.
He swiveled suddenly to the side the voice came from, clipping his shoulder on the nearby brick wall of the building with a loud crack. The damage was minimal, and Ryoga barely registered the impact, so he just ignored it and focused on who exactly was calling for him… The voice was familiar, after all.
The girl was dressed in an unusual looking school uniform for Hokkaido. The girl had short wavy brown hair, wore a simple white button up shirt top and a dark skirt. She had a simple tote bag over her shoulder. Her face was red and eyes a little bloodshot. She'd clearly been crying.
Who hurt her? Ryoga couldn't see anyone else nearby. His heart already ached for the girl's tragic fate, whatever it was.
Then, suddenly, recognition struck.
He knew who the girl was - Ranma's girlfriend from the all-girls school next ward over. What was she doing in Hokkaido?
Ryoga took another look at his surroundings. No, he was no longer in Hokkaido, he must have missed the moment he crossed the river.
While approaching the girl, he'd stepped right into the abandoned lot.
This was where they agreed the fight with Ranma would take place.
He made it! Finally!
Ryoga looked around once more. He could see no sight of his rival. He focused back on the girl, who was turned so her stuffed tote bag was like a protective barrier between him and her. Her expectant gaze was quite intense, but Ryoga still managed to look her in the eyes.
Mostly.
"Ah-," Ryoga stammered out. "Where's Ranma?" he asked lamely. "Oh, and - er - are you alright Makoto? What happ-"
It was as if the sorrow in the girl's eyes was tossed aside in a split second after him opening his mouth. Her eyes suddenly lit up, gaze doubling in intensity.
"Aww, your very first words here were about your rival!" the girl all but shouted out in a sudden burst of excitement.
Ryoga flinched back half a step. He'd never learned how to exactly speak with this girl, whenever they met without Ranma. Sometimes he felt a little overwhelmed by her even when Ranma was around to mediate.
She was always a little too… everything. Ryoga sighed. "Ah - well - we agreed to-"
"Oh, Ryoga-kun, I'm so sorry, you missed him by a couple of hours," her voice shifted again in tone, growing sadder, but Makoto was still speaking a bit too quickly for his taste. "Ranma's father got him! You should have seen how Ranma fought him for that last chance to take you out! But that old-" She rubbed her face, and grimaced. "He just doesn't understand! You should have-" Makoto stopped suddenly and scrambled to find something in her bag. "Wait! I can show you!"
Ryoga's short lived anger spike about Ranma gloating how taking him out of the fight would be easily was undercut by the news.
"Ranma's dad did what?" he asked, a little lost. "But Ranma promised he'd wait for me, even if I was late!"
"He did wait! Look!" Makoto took a step forward and pushed something small and rectangular into his hands. And then, she did the thing that unsettled Ryoga the most about Makoto. She dropped her tote bag on the ground and started staring intensely right at him. The girl even clasped her hands together, and a strange excited grin played on her face.
Silently.
He looked at the little photograph.
Ranma was pictured there, in their school uniform, sitting on the edge of the half-broken wall, staring into the distance. In his hands there was a single white camellia flower, casually held at heart's height, so the little white blossom was visible from afar contrasted with the dark colors of the uniform.
In short… Ranma was being his usual weirdo self and posing!
There was also something about his eyes that was darker… more intense… maybe just the lights…
The photo had a tiny date printed on it, marking it as two days old.
Ryoga resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the whole thing. He offered the photo back, but Makoto shook her head.
"Keep it, he'd want you to," she said. "I'd give you the flower too, but Ranma's dad kinda stepped on it when they fought so it's ruined now. Kinda like our whole plan."
"Why would Ranma-" Ryoga sighed again. Clearly, Makoto had given Ranma the flower. What could be a reason for Ranma to dispose of it? Did they break up?
The girl once again dove into her bag. "Wait, don't put it away yet!"
Ryoga grumbled but complied. "When are they getting back?" he asked.
"They're not." Makoto took out a cheap camera out of her bag… and froze up. Her voice changed for the third time."I don't know…" she said slowly, for once not racing against herself to say everything she wanted, in short, speaking normally. Makoto sighed. "Ranma beat him back once yesterday, but… he didn't wanna sleep in case he missed you, and I know he stayed the whole night waiting… I had to run home and back, and I only got to see him fighting again before getting dragged off..." She put the camera back into her bag and slumped on the ground next to it. "It's so unfair!"
Ryoga sighed to himself, took a few cautious steps forward, and couched closer to Makoto.
He didn't know what to do… Makoto was always - a little weird and distant, but now… "Er-" he said and offered her the photo back again."Maybe you want to keep it after all? Ranma was your-" he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. Maybe he shouldn't bring up their break up so soon…
"No, really, you have to keep it, Ryoga," she said slowly. The edge of her lips twitched a little after saying his name, but it was gone quickly and she was once again rummaging her backpack, this time for tissues. However, even as she had them ready, she didn't use them. Instead, she shook her head and continued, "you have to have pictures of your rival with you!"
"I - fine." Ryoga put the picture into his pants back pocket.
"Dummy," Makoto said softly and chuckled quietly. "It will bend if you carry it like that. Don't you at least have a chest pocket or something to keep it close and safe?"
"Makoto-chan." Ryoga tried again, fighting a little blush on his cheeks, due to being close to a girl, even if she was Ranma's… even if her heart was now broken by Ranma's cruelty…
"I know," she said. "We knew it wasn't gonna last. It's still unfair! Ranma was my friend! He was your rival! We spent the whole week planning for this date!" She brushed a tissue quickly under her eyes, hiding it behind herself right after. "What a loss," she finished with a sigh.
"What?" Ryoga blinked a few times. "My challenge got in the way of your date with Ranma? I didn't know!"
Ranma broke up with Makoto right before their date? Unforgivable!
"Ryoga." Makoto suddenly looked straight at his blushing face. "You know that me and Ranma are just friends! We told you that! Ranma was free to be your rival, and I… I wouldn't be so cruel to date any boy and take him away from his true calling!"
"I thought-"
"Ranma was all about you, Ryoga."
"And now we won't even have our fight," Ryoga grumbled, once again a little lost in the conversation. "What do I even do now?" Avenge Makoto's broken heart?
"What fight?" Makoto asked. "What are you talking about, Ryoga-kun?"
"The challenge letter?" Ryoga replied, scratching at his head. "The one I gave Ranma last week after school? He said he would make up for all the bread he stole, remember? You… were there, taking pictures of him accepting the challenge letter from me, remember?"
"Oh, Ryoga," she said, and then mouthed something voicelessly. Then, she reached up to pat his shoulder twice. "Ranma would have made up for it all, yeah. That was the whole point! I'm sure he'll return to you! He has to! You're his rival, after all!"
"Maybe I can still catch up to them?" Ryoga said suddenly. "Sure, they've got a couple of hours of headstart, but maybe I could..."
Makoto smiled at him with a sudden, blindingly brilliant smile. "Yes!" she said. "Oh, this is perfect! Separated by Ranma's evil guardian, you have to go and find your destiny together!"
"Ranma!" Ryoga announced to the heavens. "I will find you wherever you go, and we will have our duel yet!"
There was a click from Makoto's cheap camera, which had suddenly appeared back in Makoto's hands, capturing his overly dramatic pose.
Ryoga looked at her, one eyebrow raised. He supposed Makoto must have liked it when people posed, otherwise she wouldn't have ever gone out with Ranma in the first place.
"Don't mind me," Makoto said simply. "You were saying things about Ranma. Please, continue."
"I- That was it?" Ryoga said. "Unless you want me to escort you home before I go after them.."
"Oh, no, no, my house is right there, you can see the edge of the roof from here," Makoto pointed to the opposite side of where Ryoga imagined her home ward was in relation to Itabashi. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."
"Good," Ryoga said, and stood up, dusting himself off. "You said they went that way, right?" He adjusted the backpack and started the run. He couldn't waste time here, not if he wanted a chance to catch up quickly!
"No, wait, I didn't, you're going-"
But Ryoga didn't really listen anymore… He needed to catch up to Ranma, force an apology out of him for all of the stolen bread and even more importantly, for breaking Makoto's heart so much she was now sworn off boys all together!
It would be nearly two years until he saw either Ranma or Makoto again.
A quick interlude with information and I'll post the actual Part I / Chapter I.
All art in this story is commissioned from Beedok - she's honestly amazing to work with, I only wish I had more money to commission her even more. I'll probably post the art in separate post tagged as media later, but keep them in the story too, where appropriate, too. Not sure on how to best arrange that yet. I'm trying to navigate the forum, it's been a while since I've used one.
One exception to above is the proof of Makoto's existence in the manga I'll post in this post alone.
Let's move on to Makoto!
If you're wondering just who this Makoto OC is... she's totally a manga character.
Look:
Here she is, all excited about the two pretty boy rivals!
Wait, I hear you ask, how do you know her name is Makoto? I... don't. The Manga never gave her an actual name. After all, she only appears in two panels next to Akane.
Yes, Makoto, it's horribly unfair.
The name Makoto comes from voiced background character lists in the old anime, but the idea of fujoshi Makoto was born, like a lot of nice Ranma fanfiction legents, from en_passant and ThrashJazz.
In that sense, she's an ascended extra with a gimmic.
Then, I exaggerated it all a little, and drew her into the spotlight together with Ranma.
So yeah! That's Makoto! She's a fujoshi! And in this AU, Ranma's best friend!
p.s. I've been using this reaction image for any boy/boy RanRyo content for almost the whole month, and people haven't thrown me out of the discords I do it in, so feel free to use it too. Remember to mention this one is from Beedok if you can:
"Hey. Join me in the dojo?" The girl with long, dark blue hair smiled with a cute smile as she beckoned Ranma to follow. "I'm Akane. Wanna be friends?"
"Sure!" Ranma beamed, but dashed with lightning speed to fetch her travel pack first, and only then followed after Akane towards the Dojo. Her excitedly swaying black ponytail danced with every step taken.
Akane gestured towards the heavy backpack. "Have a gi you're gonna change into?" she guessed.
"Nah," Ranma said. "I can't leave my stuff alone like that, what if something goes missing?"
Akane crossed her arms and her face hardened even as she didn't stop walking. "Are you accusing my family of something?"
"No, no way," Ranma hurried to explain. "It's just a bit of bad luck has been following me this month and I really, really don't wanna give my pops any chance to throw anything else away!" Ranma gritted her teeth. "He's the worst, most irresponsible and an absolutely horrible father with no understanding of what is valuable in the world! An eternal criminal and monster is what he is! I wouldn't wish him on anyone!"
"I- I'm sorry," Akane said, taken a little off guard by Ranma's fervor against her parent. "But he's not here yet, is he?"
"As if being away has ever stopped the guy from getting in my way!" Ranma growled, and clenched her traveling pack even closer to herself. "I look away for one second and the old ass has already torn off a few pages from my Ranmaru's doujinshi and used them as kindling! Oh, I'll never forgive him! So what if it was stained a little! That's what happens when you travel so much! All to get some fire for boiling a kettle - and it wasn't like it mattered, we still got soaked in the rain soon after!"
"What?" Akane blinked a few times, trying to understand the agitated girl, even as they finally entered the dojo proper. "Ranmaru? Who?"
"Yeah, they're the best." Ranma sighed wistfully, her rant diffused near-instantly. "No chance of getting anything of theirs abroad, but now that I'm back in Tokyo… Maybe I'll catch them at the next Comiket! I'll have to save up a little, but if we stay here long enough, I'm definitely going. I've heard they're working on a new story right now and I'm not missing it, even if I have to crawl all the way there!"
Akane let out an awkward chuckle. "If you're around Furinkan by the end of december, I can spot you the train fare. A few of my classmates go each year. We could even go together, if you want."
Ranma all but disappeared from where she stood, and reappeared holding onto Akane's hands, eyes sparkling with glee. The pack was suddenly secured on the girls back, too. The gust of wind from the sudden movement was strong enough to lift up Akane's hair for a second. "You would do that for me? Even if we just met?" Ranma squeezed Akane's hands twice and smiled. "I would be in your debt!"
Akane's eyes narrowed. "Wow, you're a fast one," she said, clearly re-evaluating the other girl. "I wanted to ask if you know any kempo, but I guess now I'm sure you can move."
"Yeah, I train a lot," Ranma said and let go of Akane. "Sorry, I got a little excited, I didn't have anyone to speak about this for almost two years! Well, there was that woman in this little shop in Korea, but she barely spoke any Japanese so I don't think that counts."
"We… don't have to spar, you know," Akane said, and sighed. "We could go to my room, instead. I don't really read that much, but Yuka just gifted me a first volume of Kashimashi-"
"No, no," Ranma waved her hands, interrupting Akane. "You wanted a spar, it could be fun, let's do that. We can talk and fight at the same time, right?"
Akane thought about it. "You'll have to do most of the talking, then," she said. "I want to focus so I don't hurt you by getting distracted or something."
"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine," Ranma said, glancing at her bulging backpack and back at Akane. Didn't take it off, keeping the whole weight on her shoulders. "I'm ready."
Akane's eye twitched as she realized Ranma wasn't planning on taking the backpack off at all. However, she swallowed the little insult and offered a tiny grin of her own. "So what's Ranmaru known for?" she asked. "I think I've heard the name before, but I'm blanking a little."
Just as soon as Ranma opened her mouth to reply, Akane charged in.
"Well, the one pops ruined, Torakoko…" Ranma ducked and evaded the first strikes with ease."It's their very first published work, you know?"
Akane took a few quick steps back as Ranma got suddenly closer, chattering intensely but not actually attacking.
"So there's this down on the luck thief that can steal just about anything," Ranma continued talking at lightning speed, all while beckoning for Akane to go on the offensive. "He gets challenged to steal a noble samurai's heart by a demon in disguise - and takes up the challenge, because he thinks he can steal literally anything!"
"That's - a little - familiar-" Akane barely managed between a flurry of powerful kicks that Ranma leaped over with seemingly little effort, even while weighted down by the heavy looking backpack. She even pushed off her highest kick to leap over head, landing on the other side of Akane. The dark blue haired girl snapped around quickly to raise her guard up, but there was no attack yet. "You like - adventure-?"
"Oh, it's an adventure alright!" Ranma said, eyes sparkling. "So!" Her hand dashed forward suddenly, slipped through Akane's hastily put up defences and delivered a quick but strong push right in the middle of her torso, sending Akane sliding back on the floor. "He slips into the castle undetected, sneaks past all of the guards and protections. Attacking from the shadows he snatches the heart right out of the samurai's chest in one attack, and holds it in his palm!"
Ranma posed all dramatic and proud as if holding something in her hand.
Akane shook her head, grinned and charged back, putting all she could into the attack
Instead of dodging, which Ranma clearly could have done, she blocked. The strike was powerful, and even though it was deflected, it still pushed Ranma back.
"Ow. Good punch," Ranma quipped quickly, before suddenly grabbing onto her own chest as if in sudden pain.
Akane's face blanched and she lowered her guard. "Oh no, was it too-"
"But the samurai knew that a demon was hunting him!" Ranma announced theatrically. "He had prepared a technique that reflected every attack back to its source, long before the thief was in the castle! And so, the sly thief was suddenly defeated by his own greatest attack!"
"You little-" Akane grumbled, but the smile returned to her face. She didn't return to a fighting stance. "Sounds like a very short story, that."
"No, that's when the demon revealed himself and bound them both to servitude with an evil spell!" Ranma said, dropping the dramatic heart-clutching pose. "So to get their hearts back, they have to serve him together for a hundred years! And that's just the first chapter!"
"It does sound kinda interesting," Akane allowed. "I give up."
"Why?" Ranma tilted her head to the side. "You're alright. A little slow, but strong! Not as strong as my Ryo was, but you know, nothing a bit of extra training wouldn't fix!"
"You're pretty good, to be able to toy with me like that." Akane grumbled, even as she looked a little curious. "I'm just glad you're not a boy. Who's this Ryo?"
"Ryoga Hibiki," Ranma said, growing a little still as she tried to formulate a better response than just a name. "He's kinda my- a little- he's… Look, it's complicated. He's strong, has a cute brooding face, and let's leave it at that for now. What have you got against boys?"
"I hate them," Akane said, a little blush creeping into her face, as she clearly was imagining something based on Ranma's little response. "Why are-"
"That's great," Ranma interrupted. "If a cute girl like you doesn't want any boys, that just means they're gonna be all sad and will have to look for comfort in each other's arms! It all works out for the better!"
"Oh." Akane rubbed her eyes. "I… see?"
"So," Ranma took off her backpack into her hands, and started rummaging inside for something. "What now? Want me to show you the masterpiece?"
"I-" Akane sighed. "I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"You did say it sounded interesting!" Ranma grasped onto something inside her pack. "Ha!"
Suddenly, in Akane's hands there was… something that might have once been a book.
It was a mangled, darkened mess of paper that had to have seen better days. There was a puncture hole though the whole thing. At some point, the book had to have taken a swim in something, and while it had been dried up and cleaned up, it still sported damage and discoloration that made the back cover indecipherable. The front cover and a good chunk of the first few pages was missing entirely.
"Kami, what happened to your book? Is that all your dad's doing?" Akane looked horrified.
Ranma rubbed at the back of her head. "I told you we swam to China from Japan - I packaged it wrong, and some water seeped in, and I couldn't get it to look right, as much as I tried to dry it in the sun! I don't remember when exactly I lost the front cover - it should say 'Wager the Stolen Heart of Honor'... The hole is from an arrow - there's this weird Chinese warrior girl-" Ranma stopped. "You know, it doesn't matter. Open it, look at the art!"
"If there's anything left to look-" Akane mumbled before opening it at the least damaged looking spot and froze.
Neither of the girls spoke for a bit, as Ranma was throwing glances in turn to the open page and Akane.
"Well?" Ranma asked, eyes sparkling with excitement.
Akane's face flushed redder than Ranma had ever seen. The little banged up book slipped and fell from her hands.
Ranma dove to catch it before it touched the floor.
"It's… porn?" Akane stammered out weakly.
"It's all about love!" Ranma corrected, cradling the book close to her chest. "It's all about reigniting the stolen flame of their hearts! Did you notice how well they drew the muscles? Almost popping out of the page! And you should look at how Ranmaru handles the fights, they really know their stuff!"
"I remember now." Akane slapped a hand right into her face. "That's why I thought I'd heard the name before. I've seen one of their books before."
"You have? Which one? The Honor Blade is my favorite! Did you like it? Have you read anything else of theirs?"
"Kami give me strength," she said instead of replying to any one question, rubbing her temples. "Ranma and Ranmaru, huh? Any relation?"
"I wish!" Ranma replied, smiling. "Haven't met them. Don't even know if they're a girl or a boy. But I think about them every time I write my name in hiragana! I really hope to get something with their autograph one day! So, did you like any of their works? I've got two more in the pack-"
"Not really my type," Akane said, the flushed cheeks still not fully recovered. "Sorry."
Ranma shook her head, but she didn't look insulted. Instead, she was beaming a bright, cheerful smile back at Akane. "I guess that means you're like my rival now." She giggled, undercutting her own announcement. "Don't worry, I'll help you train as long as I'm around. You'll catch up in no time."
Akane's eyes lit up. "You will? It's been so hard to find anyone willing to spar who'd be anywhere close to my level!"
"Sure, sure, I told you I would." Ranma grinned. "Can I ask for a little favor in return?"
"Go ahead."
"Could I stash my backpack in your room for a while?" Ranma asked. "Pops would think twice about stealing from another girls' room like that, and I'm gonna take a leap of faith here and trust you to keep it safe."
"Sure." Akane nodded. "Let's go back to the house then, my room's on the second floor. If you want, you can browse what little manga I have, while I'll pop back down for a bit. I just don't know if anything will be to your… taste."
"Ooh," Ranma clapped her hands together and grinned. "I'm sure it beats the selection I had in the middle of Tibet! Got any manga magazines, maybe?" She crossed her fingers. "Oooh, maybe you've got an issue or two of Dear Plus? I've missed it so much!"
Akane shook her head and chuckled. "Nope, sorry."
Reunited
"Who was that guy?" Ranma asked, running leisurely on the top of the fence.
"Dr. Tofu, the chiropractor." Akane replied while matching Ranma's pace on the ground. "He's an excellent doctor."
"And a martial artist, too! Is he, by chance, dating any cute tall boys? He would look real good with-"
"Ranma!" Akane shouted out angrily. "Don't you dare finish that sentence!"
"Isn't he a man? I thought you said you hate men! Why would you-"
"Ranma!" Akane repeated. "You're already on thin ice with me, after what you pulled last night! Don't start now! Dr. Tofu is not for your… entertainment, alright?"
"I said I was sorry!" Ranma replied even as she winced. Yeah, I could have handled yesterday better, she thought. "I'll get pops to break it off - I promise! But this way I get to stay in one place for a bit, and I really, really don't wanna miss this year's Comiket! If I flaked on his scheme, he'd drag me somewhere abroad again, I know it! Please, Akane, just for a few more months!"
"Fine." Akane said and growled. "But if you let anything about the engagement slip at school, we're no longer friends, you hear?!"
"Yeah, yeah, I said I'd keep my mouth shut, I swear. Thanks again for having my back there, I'll be sure to pay you back," Ranma said. "I didn't think it would be such a big deal if people knew. It's all just in our parent's heads anyway," he added quieter.
"Easy for you to say, since you have absolutely no shame." Akane grumbled. "If it gets out that I'm engaged to a girl, I-"
"But- er-" Ranma pointed at herself, very much boy-shaped. "Did you forget why we went to Dr. Tofu in the first place? To turn me back into a boy!"
"Yeah, no one's gonna buy that you're a boy, Ranma," Akane chuckled. "Not after you open your mouth. Our parents don't count, they're… their own kind of frustrating."
"Hey, I'll have you know that when I want to, I can make for a pretty convincing boy!" Ranma protested.
"Cha!" Akane let out a short laugh. "Pretty convincing? Maybe, but not for long."
"I was born as one!" Ranma protested. "I've gone to an all-boys school! You can't just-"
"I'm sure you were in your little dream world while there!" Akane bit back angrily. "Surrounded by all the damned boys all the time!"
What did I do now? Ranma thought, but she was soon given proof that Akane's anger wasn't really directed at her. What's that noise ahead? Sounds like a crowd, running towards us?
"If you like boys so much, you can take all of them!" Akane shouted, suddenly breaking into a sprint. "Because I really - despise - MEN!"
A torrent of boys poured out of the school gates, and Akane charged right into the middle of them. A whole lot of them started shouting something about defeating Akane first.
"Out of the way, I'm late," Akane bellowed back right as her fist connected with the first boy's face, and the intense beat down started.
Ranma hesitated. "What a waste," she said and jumped on the fence to watch.
"Ranma! Come ahead to school!" Nabiki shouted from a balcony above. A handful of students were spectating the fight from it, probably from Nabiki's class. "Don't worry about Akane!"
Ranma gave her a quick wave "In a bit," she shouted back, and then turned her attention back to Akane's fight.
This won't last long. Ranma spent a little time scanning Akane's opponents one by one. It was way too early to say if any of the boys were worth anything outside getting their asses kicked. Maybe there were a few with potential, but the willing participation in an assault like this was a clear black mark against them anyway.
"Akane, throw him a drop more to the left," she shouted out suddenly, and watched with satisfaction as her friend listened. The throw, adjusted at the last second, propelled the boxing club member right into the welcoming grasp of a slightly taller black-haired wrestler.
Rannma dashed to stand by the two boys' side as they fell down and watched as they unsuccessfully tried to disentangle from each other. "Why are you wasting your time with this?" she asked, looming over the two prone boys. "You're not beating Akane anyway, why not just look for someone much closer?"
"What?" The wrestler grimaced and tried to grab onto Ranma's leg, so she vaulted over to sit on the boxer's back, pressing both boys into the ground and each other.
"Hey, I'm just saying you could be cute together," Ranma explained matter of factly. "Save yourselves some heartache and all."
The two boys grunted something incomprehensible.
Ranma shrugged and leaped off from the two to stand next to Akane, who was just about done. "Wow, boys at your school are really something else," Ranma offered just as Akane knocked out the last boy standing. "And I thought my old all-boys school was bad."
"Same thing every morning," Akane huffed out, slightly winded.
The field was completely cleared of able challengers. Those who could, were crawling away, those who couldn't were recovering on the ground. No one beside Akane and Ranma was standing.
Ranma's gaze lingered on the impromptu couple she'd nudged together on impulse, and noted with a tinge of satisfaction that the boxer was helping the wrestler stand straight and limp away from the epicenter of the carnage.
She was so distracted by that line thought, she almost completely missed the arrival of the new opponent. Akane and… Kuno exchanged a few words that Ranma didn't fully catch. Something about asking Akane on a date? Ranma was a bit distracted by the fact that the boy was playing with a rose next to his lips. He wasn't bad looking, tall and well-built, but the pompous tone of voice was a little grating on her.
"You there!" Kuno suddenly pointed towards her, still holding a rose in his extended hand. "Why are you snooping around me and fair Akane?"
Oh! Ranma was caught pacing around Kuno without thinking. Now that she was in the spotlight, she understood just what exactly was wrong. Right. Think like a boy. Let's do it.
Ranma blinked twice and when he opened his eyes next time he was ready. He snatched the offered rose in a blink of an eye, and repaid with what he knew was his most charming smile. "Thank you," Ranma said out loud, affecting a slightly rougher and lower voice than his natural one.
The weird boy's eyes widened.
"Ranma. What are you doing?" Akane hissed at him.
"I can't say no to a rose from a boy, Akane," Ranma explained, matter-of-factly. "Even if he's not my type, a rejection could break his heart, and he might stop trying to find true love in another boy's arms."
"Stop trying?" Akane barked out a short laugh. "Him? Yeah, right."
"That rose was for my dearest Akane!" Kuno shouted out, this time brandishing the sword right at Ranma. "Thief and scoundrel! Your crimes are mounting by the second! Being this familiar with Akane without explanation, and stealing a trinket of my affection for her…"
Ranma glanced quickly at Akane and winked, before turning back to face Kuno. "I do not think she wants your little trinket," he said cheekily, and quickly pinned the rose behind one of the decorative straps of the frog button on his silk shirt. The red-on-red didn't look striking enough, but it was the gesture that mattered. "Your affections would be better served when directed elsewhere," he tried to match Kuno's tone a little.
"Who are you-? You lowlife! Who do you think you are to talk to me like this?" Kuno roared, as dark clouds gathered overhead. "I am Tatewaki Kuno, Captain of the Kendo Club, the Undefeated New Star of the High School Kendo World. My peers call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" Lightning cracked in the sky. "As the Descendant of the Noble Samurai, I cannot let your insults stand."
Kuno darted forward, his wooden sword swishing through the air in a powerful strike.
Ranma jumped and somersaulted backwards, dodging the strike and making quite a bit of space for himself. "My name is Ranma Saotome," he announced mid air. Right before landing, he wiggled out of his backpack and threw it towards Akane. "Here, guard it for a bit! Thanks!"
Akane caught on instantly, snatching the backpack from the air with a loud fwap. "Wow. What do you even have in there?" she asked, as she tested the weight of the bulging backpack. "Weren't you complaining that you don't have any textbooks yet… during breakfast?"
"Just the essentials," Ranma replied, shrugging. He turned most of his attention to Kuno. "Descendant of the samurai?" he repeated the claim, and grinned, remembering a little quote from Torakoko. "No true samurai seeks the touch of the woman before finding honor in a man's embrace," he quoted the thief, speaking on an even lower note than before.
Thunder cracked overhead once more, and Kuno recoiled as if wounded by the words.
In the school building, more and more students were gathering by the windows, and Ranma could hear little bits of and pieces of excitement from the impromptu audience. It seemed that Kuno was at least thought to be a strong opponent. Maybe this will be a fun challenge.
Ranma was growing excited about the fight. And if he could get this Kuno to consider broadening his horizons somewhere away from Akane - all the better.
Then, he heard it. A faint, but very familiar gasp somewhere above.
"Ranma!" a voice he… A voice she hadn't heard for years echoed in her head. The girl shouting wasn't loud, but Ranma recognized her all the same. "It's you!"
Ranma's eyes snapped up - and there, on the third floor a window was open, and a girl in Furinkan's girls uniform was waving at him, a pair of binoculars dangling from a strap by her hand.
Kuno said something.
Ranma didn't listen.
She darted towards the school, ducking under Kuno's blade, and then jumping over a follow up strike. Annoying. As she landed on the ground, her leg lashed out close to the ground, and even as Kuno tried to block the kick, she was much faster. No time for playing.
The lightning fast leg sweep robbed Kuno of his balance, and Ranma delivered a swift elbow strike as Kuno fell, with her second and final high knee kick ensuring the boy was denied his weapon. The wooden sword flew over the brick wall, outside of the school grounds.
"Akane," Ranma shouted out without looking back, gesturing for her backpack, even as she returned to the mad dash towards the school. "I'm coming!" she shouted loudly towards Makoto, letting her excitement bubble up in her voice.
"Dummy," Akane said softly, and tossed the backpack so it would sail overhead, towards where Ranma was running to. "Of course they'd know each other," she added quietly to herself.
Ranma jumped, caught the backpack in the air, and then started leaping up. First, she landed on Nabiki's little balcony, barely had the presence of mind to throw Nabiki a quick wave, and leaped off again.
A couple more bounces, and she overshot the window she wanted to get to, but it was an easy fix. She let herself go, fell for a short and exciting moment, then caught the top frame of the window at the very last moment, and let the momentum swing her right inside. She almost barreled into Makoto, evading the girl by a hair's breadth.
Sometime in that whole mad dash to reach her best friend, she lost the flower stolen from Kuno, but she didn't care.
"Hey," Ranma said awkwardly, smiling brightly, opening her arms for a hug. The backpack dangled from her right hand.
The other students were staring. Ranma didn't care.
Makoto tackled her. She didn't have much space to get a running start, so it was more like she fell forward and bumped into her embrace.
Ranma spun her around twice, and then placed her down.
Both of them giggled.
And then they both tried speaking at the same time. Each talking fast and excited, as if trying to win a race against time.
"I looked for-"
"I was afraid-"
"You in Itabashi-"
"The postcard-"
"The second I got-"
"From Korea was-"
"A chance-"
"The last time-"
Neither understood each other. They both were exactly on the same page.
Outside, it started raining.
Ranma didn't even try to hide her tears. "Hey, we're in the same school this time," she said and chuckled. "Easier to sneak into your class, when I'm an actual transfer student."
The whispers were getting louder, and the other students were moving closer by the second. Neither Ranma nor Makoto paid them any attention yet.
Makoto grabbed onto Ranma's left hand, and clutched it in both of hers. "What about Ryoga? Tell me you found each other!"
"Not a single sign of him in almost two years," Ranma sighed. "Face it, Makoto, he basically stood me up. It was a nice dream, but it wasn't gonna happen and I've-"
"He didn't!" Makoto shouted louder, her hands trembling, sending shivers up Ranma's arm. "I was there - it was so romantic, he was ready to search heaven and earth for you! He set out after you that very same day!"
Akane burst in through the classroom door, almost barreling aside the homeroom teacher, making it in just as the chime announced the start of the period. She was slightly winded, having run up the whole three floors inside the building.
"Ryo-was?" Ranma exclaimed. "You need to tell me everything!"
Only then she suddenly became aware of how close everyone had gotten, listening in to every word, eyes wide.
Akane's arrival had worked like a signal for action. No one pretended they were gonna prepare for a lesson in an orderly fashion. Instead, the little crowd had gone feral being ignored for so long, and surged forward as one. The majority of the students rushed to Ranma and Makoto, but some even chose to go and bother Akane. Everyone had a dozen questions. All at once.
Ranma twisted her palm - before, Makoto had been holding onto her hand, but now when everyone was being pushy, she didn't wanna risk being pushed apart and grabbed hold of her hand more firmly. This is such a mess.
"Makoto, didn't you go into an all-girls school before this one?" a classmate asked.
Makoto's expression grew worried too.
"Are you a couple?" one boy asked, all but shouting into Makoto's ear, and the brown haired girl flinched.
We need to get out.
Ranma tugged Makoto's arm very gently but it was enough to get her attention, even in the bubbling mess of questions. "Do you still trust me?" she said, mouthing the question more than saying it aloud.
"Who's Ryoga, your boyfriend?" A different girl cooed.
Makoto caught Ranma's eye and nodded.
"Akane, did you actually come with them?" a boy demanded.
"Did he really win against Kuno?" a girl wanted to know.
Ranma blurred into action once more.
"You're a girl, right?" someone asked the empty air where Ranma had just stood. "Or a b-"
Moving as fast as she could, Ranma swooped Makoto into her arms and jumped right out the window she had just come in though.
Into the rain.
It took a second for the whole class to surge back to the windows. In that time, Ranma had already successfully stuck the landing, slid to a stop on the ground, even as she grew a little shorter, transformed by the rain.
Her black hair from a distance was all the classmates saw - and then she and Makoto disappeared behind the corner of the building.
"I don't know where I'm headed," Ranma said, as he took a few big leaps with Makoto in a cradle carry, not even taking them out of the school territory yet. Wow, this school is big. "Got any ideas before we get completely soaked?"
"There," Makoto pointed to a separate building. "Get in through the bottom window. The P.E. equipment room should be empty for a bit!"
A short while later, Ranma was furiously taking out everything out of his school backpack. She had never let go of it and now needed to check each book for any damage the rain might have caused.
Well, for any additional damage. The rain hadn't really had time to soak through the sturdy backpack, but that didn't mean the books were in a remotely good condition.
"Oh, Ranma," Makoto said, voice shaking in sympathy as she surveyed the extensive long-term damage on display.
Makoto had just finished drying her face on the inside lining of Ranma's old jacket. They didn't have any towels and Makoto had left her things in the classroom, so Ranma had offered the backup jacket. It wasn't perfect, but it was clean and thus the best thing they got. The jacket was the single piece of the old all-boys school uniform that Ranma had kept, and was clean enough for the job.
"What happened to your books?!" Makoto asked.
"Almost two years on the road, that's what!" Ranma grumbled, dejected. "Quite a bit of bad luck, too. I try to keep them with me all the time - it's not my fault my life's a mess!"
"Think you're gonna be moving again soon?" Makoto asked.
"Probably. I'm trying to keep pops happy and convince him to stay at least until the end of the year, but you know how he can be."
Makoto nodded. "Say, Ranma…"
"Yeah?"
"Weren't you a little taller, before?" she asked. "Did you do your outfit trick and hide some platform boots you had been wearing? And wow, your girl disguise is so perfect this time, I didn't even catch it when you changed."
"Oh, that," Ranma shrugged. "Just a little curse I picked up in China, not a disguise."
"A curse?! Are you gonna be alright?" Makoto asked. "You're not in danger from it? Can it spread?"
"Fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl," Ranma said, still not done taking out all of the damaged treasures hidden in the backpack. "Turns me into a real girl whenever I get splashed with cold water. It's perfectly safe, but a little annoying sometimes. And no, it can't spread - and even if it could, you're already a girl."
"A real girl?" Makoto stared directly at Ranma's face, then glanced at Ranma's chest, then, a tiniest hint of a blush appeared on her face and she quickly turned her attention back upwards. "Oh wow, I have so many que-"
"Found it," Ranma said, interrupting her best friend's impromptu question session before it even began. "I'll tell you all about the curse later."
Makoto looked back down, at the little manga booklet with two pretty men drawn on the cover, one tall and dark haired, and the other shorter, silver haired and with animal ears, barely visible though the blooming red tree branches above their heads.
It was wrapped in a see-through plastic bag, and was in a much better state than all of the other books. Didn't have any holes in it at all, unlike most of the others.
"Falling Snow Becomes White?" Makoto read the title, curiosity spiking in a different direction.
"I wanted to get you something, for when we actually met again," Ranma said, giving the book to Makoto. "I didn't know if you were getting my postcards at all, so when I originally got you the Kiss Me Princess in Korea… I didn't dare send it out, but… I should have - it got banged up with everything else. There was this annoying Chinese martial artist girl - Shan Pu. She kept chasing me and Pops and trying to kill us…"
"Kill you?" Makoto asked, eyes widening, as she shuffled her grip on the wrapping, too distracted to tear off the little piece of duct tape holding it together.
"A big mess of a misunderstanding, mostly," Ranma waved her hand, trying to calm Makoto down. "It was honestly fine, only a little dangerous, and good awareness training! Except this one time she had a bow, and ambushed us at a bad time - made a pincushion out of my travel pack! I couldn't bring you a book that was in pieces!"
Makoto covered her mouth. "Oh no."
"Yeah. I was so angry, I knocked her out with her own dumb bow." Ranma grimaced at the memory. "She kept a little more distance after that one, and we finally lost her when we swam for Taiwan. So…" She pointed at the book in Makoto's hands. "Didn't have as many choices or time to be picky in Taiwan, but I still got you a little something. I even managed to keep it dry through the whole swim back home!"
"Thank you, Ranma," Makoto said, eyes glinting. "I don't have anything for you here, but I've tried to always get two copies of each of the books I liked, you know, for when you get back." She finally unwrapped the book, opened it and giggled. "Oh, this takes me back."
Ranma chuckled too. "Yeah. That's kinda why I picked it. It's in Mandarin, but we should be able to read at least some of it anyway. I've picked up a few words on the road, too."
"Gonna help me, then?" Makoto asked, as she gestured towards a pile of sports mats by the window. The sparse light from outside coupled with a little ceiling lamp was strong enough to read it inside. "Until the rain stops?"
Both girls plopped on the top of the mat pile, getting comfortable with the little book.
"You won't have any issues?" Makoto asked, as her eyes skimmed the first couple of pages.
"Hey," Ranma protested. "So what if our first time wasn't the best. I was… a bit desperate to like whatever you showed me. You know, first real friend and all. Besides, there's no missing memories in this one. Just a little silliness. I'll be fine."
"I- meant," Makoto pointed at the fox demon boy's ears. "You'll be fine with those?"
"Oh, that." Ranma shrugged. "I'm way better about… cats than I was four years ago."
Makoto looked at her.
"Fine. Whatever. Cats are still evil and terrible!" Ranma said. "But I did get a little better, that bit is true. I'd probably be all fine with just cat ears, and these aren't cat ears at all! He's a white demon fox, that's totally different!"
Makoto chuckled. "Sorry. I didn't want you to be secretly uncomfortable."
"It's fine, honest." Ranma offered a smile back. "Let's just read it. I really wanna enjoy it with you. Like old times."
It didn't take them too long to get through the first few chapters. Even if neither of them were fluent, enough of the kanji matched in meaning to get the gist of the story. Sometimes, Ranma would know the actual Mandarin words, and other times, they just outright discussed and made up the dialogue or narration themselves.
All the while, the rain outside was slowly giving way to the sun.
Makoto flopped onto her back, still very much side by side with Ranma, chuckling. "What a weird first kiss," she said as she got her laughter under control. "Does it even count as one?"
"It totally does," Ranma propped herself higher on her elbows, looking at Makoto from the above and sideways. Their hips were touching. "He turned back into a fox boy while the kiss was still going!" She swayed her legs behind herself, kicking into the mat below them a few times, because the excitement of the love experienced together with Makoto just didn't fit inside. "Pretty boys kissing get the heart racing every time."
"Yeah," Makoto said, and sighed wistfully. "Ranma?"
"Still here."
"Why didn't you ask me about Ryoga yet?"
Ranma fell silent, her legs stopping mid movement.
Makoto was looking at Ranma expectantly.
"I'm scared," Ranma said. Most of the giddiness near-instantly left her, and yet, this was probably the best moment for Makoto to hit her with the question. "It's been two years, Makoto. Even if he set out to find me, he might have forgotten me by now. Maybe he even found himself a different boy or something - now that could be fun, too."
"But what if he didn't?" Makoto asked, touching Ranma's hand. "Ryoga's strong and stubborn, he's definitely still looking for his rival. He has to be."
"Then… I'll feel even worse about it," Ranma replied, gesturing with a finger at her own face. "Some days, I feel like I forget how to be a boy," she said. "Akane made fun of me about it today, and then, not five minutes later I blanked on being a boy until I spent a good few moment's staring at Kuno's rose. I had to remind myself to boy properly! Can you imagine?"
Makoto sighed, wiggled herself into a sitting position and took Ranma's hand into her own, forcing Ranma to also sit up in the process. "Well… if you wanna date him as a girl," Makoto started. "Don't worry about me, I'd understand. You don't really have to stay as a boy for-"
"No, that's not it either!" Ranma shook her head, the words pouring out of her like a whirlwind. "Ryoga's my friend and rival, he definitely deserves a boy that really loves him! Loving a girl would ruin his life - there'd be no balance to it! The worst thing I could ever do to him would be to go full girl for him. No. A girl dating a boy has so much… baggage! Ew. No one cares if a girl is dating a boy! Where's the forbidden romance? Nonsense. If I ever go full-girl, I'm swearing off boys altogether!"
Makoto chuckled humorlessly. "Someone's stealing the words of their best friend."
"I had two years to think about it. Those were - good words, even then."
"I'm sorry."
Ranma tried not to look at Makoto's lips. The old memory had a bitter aftertaste.
"Where's the forbidden romance?" Makoto whispered to herself, before raising her eyes back to Ranma's face. "I'm so sorry, Ran-"
"Never was your fault," Ranma said, interrupting the apology. "I was really hoping Ryo would show up then, and swoop me off my feet. Light my heart on fire. All that."
"He showed up," Makoto added. "He did his best."
"Yeah, I know that now." Ranma rubbed at her face. "I do get pretty excited about the thought, but…"
Makoto gently brushed a tear off Ranma's cheek, and didn't say anything.
"I wish it was that simple. When I wanted to be a girl in junior high, it was fun playing pretend, but that's all it ever could be! I would have gotten a boyfriend as a boy and sworn off whatever girl side I talked myself into having!"
Makoto kept her eyes on Ranma, palm still cupping her cheek, fingers occasionally twitching as a stray tear touched them.
"But it's never gonna be simple now!" Ranma bit at his lip to keep it from trembling. Took a hitching breath and continued. "I fell into the cursed spring, and now I don't even know! How much of a girl am I? Half? More? Less? Was I leading Ryo on?"
"You weren't," Makoto asserted quietly. "He fell in love with a rival. It's plain to see. Ryoga's all about you."
"Remember what Sakae says near the end of Color?" Ranma asked. "'It would have been better if you were a girl.' What if Ryo thinks that? What do I say to that?"
"Then you hit him back with Takashiro's 'If you say that, you should have been a girl!' Remember to be naked. That part's kinda important for the line to land."
Ranma giggled, despite the tears, but then bit down on it, as a different thought occurred to her. "Ryo would probably want all that."
"All what?"
"You know, all the naked bits." Ranma said, voice suddenly shaking. "When we were waiting for him to show up for our date, that was just about the only thing I wasn't ready for."
"Oh, Ranma," Makoto breathed out, her palm on Ranma's cheek tensing. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I used to think I was incomplete," Ranma explained. "Everyone else at my old class would talk so much about things like that, just, you know, mostly about girls. Maybe I always had a tiny bit of a girl in me, and that's why I never got it? I already feel like I'm lying to Ryoga about being a boy, and now this. It's definitely leading him on."
"It's not just boys that think about it - you'd be surprised at what some girls… It doesn't matter. What matters is that this, right here, is exactly why I prefer the manga I read," Makoto started to explain. "Why it's always about boys loving each other, and never anything about me. You're no less complete than I am, Ranma."
"Oh." Ranma said, as she slowly caught up to just what Makoto's word really meant. "Oh." She breathed out. "You too?"
"Yes. I love the way reading about it makes me feel," Makoto said. "But even if I was a boy, I'd never want to experience that for myself. Manga and reality aren't one and the same, you know. They don't have to be!"
Ranma nodded, slowly. "I like how Ranmaru draws it," she said, vividly recalling how Akane recoiled from the page in question. "Part of it is definitely because it feels so mind-numbingly real, but…" she began, but struggled to think of a good way to finish the thought out loud.
"...but we know it's not actually real for us." Makoto finished for her. "That makes all the difference."
"Yeah," Ranma rubbed under her eye. "You get it."
"Dummy," Makoto giggled, through her own tears. "You don't have to do anything like that with anyone, even Ryoga. It's not a manga, you can say no to things!"
"But if Ryo's still after me, he definitely deserves something for the trouble," Ranma said, rubbing out the last of the tears out of her eyes. "I hope he's up for boy kisses and boy cuddles."
"I'm sure he is!" Makoto chuckled merrily. "Great! So we're back on?"
"Oh yeah." Ranma clenched her fist dramatically. "If Ryoga wants a boy, I'll give him the best half-boy he could love! I'll be a better boy than a real one, you'll see! I can be a girl in my free time, he doesn't even have to know!"
They bumped their fists together.
"Perfect." Makoto said. "Now that the rain's over, I know a perfect place to plan - we just need to freshen up a little first. I need to wash my face."
"Any reason we can't stay here for a while longer?" Ranma inhaled sharply through her nose, feeling how the tears had made her nose a little runny. Makoto didn't look much better. "On second hand, washing up is a great idea, let's go do that first."
"There's gonna be a lesson here eventually, and they'll need the P.E. stuff for it," Makoto added. "It's one thing to ditch some classes, and entirely another for us to get caught hiding like this. Especially if you want to go to Furinkan as a boy."
"Then… let's not get caught," Ranma laughed. "And… I still need to think about that 'Furinkan as a boy' bit. Your school's boys don't really seem like they're worth the trouble."
"That's where we're gonna start," Makoto said. "I need to catch you up to the local boys and their prospective crushes. It's not a long list, but there's a few cuties out there! Alone, I couldn't do much, but with our team back together, there's definitely some positive change coming their way!"
It was the first day the two girls ended up conspiring while up high in a tree with a perfect view of the school grounds.
It wouldn't be the last time.
「まこととらんま、木にいています、腐・女・子・しています」
Introduction
The school day was almost over, and Ranma and Makoto had already spent most of it catching up in a somewhat-secret spot in Makoto's favorite tree on school grounds. There had been a few little hiccups before getting comfortable - and some close calls dodging the attention of the nosy students, but it all worked out.
Makoto had to ask a friend to smuggle out her school bag from the class, and Ranma had met up with Akane who was a little angry about being left to face everyone's questions alone.
Apparently, Ranma had missed Kuno barging into the class looking for her and Akane, demanding to know the truth about the engagement. It turned out that Nabiki had sold them out, despite their plans to keep it secret from everyone else.
At least Akane had the presence of mind to dismiss engagement rumours as nonsense - sending the whole class into a flurry of speculation and guesswork. Denying everything wasn't a foolproof plan, but Akane didn't stay to debate it, as she didn't want to skip the classes nor interfere with Ranma's time with Makoto.
In the end, it would be Ranma's call on attending class in cursed or uncursed forms, or just outright coming out clean about the whole thing. Which was why Ranma was throwing occasional glares to a borrowed hot water thermos.
The old jacket of the old boy's school uniform was also on the branch, taunting Ranma a little. She'd originally packed it just as a backup. Sometimes, approaching a cute boy with a formal uniform was a much more exciting scene than just keeping the exotic china-inspired look she usually had going for her boy side. It gave her more options. But these thoughts were from before she realized Makoto would also be in this school.
Before Ranma learned Ryo was on his way... She had to keep the jacket safe for their first reunion now.
"Yeah, I don't think going to school as a boy is worth the hassle," Ranma said, after Makoto had finished relaying her little ongoing plan of getting Hiroshi to finally be brave enough to ask Daisuke out. "Especially with the way all of the free boys are already on a path to get a boyfriend." She giggled. "I'm always up to slip into the disguise of a jealous ex-boyfriend if you think that will help nudge them together, but I don't need to be attending the school every day like that, do I?"
"Sure, we can work with a little push here and there," Makoto agreed. "For you, we should focus on looking for Ryoga instead. There's got to be some way to help him find us."
"Yeah." Ranma stretched her arms, then reached for the old uniform jacket and quickly crammed it back into her already overflowing school backpack. "I think I should at least say hi to my new classmates, before the day is over," she said and slapped her own cheeks. "I can do this."
"The teacher's probably gonna make us stand outside for most of the lesson anyway," Makoto said.
"It's fine," Ranma shrugged. "Holding buckets of water has to at least count as a decent warm up. I've promised Akane we'd train a little after, so that's perfect. And… we'll get even more time together! I can't believe we're finally at the same school!"
Makoto laughed and packed away her notebook, preparing to get off the tree herself. "I missed you."
"I missed you more," Ranma replied cheekily, and leaped down to the ground. "Come, I'll catch you."
Makoto followed suit.
A few minutes later, both of them stood before the furious homeroom teacher. The tall man with the glasses gave them a short verbal dressing down, before the whole class.
Ranma winked at Makoto, causing the girl to fight a bout of giddy giggles.
Eventually, the teacher understood that being angry wasn't really scaring either girl and gave in, sending Ranma to the blackboard to introduce herself to the class.
Ranma grabbed a piece of chalk and quickly wrote out her name in hiragana. "I'm Saotome Ranma, of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts," she said. "My name's easy to remember, because it's just one kana less from Ranmaru - that's my favorite author. They're a true genius!"
Judging from the muted reactions the name got out of the class, barely anyone knew who she was talking about.
"Pops and I recently came back from China, where I've picked up a little transformation curse - I'll show how that works some other day." Ranma grinned and winked at everyone. "Makoto here is my best friend, and I'm staying at the Tendo Dojo for the near future. Any questions?"
Akane groaned and slammed her head down, right into her ready palms.
Ranma turned to the next page, ignoring the distracting shout. She had better things to do than to pay attention to what anyone wanted with some boy or another. She had borrowed the January's issue of Dear Plus from Makoto, and had to finish reading it as soon as possible. Sure, there wasn't any real time limit for it, but Ranma knew the feeling of wanting to chat about her favorite stories and having no one to listen to very well. So… she had to catch up with Makoto yesterday.
She was also running a little behind, since she'd been also trying to make it good on her promise to Akane to train together. All of the early morning had gone to the promised exercises, training and sparring with each other. At one point, Pops had joined in too, not to fight, but to give some minor tips for Akane.
Ranma had found the whole thing quite fun - it was nice to train with another girl, for a change. What little tricks she'd taught to Makoto obviously didn't count. Makoto only ever wanted to learn basic self defence. Akane wanted to become the second best offensive fighter in Tokyo.
Currently, the wannabe second best in question, barely moving her bruised limbs, was slumped at the breakfast table next to Ranma. The waves of exhaustion all but radiated from the girl. At least each little bite of the meal seemed to be returning her energy back. Sure, her hands were shaking, and the grip on the chopsticks was weak, but she was eating.
Something poked at Ranma's cheek. Chopsticks.
Ranma jolted, raising her eyes off Dr. Naruwasa's intense conversation with Naoki, but not really leaving the scene in her mind. "What?" She shifted, crossing her legs in a different way, and kept fidgeting with her feet in excitement at the manga, only half-aware of the conversation at the table at most.
"You're not defending your meal at all." Genma grumbled, the offending chopsticks extended right in front of Ranma's face. "A few days back in the city and you're already getting distracted from what's important. You need to eat, if you wanna keep growing stronger. Especially after training."
"I know what's important, old man." Ranma hissed angrily at her father. "I'm busy. Go steal some food off your old rival and leave me alone. And if you get food on Makoto's magazine or tear it up, I will never train with you again." She followed it with a glare so intense, the old man had to realize she was serious. She still hadn't forgiven him for tearing up Ranmaru's doujinshi.
Genma's hand twitched, and then his chopsticks darted towards Ranma's last piece of fish.
Ranma didn't even acknowledge it, much less moved to counter it.
The man stopped short of grabbing it. Looked at Ranma again.
Ranma lowered her eyes back to the page. She wasn't disappointed, since Naoki was already pulling Doc in a kiss. She wiggled her toes excitedly, a smile returning to her face, as the two men worked out the tension between them. For now.
She picked up her chopsticks, and reached for her fish without looking. Genma didn't stop her.
The breakfast continued.
Ranma stayed out of the conversation, focused on finishing the reprinted Jazz chapter, instead of keeping exact track of what was being said. She hadn't read the original printing, and neither had Makoto, so this was a new story to them both - except Makoto had obviously read two chapters ahead, in other Dear Plus issues.
Ranma ignored most of Genma's new part-time job announcement. Genma seemed satisfied with whatever job it was, so she neither pried nor prodded him about it, just grunted in acceptance.
As the two men in the manga lost more clothes, Akane grumbled a little about Ranma's choice of reading material where she could see it. Had she not been as exhausted by the training, Ranma was sure Akane's protests would have been louder and more coherent.
Ranma grunted a half-hearted apology back, and focused back on the story, only lifting the side of the magazine that was closer to Akane, so she'd no longer have a prime view at the page. Her loss.
Only when Kasumi requested help with a simple delivery did Ranma raise her head and focus back on what was happening around her. "We can't, Kasumi, sorry," she answered before Akane even realized what exactly was being asked of them. "We're gonna take a train out to Itabashi after school for a bit."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, me and Makoto wanted to check up on our old neighbourhood." Ranma said. There was a chance they could find Ryoga's trail while there. "Akane promised to go with us, we're gonna show her around, check out if there's anyone home at the Hibikis. We might get to walk Shirokuro, too," she revealed.
"I guess I'll have to do it myself, then," Kasumi replied. "Have fun on your little trip."
Akane let out a relieved sigh, and started slowly working her way though yet another bite.
Ranma returned to her precious Dear Plus.
Wait II
Even as tired as Akane was, she had performed admirably in the daily fight against the dumbest collection of boys of Furinkan. Ranma didn't even have to step in once. However, she hovered close enough to serve as a distracting presence, tipping the scales a little to Akane's favor.
"Good job," Ranma showed Akane a thumbs up as the broken horde was once again retreating to lick their wounds. "I'm a little jealous you get to hog the extra training all for yourself, but you need every-" Ranma stopped talking suddenly, and took a few quick steps forward, stepping in between Akane and Kuno.
Akane grumbled half-heartedly. "Move aside, I got him."
"Catch your breath first," Ranma said, keeping Akane behind her. "He's all yours next time."
"... Saotome." Kuno said, an angry expression on his face. "Which accursed Saotome sibling are you again? There's too many spawns of your ignoble line for me to keep track of - all of the same cowardly ilk."
"What?" Ranma blinked a few times. She patted at her own chest, double checking. Ah. Right. Girl day. "I thought the whole school knew by now. Not like I'm hiding the curse. It's just me."
"Evasive as any other Saotome," Kuno grumbled, brandishing the wooden sword. "I suspect you to be yet another sister of the disgraced Saotome clan. Well met, but know that my heart belongs to Akane and your prettiest elder sister alone!"
"Sure," Ranma rolled her eyes. "I'm really not feeling it to go boy for you, so you'll have to do without a touch of a man today." She did get into a habit of carrying a hot thermos of water with herself, just in case Ryoga showed up, but she was definitely not wasting it for Kuno. "Can we just get to the part where I knock you out?"
"Yes, you are nowhere as pretty as your beautiful sister in Akane's classroom - she's the most refined out of your family… Even when focused on her studies so intensly, she graced me with a glimpse of her expressive deep eyes! Remarkably strong throwing arm, too! Brawns and beauty!"
"That was me." Ranma sighed, remembering the time Kuno charged into their classroom demanding to see the boy Saotome. She didn't really remember what else Kuno was jabbering about, since she was right in the middle of last year's Dear Plus issue. She might have been boy-shaped that day, too. Huh. "You were disrupting my reading, so I threw you out of the window."
"But do not despair, maiden, even if your beauty pales compared to the studious classroom nymph, you are much easier on the eyes than your girl-mannered younger brother! The cur is a liar and a trickster. Disappeared right in the middle of our fight."
"Also me," Ranma said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "We were gonna be late to the class, you were in a way, I knocked you out. Didn't want you to accidentally hurt Makoto."
"All lies." Kuno growled. "I am yet to be defeated by any Saotome in a fair fight. Not even your eldest brother, the first Saotome to trade blows with me, could wish to match my prowess without the aid of his verbal trickery. Calling out my honor as a samurai!"
"Oh, the Ranmaru quote, I remember. You should find yourself a boyfriend, yeah," Ranma suggested casually. "Maybe then you'll be too busy to spout nonsense like that. Might even make you into a better samurai. Are you sure you know your samurai history well enough?"
"Silence," Kuno said, one of his eyes twitching. He did mouth the word 'Ranmaru' under his breath, before continuing. "Defend yourself, middle-sister Saotome. If you win, I'll consider putting in a good word with your eldest during our future dates!"
Finally shutting up for good, Kuno charged forward.
It wasn't a long fight, especially since Akane joined in early, with a decisive kick right into Kuno's face.
Wet
"It's a pain, yeah," Ranma replied to Makoto's suggestion, as the three of them walked from one of Itabashi's stations towards their old neighborhood. "I know that on one hand Ryoga would better recognize me with a ponytail… On the other hand, I would love it if I could pull off an alluring long hair look. Whichever way is better, I don't really have a choice, sorry! That dumb dragon's whisker has to stay on, or else there's gonna be hair everywhere for a bit and then… nothing at all." Her face blanched as she imagined the fate that was worse than death - looking even more like her father.
"Another curse?" Akane shook her head in disbelief. She was dressed up the warmest of the three, in a colorful hoodie top, wearing shorts over dark tights and sporting sneakers. She was clearly expecting some kind of action. "You're quite a trouble magnet, Ranma."
"Don't you start, Akane," Ranma said, pouting. "I fully expect to get splashed at the most inconvenient moment, too!" Ranma was currently decidedly boy-shaped, wearing one of his comfortable silk shirts and a pair of dark pants. She lifted up the travel thermos she'd been lugging with her the whole way. "That's why we've got a backup plan."
Makoto was the only one of the three in Furininkan's school uniform. She was carrying a duffel bag, which she raised higher up for emphasis, too. "I still think you should change into your old school's uniform as soon as you see him." The bag held a couple of backup outfits for Rama to change into, a towel and an emergency makeup kit, and whatever else Makoto had chosen to take with herself. "I know you can do it in a blink when you want to."
"If we see him at all," Ranma corrected. "Yeah, I'm fast enough for it to work, but I've gotten slightly taller so I'd have to keep it unbuttoned - that's why I'm not sure. Just… be on a lookout."
"Remind me what your Ryoga looks like again," Akane asked. "Yellow bandana and short dark hair, right?"
"Yeah, like in Makoto's sketch we showed you. It's a bit stylized, but about right for what I remember! He hardly ever took the bandana off, except during school, since that hellhole had a much stricter dress code than Furinkan," Ranma said, a bit of grumble in his voice, recalling the constant clash over outfits with the teachers. "Small, dark irises, but he's very expressive. Muscular, since he has to have kept up his training. Probably a little taller than I am by now. Oh, I bet he's got an even stronger grip now, and with his fangs…" Ranma trailed off, and threw a glance at Makoto. "I hope he's gotten braver for scenes like that!"
"Yeah, I hear you!" Makoto giggled, and poked her little point-and-shoot camera dangling on a strap on her neck. "I can't wait."
Akane rolled her eyes at the antics and tried to steer the conversation back to Ryoga and not what might happen when they found the boy. "You really like him."
"He's the one decent boy from my old school, and a big softie, of course we like him," Ranma said. "And it was chock-full of other boys, you know, being this huge all-boy's school."
"Boy's school!" Akane recoiled for a brief moment before pointing at Ranma in a sudden realization. "Right! I keep forgetting you didn't go to the same school as Makoto."
"Not for the lack of trying," Makoto commented and chuckled. "Ranma snuck in a whole bunch of times. Our manga club supervisor was sure Ranma was a girl from our school, too!"
"Yeah, well - Makoto used to sneak around our school too," Ranma said, and winked at Makoto.
"You did?" Akane's attention snapped to the brown haired girl. "Into a boy's school? Really?"
"Just a few times, mostly for pictures," Makoto said and shrugged. "I can't really pull off a convincing boy disguise, not like Ranma can."
"What." Akane blanched. "Why?"
"Makoto was fine," Ranma waved it off. "We barely got in trouble. Maybe once."
Makoto giggled at the memory, and then turned to Akane. "Why? Because it was fun. I don't think I'll ever do it again, but we had a good time."
"Is it?" Akane raised an eyebrow. "I don't…" She fell silent.
"If you want to try, we'd be happy to help," Makoto offered.
Ranma was suddenly almost in Akane's face. She took a good look, smirked and then leaned back, all before Akane could even start to protest.
"I can see it!" Ranma chirped excitedly. "We could help you with some subtle makeup; get you in some cool jacket and jeans, take away the cute hair ribbon and you'd be a ringer for a cool and mysterious long-haired boy." She exchanged looks with Makoto. "We could use that!"
"Yeah." Makoto nodded enthusiastically. "I've already got a few ideas for a photo-shoot! What do you think, Akane?"
"I- I don't- I'm not a per-"
"Wait!" Ranma interrupted, suddenly pointing to the side. She saw - or thought she saw - a hint of a yellow bandana turning the corner. "There! Ryo?!"
Without waiting for the other two, Ranma broke into a sprint.
Akane was quicker to react than Makoto, dashing only a little behind Ranma.
"Ryoga!" she tried to shout, but a loud screech of a truck's brakes drowned the second shout out completely, followed by a loud crashing noise.
As Ranma emerged from the corner of the intersection, she was faced with an uncontrollably spinning open ended truck. It was plastered with the images of various fish, and that was about everything she noticed, before she was forced to act. If Akane and Makoto weren't behind her, Ranma would have simply leaped over, but now she could only dig in her heels, extend her arms forward and brace for impact.
Ranma gripped the side of the truck, and slid back half-a-foot from the impact just as Akane joined her too. Putting their strength together it was more than enough to stop the vehicle from sliding any further.
However, something had damaged the containers in which the fish were being transported moments before; they were already leaking, some even lacked lids. All of that huge mass of water didn't get the message that the truck had already stopped. A powerful splash of water that a bunch of fish had spent quite a while in poured right on top of Ranma and Akane both.
"Ew!" Both Ranma and Akane shouted out at the same time. Luckily, none of the fish fell out, so they at least escaped the humiliation of getting slapped in the face with the fish.
The truck driver got out and started apologising, however, the girls were a little busy to listen to him properly. Akane was stunned, lamenting the state of her wardrobe, while Ranma was more focused for looking for any signs of Ryoga.
Makoto turned the corner, and slid to a sudden halt, as she saw the wet mess before her.
"Ryo?!" Ranma called out, but no one replied, so she finally turned to the driver. "Have you seen a boy with a bandana?"
"I don't know what hit me!" the driver exclaimed, and started looking at the extent of the damage in a slight panic, noting the slight bend in the side where Akane and Ranma had stopped the vehicle. "Can't have been any boy! It crashed from above and the truck bounced right off! A meteor or something!" And he pointed back to the road behind him.
There, smack dab in the middle of the road, was a huge, bright red umbrella, laying on the slightly cracked asphalt.
Akane was shaking her hands, her expression of disgust, trying to get the water off her as much as was possible, as Makoto offered her a handful of paper tissues.
"Yeah, meteor, right." Ranma said, and nabbed a tissue for herself, quickly cleaning up her face, and trying to spit out the bad taste into the tissue right after. It didn't help much. "Ryoga?!" She shouted out once more and took a few more steps towards the strange umbrella.
There was a quiet splash behind her, as if one of the fishes decided to leap out of the truck. But there were no fish. Instead, a very confused and miserable ball of a wet piglet stood in the middle of the road, wrapped in a completely soaked yellow bandana.
It coughed out some water, and started looking around, confused.
"None of you are hurt, right?" The driver asked, surveying the damage to the containers stacked in the truck. "I can't stay here, I need to save the fish!"
"Yeah, you can go, we're fine," Ranma waved the man off, and leaned towards the piglet. "Hey, little guy. Are you by chance… Hibiki's pet pig?"
"Kweee?" the piglet let out an adorable squeak, stared right at Ranma's face for a moment and then nodded.
Yeah, it must be, Ranma thought. All of their pets are so smart!
"What are we going to do?" Akane asked out loud. "I can't keep wearing this, it's wet and it stinks, and we don't know anyone around us! Do we start knocking on random doors? Is there a public bath nearby?"
The truck's doors closed and the man drove off, leaving a trail of leaking water behind him. For a brief moment, Ranma thought she saw a glimpse of a backpack in the trucks' back, but that didn't make much sense, so she didn't think on it twice. After all, there was a cute little piglet to protect and bring home.
She swooped the little wet guy up - and a cursory inspection confirmed that it was a boy pig - and turned to her companions. "I've got an idea," Ranma said, shifting the grip so she was clutching the piglet to her chest with one hand, and pointed casually over her shoulder with another. "The Hibikis are cool, I think they wouldn't mind if we let ourselves in. If we're lucky, Ryoga might be home, too!"
"Oink," the little wet piglet confirmed.
"Yeah, we're really close," Makoto said. "Just around the corner - the second floor window is usually unlocked, Ranma used to pick up Ryoga for school there."
"Kwee?"
"Yes," Akane said, her whole posture slumped in defeat, as she competed with the piglet to see which of the two of them looked more miserable. "Shower. Please. Now."
"I'll take the cute piglet, can one of you pick up the umbrella? We should at least put it on the side of the road," Ranma asked, and started walking towards the Hibiki residence.
The plan hit a slight snag, as soon as Akane leaned to pick up said umbrella off the street with one hand. It barely bulged. "What?" Akane let out. "It's super heavy!"
Ranma turned back, surprised herself.
"I don't have time for this nonsense!" Akane growled in anger, crouched, braced her legs in a wide stance, and grabbed onto the handle with both hands. Her expression tensed, and on her left cheek's muscles twitched uncontrollably, twice.
"Do you need any-" Ranma started offering, but was interrupted by a blood curling roar.
Akane screamed in absolute fury, as she slowly lifted the umbrella higher and higher, and then spun around herself once and tossed it to the side, like it was an olympic heavy ball and chain toss. It didn't fly far, crashing right in the middle of the sidewalk a couple of meters away.
"There!" Akane growled out. "It's off the road. Shower. Now."
"Eeep," Ranma squeaked in surprise. "Right though here."
The second obstacle came in a few moments, but was much friendlier. As soon as they turned the corner, a black and white blur of a dog all but slammed into Ranma, barking happily.
Seeing that Akane clearly didn't have enough patience for a full introduction to Shirokuro, Makoto took her friend by her hand and led her past the excited pile into which Ranma, the piglet and the dog collapsed on collision.
Ranma giggled merilly, as Shirokuro took turns lapping up at her face, at the little piglet and her hands proving without a sliver of doubt that the pig was Hibiki's pet. That, or the half-black half-white dog really liked the taste of fish.
"Good girl. I missed you too," Ranma said, petting Shirokuro right back, happy to be tangled up in that excitement. "Anyone else home? Maybe Ryo?"
Instead of replying, Shirokuro focused her whole attention on the piglet, licking him with tripled intensity.
Ranma laughed once again, and slowly got up, eventually lifting the piglet out of Shirokuro's reach. "Don't eat him whole, Shirokuro," she said. "What's the little guy's name, anyway?"
Shirokuro stopped trying to lick either of them, and tilted her head sideways, as if not understanding the question. Or… making fun of Ranma for expecting to hear a name from a dog. Probably the latter one.
"Hey, what do you think of Zǐzhūr?" Ranma asked of the piglet, and patted him gently between the ears. It wasn't a particularly creative name, quite literally meaning little piggy in Mandarin, but it was the first fitting name that came to her mind.
"Squee."
"I know it's not your actual name," Ranma cooed gently. "Just until someone tells me the truth."
The piglet leaned into her touch, clearly happy with the attention she was giving him.
"Or maybe it can be our little secret name for you," she said, and moved her shoulders a little, stretching her whole body, before resuming the walk towards the Hibiki house. "We better catch up with the other girls."
Shirokuro barked loudly, and started running in circles around them, her white side towards them.
Ranma adjusted her grip on Zǐzhūr, carrying him by her side like a football, and used her free hand to open the gates to the property. They had the spiral wave pattern on it, and weren't locked.
Judging by the wet footprints on the wall, neither Akane nor Makoto even tried the front door, instead heading directly for the back entrance though the window.
Ranma knocked on the door to the house.
Shirokuro barked in tandem, and darted inside though a pet door.
"Ryoga?" Ranma called, and tried the door. It was locked. "Mrs. Hibiki? Anyone home?"
The piglet in her arms twitched and let out a quiet squeak. A flurry of scratching noises followed Ranma's question from the inside. Shirokuro was clearly trying something.
After a couple of seconds of furious noise - filled with paws scraping the door and unseen intense attempts at biting onto something - a lock of the door clicked.
Ranma tried the handle again, and pulled the door open - with Shirokuro still biting into a little turn lock on the inside.
"Thanks girl!" she patted the dog, and stepped inside.
Moments later, Makoto walked down the stairs from the second floor, duffel bag still on her shoulder, if a little emptier than before and unzipped. "I left Akane alone in the upstairs shower. I don't think anyone's home," she said as soon as she saw Ranma. "I gave her your old uniform, I think it will look better than she thinks. She wasn't very happy about it, but agreed to try it on."
Ranma shrugged. "It's not like we have clean girl clothes to give her."
"Actually, we do," Makoto said, winking. "You warned me about a high chance of getting wet, so I packed a sports jumper and a spare skirt for myself."
"Oh, that's devious," Ranma said and giggled. "If she's too unhappy about it, we have to tell her, though."
"Sure, sure." Makoto nodded. "Now to figure out how to convince her to put on some subtle makeup and pose for us. I doubt she'd ever agree to bind, but if we're creative about angles…"
"We didn't find Ryoga, but we still can get you more references this way!" Ranma tapped her feet excitedly. "You're a genius, Makoto."
"Now go and wash up yourself," Makoto poked at Ranma's shoulder, and gestured to the duffle bag. "You stink."
"On it," Ranma said. "I'll have to wash Zǐzhūr, too." She stopped mid-step, right as the piglet suddenly started twitching his legs in an effort to slip her grip, clearly not excited about taking a bath. "It's probably a bad idea to put him directly under a hot shower, right? Wouldn't wanna put the little guy into shock."
"You can use a wet towel instead," Makoto suggested, which seemed to calm the piglet a little.
"I know you feel like you're already clean," Ranma admonished the adorable piglet, who tried to look absolutely innocent. Then, she grabbed a handful of clothes out of the duffel bag. "Shirokuro's way of cleaning doesn't really count, and you're smart enough to know it."
Zǐzhūr continued to give a token bit of resistance the whole way to the main bathroom on the first floor. Ranma closed the door behind herself and looked around.
They were uninvited guests, so filling up the empty furo and spending a while heating it up was out of the question. Just a quick shower, then. The Hibiki's house was much newer than the Tendo Dojo, and should have had hot water even in the showers.
Ranma prepared her backup boy outfit - a blue silk tangzhuang vest and a pair of dark pants, and started shredding the damp, stinking clothing onto the bathroom tiles. All the while juggling the piglet in her hands. Soon, she was just in her boxers.
Zǐzhūr froze and blushed.
"Huh," Ranma lifted the pig up and looked him straight in the face. "Dirty minded pig, are you?" she joked. "Lucky for you, I am a little shameless for a girl."
Then, using the fact that the piglet was quite literally stumped into non-action, she wet a corner of a towel with warm water from a faucet and quickly rubbed the piglet clean.
"There, little guy," she said, and placed him facing away from her. "You're sorted. My turn."
She removed the last piece of clothing and stepped under the shower. It was lukewarm.
Right. The Hibiki's do have a water heater, but it isn't huge.
"Akane!" Ranma shouted out loudly, unsure if the girl would even hear him from here. "Did you pour yourself a whole bath or what?! Stop hogging all the hot water!"
But a moment later, Ranma could barely make out a muffled shout of "Bite me, Ranma!" from somewhere above.
Grumbling, Ranma started washing up with lukewarm water.
Taking eyes off Zǐzhūr might have been a mistake, since when she looked back, the little piglet was nowhere to be found. Ranma felt a pang of worry, but then remembered it was the little guy's house and all Hibikis' pets were pretty self-sufficient. They had to be.
"I'm sure he's gonna be fine," Ranma said to herself, and returned to rinsing her hair. There were worse things in life than some lukewarm water and a piglet on the loose.
When she finally emerged from the bath, clad in her ill-fitting blue vest and dark pants, having left her old clothes quickly rinsed and drying in the bath, Akane still wasn't done. Zǐzhūr and Shirokuro were nowhere to be seen. Probably playing together.
Ranma peeked her head into the kitchen. Makoto was sitting at the table, her sketchbook out, doodling panel composition sketches.
"Hey." Ranma called out, stepping closer. She was already so excited to see what Makoto had drawn, swaying back and forth on her feet without thinking about it.
Makoto lifted her eyes upwards and beamed at Ranma. "I've got some new ideas," she all but sing-songed happily. "Wait a few minutes and I'll walk you through. Oh, I left a note for Ryoga, too!" She pointed behind herself, towards the fridge.
Ranma giggled, already happy by getting to be a part of Makoto's newest creation. She walked up to the fridge and quickly skimmed the note. Nothing ground-breaking, just an invitation to look for them in Furinkan High or Tendo Dojo. Makoto had signed it as Makoto (and Ranma) in hiragana, and added a post script to call her cell-phone number.
"Great idea," Ranma said and tapped her finger under the phone number. "I wish I could afford one of these."
"One of what?" Akane asked from the doorway.
Ranma and Makoto snapped their attention to Akane.
Makoto opened her mouth and closed it.
"Wow," Ranma breathed out.
Akane's dark blue hair was still slightly damp, and fell downwards in almost straight lines, forming impressive waves around her head. It was very much wild and free from the ribbon that used to bind them. The old school uniform that had grown a little too small for boy-shaped Ranma fit Akane snugly enough to look like it belonged. Ranma knew that Akane had worn a sports bra for their outing, and it was really helping to obfuscate the body shape together with the jacket's cut. It wasn't perfect, but just enough to work wonders.
In addition, while Akane never was a girl to wear anything more than very subtle makeup, she had clearly washed off everything. She had to have spent all of the extra time meticulously clearing her eyelashes off the faintest trace of her usual mascara, and her faint blush was entirely natural. Ranma couldn't even see the elusive glitter of Akane's lip balm, from whatever angle she tried to look.
Akane fidgeted in the doorway, a little stone-faced. "What?"
"You look really handsome!" Makoto said, and clapped her hands together. "Amazing job!"
"Makoto's right! Oh, we gotta be careful so Ryoga doesn't see you like this," Ranma joked, "or he's gonna forget all about the other boy he's chasing."
Akane clenched her fists and frowned. "You two are messing with me."
"No, no," Ranma hurried to say. "A good long-haired boy look is hard to pull off, it needs to be a little soft to be truly perfect, and you've got that going for you!"
Akane placed her arms on her hips.
"Oh, hold that pose for a second," Makoto said and scrambled to grab her camera.
"Fine," Akane growled out and glared at Makoto. "If I find out that you sold that picture to any of the boys in our school-"
"Come on, Akane," Makoto said, snapping a couple of pictures in succession. "I'm not your sister. I'm not selling any of the pictures I take, and I only use them as references for my future doujinshi. But if you want, I can get you a copy after."
Akane's glare intensified as she was unconsciously pulling on her ki in irritation.
"Oh, that's a great one, too," Makoto said, taking a final picture before lowering her little camera down. "I'm sorry, Akane, I can stop."
Akane grumbled something under her breath.
"I'm kinda jealous," Ranma said, tapping a finger at her cheek. "If it took me this little effort to look like an attractive boy, I don't think I'd ever bother with hot water."
Akane's glare jumped to Ranma. "What. Do. You. Mean?"
"Do you think it would be easy or comfortable to bind these?" Ranma pointed towards her chest. "I would gladly trade you! Sure, it looks good, but I don't want any boys leering at me like this, don't think I don't see them!"
"What." Akane shook her head, her long hair swaying with the motion, settling in a slightly different cascade look. "I thought… you wanted attention from boys."
"Not looking like this!" Ranma protested. "No one cares if a boy is dating a girl! I certainly don't!"
"Didn't you use to say something similar, Makoto?" Akane rubbed at the bridge of her nose.
"Oh yeah," Makoto confirmed quickly. "I'm sworn off boys entirely."
"You… two are weird."
"But you love us," Makoto piped up. "As friends, I mean."
"Sure," Akane grumbled out. "Fine. What's next?"
"We already left a message for Ryoga," Ranma pointed at Makoto's note. "Nothing more to do here, so we check that Shirkokuro's and Zǐzhūr's feeder is full, pick up our stuff and head out into the neighbourhood. Walk around a little more and head home before it gets too late? Maybe grab a snack from seven-eleven, eat it on a bench at a little park near here. Makoto's old school and mine are both visible from there if you want a full tour."
"That's a good plan," Akane said. "But it wasn't what I was asking. Makoto, you said something about makeup to look more like a boy? Do you have anything with you?"
Makoto's eyes suddenly sparkled with unrestrained joy.
"Ah," Ranma began. It hurt her to say it, but she had to, didn't she? "You don't have to if you don't want to, Akane. We actually have a spare skirt-"
"No. It's fine," Akane said. "Maybe it's me having been in the hot water for too long, but I wanna try. Just this once. I don't think anyone I know is from Itabashi, and when we get back to Nerima, it's gonna be dark already. No one to see me and blab."
"Will you let me take pictures of you with Ranma?" Makoto asked.
"Fine." Akane nodded. "Three poses."
"Five?"
"No. Three," Akane didn't negotiate at all. "Take it or leave it, before I change my mind about all of this."
"Great! Three scenes it is." Makoto slapped her hands together in excitement, and then hurriedly pulled out her little makeup kit out of the duffel bag. "Sit down, and we'll work out magic."
Akane complied, but threw a questioning look at Ranma, who was already digging though Makoto's supplies with a gusto.
"Oh, Ranma's great at contouring the eyes, we want to make them look like they're set deeper, it looks great, you'll see," Makoto explained for Akane's benefit. "And I'll be adding a little shadow to accentuate your jawline a little. Nothing too much, but it will look great in the evening light!"
"Why do I feel like I'm making a mistake?" Akane muttered as the two girls got to work.
Call
Ranma was doing her best to hold in a giggle. Think like a boy, she tried, but it wasn't working as well as it should have. Sure, the motions were there - she was slumped on a park bench, as a long haired handsome devil with Akane's face was leaning forward.
From the angle Ranma was in, she could clearly see a chuckle all but escaping Akane's lips too, and that was messing with her own mojo. His own mojo! There was no use. Akane was much better at radiating pure boy-ness, so maybe that was messing up with Ranma's head. Jealousy, maybe?
"Does she always take this long?" Akane whispered, voice a little huskier than usually.
"It's been barely a minute, she only tried a couple of angles," Ranma replied in her normal voice. "You don't have to whisper. It won't show up in the picture."
"Sorry," Akane replied, only a little louder. "It's a little… I don't know."
"Makoto?" Ranma called without moving her head. "Maybe I should move my thumb a little closer to Akane's lips. What do you think?" Her right hand was already cupping Akane's face gently.
"Maybe keep it where it is now," Akane hissed back. "Can you two hurry a bit, it's a little uncomfortable this time, I'm holding most of my weight on one hand."
"Come on, Akane," Makoto said, darting back and forth, looking for the best angle. "It's the last one, I wanna get the most out of it! Ten, twenty more minutes and we're done! The sunlight is just perfect right now, it won't last."
Akane sighed.
"Think of it as training," Ranma suggested suddenly.
"What?"
"Anything Goes," Ranma reminded Akane. "Everything is about martial arts. Even boy's love!"
"I-"
"Find the most efficient way to tense your muscles for this… You can shift your center of mass a little to the right," Ranma continued, and looked into the direction she meant a couple of times in quick succession, to get Akane to understand. "It won't change the pose, but should be a little easier to hold."
"I can try that." A barely perceptible tremble went through Akane's body as the muscles did their job. Ranma was acutely aware of how something imperceptible shifted. Akane's arm was right at her side, and she could feel the hardened steel that was Akane's true strength. Ranma could not see Akane as anything other than a tall, mysterious and muscular boy now. It fit the scene perfectly. "Oh, yeah, that is better," Akane said.
"See," Ranma said, once again fighting a wave of giddy giggles back, as her mind ran though multitude of scenarios involving this new strong and confident boy Akane. "Now hold it for ten more minutes. It's all good exercise."
"Sure it is," Akane replied sarcastically.
"Akane, you're doing great!" Makoto called from further back. "I don't know what you did, but keep doing more of that. And Ranma- are you alright?"
"Peachy," Ranma lied. Paused and thought about it. "Actually no, I'm a bit off my game," she admitted. "But I'm trying!"
"If you want to stop…" Akane tried to suggest innocently.
"Oh no you don't mister, we're not stopping early because of me," Ranma shot back instantly. "You're doing great, I'm just not feeling boy enough tonight. You know."
"Not- really?" Akane said, the words and thoughts clearly forcing him to take extra effort to stay stationary.
"Be honest. Do I feel like a boy to you now?" Ranma asked.
"Not really," Akane admitted, voice a little strained from the effort. "But I don't think of you as a boy in general."
"Even when I'm like this?" Ranma asked again. She didn't point at herself, and her very much boy-shaped body, but that was only because both other hands were busy.
"Yeah, I think so."
"See!" Ranma exclaimed. "You're out-boying me at every turn this evening, and I just can't get into character! Maybe it's because you're too good!"
"Too good… at pretending to be a boy?" Akane grumbled. "Sounds dumb. I'm a girl."
"Well, it's just like with me, but opposite!" Ranma tried to explain. "You're radiating extra boyness, so now I can't think of you as anything else. And it's messing with my concentration. Makes perfect sense."
"No, it doesn't," Akane protested and closed his eyes. "I can't," he said in a weaker voice. "I shouldn't."
"What?" Ranma asked. "Do you wanna… talk about-"
A phone tune started playing a happy melody in the duffel bag nearby.
"Sorry," Makoto chirped, as she started to jog to get it. "It's probably my mom. Don't move! I'll tell her where we are and get back to taking pictures."
"Maybe," Akane replied to Ranma's unfinished question. "Not tonight. But we'll talk. Sure."
"Hi, hi," Makoto said as soon as she fished out her phone from the depths of the bag.
There was a pause, as she listened to the other side.
"Ryoga!" Makoto shouted out. "It's him!"
Ranma instantly sprang up, slipped right past Akane and dashed towards Makoto and the phone. "Ryo! Are you calling from home right now?" Ranma shouted out, trying his best to be as boy as possible. For Ryoga. "I can be there in ten - no - five minutes! If you just wait there, I'll be right over!"
"I'll put him on speaker," Makoto said almost at the same time.
Akane collapsed onto the bench, catching his breath.
"Ranma. Not home." Ryoga's voice echoed strangely, warped by the weak phone's speaker and riddled with static. "Grabbed the note, went out right after. Calling from payphone."
"Please tell me you're alright," Ranma said. "I missed you!"
"I didn't- I don't wanna do this over the phone! It's not the same!"
"It's fine, we can talk for real when you get to Nerima!" Ranma grew even more cheerful. "I'm so happy to hear from you, you have no idea!"
"You owe me a fight."
"I- what?" Ranma said.
"You're good at running, Ranma," Ryoga's voice turned even harsher. "Even if Makoto can forgive you, I won't be as lenient! This is about revenge and justice! We will fight! Consider this a formal challenge! Three days from now, at Furinkan High!"
"I-" Ranma exchanged looks with Makoto.
"Forgive what?" Makoto asked.
"Had only one coin." Ryoga said, as if he hadn't heard Makoto's question. "Be there, Ranma! I will des-" The signal cut out early, as if it was an expensive, long distance call. Knowing Ryoga, it might have been.
"What… just happened?" Ranma said. "He wants to fight me?"
"You were rivals first," Makoto reasoned. "Maybe he wants to start over from there."
"I… I can fight him." Ranma sighed. "It's fine. It's gonna work out. I can do rivals again."
Mistake
It was dark and the night was growing cold. They had just said their goodbyes to Makoto, having accompanied her right to the doorstep of her house. It was quite a long walk by the river away from the Tendo Dojo, basically on the opposite side of the neighbourhood from the Furinkan High.
If Ranma wanted to, she could have taken to the rooftops and been home in a couple minutes. Keeping pace so Akane could keep up might have been a little longer, but…Ranma was dragging her feet tonight.
Akane was once again a little ahead. Ranma couldn't hear the footsteps, so that meant the boy had stopped once again to wait for her.
She raised her eyes, looking for him, and flinched back. She'd almost walked right into Akane.
Akane's smile was barely visible with the sparse street lights, but it was warm and a little playful.
"Sorry," Ranma mumbled.
Akane poked her right in the middle of the forehead. "This isn't like you," he said. It was clear the boy was trying to sound a little rougher than usual, but wasn't used to playing with his voice yet. "The Ranma I know would jump at the scene of two boys walking at night together."
Ranma blinked a few times.
Akane extended his hand for Ranma to take. "Come, I'll take you home."
Ranma let out a short, bitter laugh that was almost like a coughing fit. Lifted her hand, reached out for Akane's… but lowered it back down. "I used to walk Ryoga places all the time," she said quietly. "Knock on his window, wait for him to be ready, and then take his hand. For school. For weekend outings with Makoto. For everything."
Akane said nothing, waiting patiently.
"I should have never let his hand go," Ranma said. "Two years, and we're starting as rivals again. I thought…" She let out a hissing breath. Grabbed onto the thermos she carried the whole day and spun the top open. It had been used to turn boy before the photoshoot, and was absolutely empty. Ranma glanced at the nearby river.
"You're not jumping into the water at night," Akane said, before Ranma even twitched towards the fence. Instead, Akane stepped forward and reachout out for Ranma's hand, getting much closer this time, fingers hovering right next to Ranma's skin, but not grabbing on just yet. "It's too cold to go home wet."
"I don't think I care," Ranma replied, and finally slipped her hand into Akane's. "You're right. It would be a little too cold. This… will have to do."
Akane looked Ranma over. "Don't worry, miss, I will bring you home safe," he said.
Ranma snorted and rubbed at her eyes. "Such a noble warrior," she dead-panned. "But no true samurai seeks the touch-"
"I remember." Akane laughed, interrupting. "Yeah, this already sounds more like you. You know what…" He looked Ranma right in the eyes. "If you swear not to ever tell anyone, I'll let you in on a secret you might enjoy when I'm… like this."
"I promise." Ranma said easily.
"Remember Dr. Tofu?"
Ranma nodded. "The pretty man you're a little sweet on?"
"I… might have a little crush on him." Akane said at almost the same time. "Wait what?"
"Nice to get some confirmation." Ranma giggled. "He's tall and good looking. Add a strong dash of forbidden romance, and it was a little obvious. Oh, if this were a manga…"
"I guess it wasn't that big of a secret," Akane mumbled. "He doesn't like me, though. I don't think he ever will. He's got a girl he likes."
"Men like that are so boring," Ranma complained. "There's a handsome boy that wants their heart, and they fall over themselves to chase a regular woman. Bleh."
Akane deliberately looked away, so Ranma wouldn't see his face as they walked.
"If you want me and Makoto to get together for a brainstorming-"
"No." Akane said. "I have to get over him. I've been so stupid."
"Loving an older man… isn't stupid," Ranma protested. "Neither is loving someone who can't love you back. As long as you're both boys..."
"It's not that," Akane replied. "I've been trying so hard to make myself into someone he'd like… All for a dumb childhood crush I knew was doomed from the start."
"But-"
Akane squeezed Ranma's hand, stopping her mid word, and growled out something incomprehensible and then slackened the grip again.
"Sorry," Ranma said.
"Today…" Akane said. "I feel like I took off the chains I got tangled into myself… and I don't understand what's happening. Why have I been trying so hard? Why did I ever think…"
Ranma gave a short, soft squeeze to a couple of Akane's fingers.
"I told you we weren't gonna talk about it tonight, but…" Akane's voice shook. "Do you often remind yourself that you are trying to be a girl? What makes it easier?"
"I don't think I'm ever trying to be one," Ranma said. "Sure, I sometimes need to think about it or put a little effort in for the others to see me as one, especially when there's no cold water around, or you know, before the whole curse. But usually I let myself be who I am."
"Oh." Akane let out a choking breath.
"I do have to hype myself to get into the role of a half-decent boy," Ranma pointed out. "Sometimes I'm a little worse at it, like when you messed up my game tonight, or right now. It's always been easier with Ryoga."
"Why is it different with him?"
"He's…" Ranma sighed. "Unique. It's not really a game with him. It might have been, once, but Ryoga is always all-in. You can't do it half-way with him… When I stole that piece of bread from him…"
"Bread?"
"Yeah, there was always a huge fight for the last best bread of the day," Ranma explained. "That's how we met the first time. He swore revenge. Over a little piece of bread. A rival, just from that. I agreed to fight him after school. He lost. Very quickly. He wasn't bad. Trained in the family style, had impressive endurance and was already strong, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to beat me, obviously."
"And?" Akane prompted.
"He tried again. Got up out of pure stubbornness and fought me two more times that very same day. Then, we talked," Ranma said, reminiscing. "It was a week until I saw him again. He'd gone to train, and had gotten stronger. Our next fight was much closer."
"I see."
"You don't." Ranma shook her head. "I've been on the road for most of my life. Every single vacation, every time Pops thought I could get away with skipping school. All over Japan and abroad. Multiple masters to learn techniques from. Every insane training strategy you could think of, every impossible exercise to push me to my limits. Some… were so bad I barely remember them. All to become the best martial artist there could be. As soon as I could walk, pops was teaching me to fight. Years of my life, just that. No rest." Ranma chuckled. "I learned what a break was only when I became friends with Makoto, and that was barely a few months before Ryoga."
Akane stayed silent.
"Ryoga didn't get any of that," Ranma said. "Sure, his dad is a martial arts instructor for something or other… But the Hibikis have a family curse that keeps them lost and wandering most of the time. If Ryoga got a week of steady training in a row from his father… that would be just about half of the time they spent together that year."
"Sounds… lonely." Akane said. "You're saying he caught up to you? How long-"
"Two months," Ranma said. "He almost won our fight two months after the first one. I've never told him, but it was so close, it was basically a fluke that I won."
"How?"
"He decided we would be rivals." Ranma exhaled a heavy breath. "He decided that our connection was worth anything. And he did the impossible. For me."
"Oh."
"With a rival like that, I was improving too," Ranma said, proudly. "Pops was fine to let us stay in one place as long as I kept up the new pace. We got to stay there for two years. Two whole years in one place."
Akane clenched her free hand into a fist.
"If… Ryoga doesn't work out," Ranma said, her free hand raising to rub at her eyes. "I don't think I'll be able to commit to being a boy for anyone else. But for him… I could keep it going."
"You love him," Akane breathed out quietly.
"I-" Ranma hesitated. "I wish it was this simple. He's really important to me. He's my rival. I wish he stayed in my life, keeping me on my toes and making me stronger. I wish he was happy. I've read so many stories, and imagined him together with the boy I play in each one. But-"
They walked in silence for a bit, Ranma pretending she wasn't crying. Akane tried to say something a couple of times, but would always change his mind.
"Sometimes I think that maybe that other boy doesn't have to be me. Sometimes I just wanna be his friend. I don't really have many of those." Ranma said, finally, not having gotten her tears under control yet, and having given up on doing so before speaking once again. "I don't even remember the name of the boy I was friends with when I was six, training in Osaka. And then… It's just Makoto, Ryoga and you."
Akane pulled Ranma a little closer, and slowled their pace down a bit. Next to them, a familiar wall had appeared, but Ranma didn't seem to notice it yet.
"I'm horrible, thinking that," Ranma continued. "Ryoga upended his whole life to become my rival, and I can't even let him sweep me off my feet. But even if I can't force my heart to do exactly what it needs to do, it's really close. I just need to be a boy for him and it will work out. It has to!"
Akane pulled Ranma into a hug.
"I-" Ranma collapsed into the boy's arms. It was a little awkward, since she was a drop taller, and had to hunch down a little to be comfortable. "Sorry."
"That's alright," Akane said, "there's nothing like a good cry."
Ranma started sobbing even more.
Akane held strong.
They would have stayed like that for a while longer, but they were right in front of the gate leading to the whole estate. The gate in question opened, and two figures carrying hand-held lights emerged, lighting them both up.
Akane dashed to cover Ranma behind him.
Both of their parents were staring at them.
"Ranma!" Genma grumbled unhappily. "What are you thinking bringing another-"
"Akane- is that you?" Soun asked, blinking in confusion. "What-"
"Oh no," Akane breathed out, touching at the edge of his chin, and feeling the contour powder under his fingers. Then, he grabbed at the high collar of Ranma's old uniform, which he was clearly still wearing. "I forgot."
There was a long pause of silence. Ranma was trying to get her tears under control by burying her face into Akane's back, hidden behind a cover of dark blue, cascading hair.
Genma and Soun exchanged a long look between themselves.
"If…" Genma began, "if that's what it takes…"
"It's certainly not what I expected," Soun said, his face already growing wet with exaggerated tears of his own. "But as long as you two are together and raise a new generation for the combined schools, feel free to do whatever you want! Oh, Saotome, this reminds me-"
"It's nothing like that!" Akane growled, interrupting his dad. "Can you please be normal for a bit, and leave me and Ranma alone?"
"Such dedication to each other." Soun all but bawled his eyes out. "It's such a good match!"
"We need to start making preparations for the wedding," Genma announced. "The sooner the better!"
Akane's uppercut caught Ranma's father right in the jaw, shutting him right up.
Bicker
"Ranma! You're such a pest!"
"I'm just thinking out loud," Ranma said, her voice as innocent as she could make it. "Izawa and Yuu have to end up together. Otherwise the whole manga is just a misleading waste of time!"
Akane's chopsticks broke in the grip. Luckily, the meal was already over. "It is not and never has been a waste of time," Akane growled out, pushing an empty bowl to the side. "You just don't know how to appreciate ki-less fighting."
"First of all, that's not a thing," Ranma said, rolling her eyes. "They're just really bad at using ki, but that doesn't mean they're practicing a subtype of martial arts. Everyone has ki, so it's still the same martial arts, just amateur hour!"
"Shows how bad you are at reading, when there's no boys fawning over each other," Akane replied. "It's supposed to be a world without ki! Only moves that you could do with basically no aptitude for it would be possible at all - that's the whole fun of it! Every fight is more dangerous and closer to their limits!"
"Well…" Ranma patted her cheek. "That's just silly."
Akane harrumphed dramatically, and looked away, pretending that the conversation was over, no longer listening.
"Second, there's definitely boys fawning in there! If you can't see how much Yuu is yearning for the approval and affection from Izawa, you're basically blind!" Ranma continued, undeterred by the fake ignorance. "And you call me bad at reading!"
Akane grabbed an unfinished glass of water and splashed it right at Ranma's face.
"What did you do that for!?" Ranma shouted out and stared at the offending glass of water.
Both of them stood up at the same time, glaring at each other.
Nabiki coughed, badly hiding a little short laugh at the antics at the breakfast table, but didn't say anything.
"You two were getting along so well just a couple of days ago," Soun lamented out loud. "Why is this happening now?"
"I can't even follow what they're fighting about, and I've long given up trying to get what Ranma is thinking," Genma said. "Just as we thought it was gonna be easy…"
Akane and Ranma turned away from each other, and stomped away in different directions.
Of course, since they were going to head to the same school, they inevitably met at the Dojo's gates, and growled at each other.
Then, after turning just around the corner, Ranma broke into giggles.
Akane remained a little more composed, but still sighed. "Think… this was enough to get them off our backs for a bit?' Akane fidgeted a little with the outfit. The girls uniform was exchanged into something much more casual. A medium-length houndstooth pattern skirt covered dark leggings, and for the top Akane was wearing a comfortable hoodie, marked with a repeating pattern of crossed rapiers over a triangular shield. A hair ribbon was conspicuously missing, the long dark blue hair cascading wildly as it spilled outside of the hood.
"Not yet," Ranma said. "I think we can mess with them for another day or two. Any longer than that… pops is definitely gonna figure it out. He doesn't look like it, but he can be smart once in a blue moon."
"Sorry about starting the whole mess," Akane said. "I got lost in - everything too much. That night wasn't what I expected, that's all. Should have changed before getting home."
"Nah, that one was all on me," Ranma replied, shaking her head. "Sorry for crumbling on you like that. Wasn't thinking what would happen if our dads saw us. Kinda forgot you ever were a girl for a bit, too."
"Still don't see me as one?" Akane asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Sorry," Ranma said, hopping onto the nearby fence to continue the walk up above. "I've slipped into a bit of a habit in my head now. Even when you're in a skirt. If you want, I can try to get out of it."
"It…" Akane shrugged. "I don't think it matters that much what you think of me. I'm still figuring things out."
"You wouldn't make it easy," Ranma added in a teasing tone. "I still can't believe your favorite manga is Holyland. I bet you could win a fight against someone like Izawa in your sleep."
"Yeah, you're not the one to judge other people's taste in manga." Akane started stretching a little while they walked. "Especially not since you read every issue I had in like a single afternoon."
"Hey, there were some decent looking boys in it, even if they're not that good at fighting," Ranma pointed out. "And I meant what I said back there - Yuu is definitely pinning after Izawa. It's cute! Oh, and Izawa is cool and all, but he can't help but look after a beginner. It's as if they're both bound by the string of fate. I bet they do end up together! Probably after a big, dramatic fight. You know, as soon as Yuu gets at least a little closer to closing the gap between them."
"Doubt that's happening," Akane said and punched the air a few times. "Think Ryoga's gonna show up on time today? Or… are we training after school again? I wanna get that punch down a little better."
"Oh no, he's definitely gonna be late," Ranma said. "But I do wanna stick around, just in case. So yeah, we can train." She giggled. "Soon, you'll be ready to conquer the wild and dangerous streets of Nerima ward at night!"
"Shut it," Akane said half-heartedly and then grinned.
"You've already got the skills, and you could definitely pull off Izawa's style, we'd just need to find you some cool leather pants," Ranma joked. "The hordes of delinquents won't know what hit them. Break their legs and their hearts at the same time."
Akane groaned, and started picking up the pace, slowly getting a running start. "Speaking of hordes of people asking for a beating…"
"Don't actually break any legs!" Ranma shouted encouragingly, just as Akane's fist collided with the first boy's face.
Akane's technique is improving, Ranma noted with satisfaction. Great!
