[Episode 115594] [Episode 115594]"I'm not trying ta make a joke. I wanna go on a date, and you're the best girl I can think of."
"The best girl you could think of after your fiancees you mean. Do you even know any other non-fiancee girls? Or am I the only one you could think of?"
"I meet girls all the time, both as a girl and as a boy! I go to class with 11 of them, not counting Akane and Ukyou. And whenever I can get away from my fiancees and spend some time away from the normal madness, I always seem ta wind up in the center of some other craziness, and half the people I meet are girls. Probably more than half, 'cause if guys approach me when I'm female, they're all pervert jerks, and after I pound them, girls come up to talk."
"Of course they do. Ranma Saotome, god's gift to women."
Nabiki's satire sparked a bit of ire in Ranma's voice. "The point is I meet lots of girls. I can meet as many as I want. I've got women I don't want pursuing me. But I don't want to date any of them. I want to date you, if you'll let me."
Ranma's sincerity had begun to get through Nabiki's armor. Nabiki was pretty sure Ranma was incapable of lying to her face like this in order to hurt, swindle, or get the better of her. If someone was putting him up to this, he should fumble some of these questions she'd asked. There's no way someone could predict and brief Saotome to answer all of these, and there's no way Saotome could ad lib answers to support someone else's plan.
Unfortunately the alternative was equally impossible. No one would ask out Furinkan's ice queen. Especially a jock too stupid to admire her good qualities, and also engaged to her sister. Dozens of guys who'd only seen her sister at a distance, lined up for the privilege to be beaten up by her. How could a man engaged and living with her younger sister notice her?
But Nabiki knew Ranma wasn't really stupid, just undereducated and naive. And he couldn't ignore Nabiki's intelligence, as he felt its effects often enough in the past. He had never been jaded by Akane; why would he be impressed, when due to his curse and his training, he could compete favorably with Akane as long as it didn't involve socialization or schoolwork?
So maybe, maybe she could believe that Ranma could notice her as someone to date. But why would he? Her only outstanding feature was her intellect, which Ranma could only see when it was in the process of making life harder for him. Hardly advantageous to attract his favor. Plus he had girls shoving food, breasts, and innuendo on him constantly.
So this must be some kind of ploy by Ranma, or using Ranma. Perhaps started by Akane, as she had the easiest time getting him to pull some harebrained maneuver. Now all Nabiki had to do was to find a gap in Ranma's story and pry out the truth. "I don't believe you. You don't want to just go on a normal date. What's really going on?"
"I told you! Man, you didn't start to doubt me until I told you that you were the girl I was interested in! Why can't you believe I wanna date you!"
"Because over half of the girls at school would date you, and no one would date me!" Nabiki screamed, before she realized she'd lost all control over the conversation, and admitted aloud things she'd never say to Ranma under normal circumstances.
"Over half the girls in school act like brainless morons around men, waiting for some jerk in a ripped shirt behaving like a silent Mikado Sanzenin ta rescue them. They only act human when playing pound the pervert or when they think it's 'just us girls.' The girls that don't flake out are either engaged to me and treat me like a possession, or they're too shy to talk, or they'd rather ask me out thinking I really am a girl, or they assume I'd never be interested in them. As far as I know, you seem to be the only one in the last category."
"So go date one of the others!"
Ranma suddenly realized what was really causing them to argue. The anger of Ranma's stance drained away when he finally started to see the real problem. Softly and carefully he said, "No. This isn't about how many girls would date me. You said 'No one would date me.' That's why you won't believe me."
Nabiki winced as Ranma picked up on her painful admission of the truth. She'd hoped he'd missed that while he was distracted by talking about his relationship to girls. But Ranma had grasped the loose thread of the problem, and pulled. "Well, it's no wonder, what with half the guys only interested in getting into a girl's panties, our school is full of girls easier than you to try to tumble, so none of those perverts would bother you, not that you'd want them to. And the guys that'd want something else are turned off by your hard-as-nails act. Who'd want to date an unfeeling robot?"
"Well if that's how you see me, you can just LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Ranma ignored her interruption. He'd probably put his foot in it. Past experience told him that he had a slim chance to rescue the situation if, and only if, he kept talking. "That's how others see you. That's the effect you've intentionally created. But I have one advantage none of the others had. I live with you. I know it's an act, and I'm not turned off by you. Plenty of people would have thought about asking you out if they could have seen what you're really like."
Nabiki looked stunned, and Ranma was silenced as he had no idea how Nabiki was reacting. Ranma had no idea what he should say next.
The real problem was that what Ranma had said to her was nearly identical to what she'd been telling herself for months. The difference was that she didn't really believe herself. It sounded to her too much like wishful thinking and rationalization. She'd thought that platitude hundreds of times to bury the dull ache of loneliness and depression.
Having someone else say it, with conviction, and willing to date her to prove it, actually managed to soothe the ache for the first time in months. And when she felt the pain lift, she could finally risk admitting how much it really hurt.
To have admitted earlier how much it hurt her, would have risked plunging her into despair with no way to recover, as long as the source of the pain persisted. Instead, she cried with relief, and acknowledged the months of pain that was finally gone.
Nabiki's bursting into tears convinced Ranma that he had screwed up royally. He had no clue how to fix it, so he started panicking, and repeating "I'm sorry!" until Nabiki ran into his arms, and said, "Just hold me."
Ranma awkwardly held her, eventually turning it into a proper hug. Nabiki's tears turned into sniffles before Ranma asked, "So are ya willing to date me?"
Answering a direct question about her emotions was against Nabiki's nature. So she asked, "Are you asking me out?"
Numerous past misunderstandings prompted Ranma to blurt out, "For a date. Just a date. No marriage. No engagement. No promise of undying love. Just a date, with the possibility of further dates."
Having Ranma flustered, while still nestled in his hug made Nabiki feel more of her old self, and slightly mischievous. "Then we'll go on a date. I'll tell you when I'm ready to distract everyone else from us."
"Um, there's one more thing. Between what our parents, and the fiancees, and the perverts at school, and all the stupid advise everyone gives me, I'd like some help planning the date, itself. I really don't know what a normal date is, and I'd like to try to get it right. Will you help me?"
"All right."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 23 Sep 2004 20:07)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.