Within a few minutes, Ranma had his hot water from Kasumi, and he returned to his preferred male form as soon as possible. After all, if all went as planned, he was going to be spending a month in his female form at some point in the near future; in the meantime, he intended to get as much enjoyment out of this body as possible (and at the moment, his wife was more than happy to help him out with that particular goal). He was just about to leave when he heard a familiar voice behind him: “Hey, Ranma, leaving so soon?”
Ranma turned around and saw the girl that his father wished he’d married. “Oh, hey there, Akane. I guess I was plannin’ on leavin’ — I didn’t see ya around, so I figured ya were out doin’ somethin’.”
“I’ve been in my room — I like to sleep in when I don’t have school.”
“Huh. Makes sense, I guess. Anyway, how’s life been treatin’ ya?”
“Pretty well. With Kuno out of the way, for now at least, I’m getting to at lead some semblance of a normal life. Well, as normal as life in this part of Nerima can be, anyway. Chibi-Usa’s a really interesting girl… she just seems so fascinated with the world around her.”
Ranma idly remembered a comment from his wife to the effect that Chibi-Usa hailed from approximately thousand years in the future; he supposed that a general sense of fascination made sense. After all, if he were to journey to, say, the Heian period of Japanese history, he’d probably spend a lot of time noticing details as well. Naturally, he didn’t mention all of this to Akane: “Well, this is a pretty strange place ta live; like ya said, ‘normal’ for this part of Nerima ain’t exactly what most folks’re used ta seein’.”
“You’ve got a point there.”
The pigtailed martial artist decided to change the subject somewhat. “Are Pops and yer dad still tryin’ ta get the two of us together?”
“Well, after what Tissue did to your father, Daddy seems to have backed his previous stance of ‘outrage’ down to ‘disappointment.’ Your father, on the other hand….”
“Lemme guess, he’s still at it, right?”
“Sort of. He keeps talking as though you’ll see the light eventually. Still, now that I’m finally back on the dating scene, maybe he’ll face reality — though my instincts are telling me that’s a long shot.”
“That’s right… you had a date last night, right? How’d it go?”
“Just fine — Hikaru’s a really nice guy.”
“Hikaru?”
“Hikaru Gosunkugi. He was my date. He’s in my class.”
Ranma briefly spaced out as he attempted to match a face with the name. “Oh yeah,” he finally said. “He’s that creepy-lookin’ kid.”
“He’s not creepy,” Akane said indignantly. “He’s just a little introverted.” Maybe it was the novelty of the situation (after all, this was her first date since the Shoe Thumper had made his idiotic proclamation), but Akane felt compelled to defend Gosunkugi, even though she’d only been on one date with him. Of course, during the course of that one date she’d spent more time thinking about Hikaru than most people did in their lifetimes, so in that sense she really did have a better idea of who the shy kid with the pale complexion was than most people outside his family. Plus, he really did seem like a nice (if extremely nervous) guy. “You shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on appearances, you know.”
“Course I know that,” Ranma replied. “That’s one of the basic principles behind Anything Goes, after all. So, what’s he really like, then?”
“Well, like I said, he seems really shy and introverted. In fact, he almost seemed intimidated when he first asked me out.”
“Well, ya are one of the best martial artists around here. I figure most guys would be intimidated by a date who could pull their arms out of their sockets.”
“I’ve never done that!”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure ya did that ta several members of the pervert squad. Multiple times, too.”
“I dislocated their shoulders. That’s hardly the same thing as pulling someone’s arm out of its socket.”
“Uh, no, actually, I think that that’s exactly what ‘dislocated’ means.”
“Okay, fine. If you look at it that way, I suppose you’re right. But I still think most of Hikaru’s attitude came from shyness.”
Ranma decided to let the subject drop and took Akane’s word for it. “Shy or not, he’s gotta have some courage if he was the only one ta think ta ask ya out even though Kuno’s out of the picture.” That, however, brought up another point. “This guy, is he gonna be okay? I mean, Kuno ain’t gonna be happy about this when he finds out.”
“I think so. I don’t think I told anyone about our date, and he seemed so jittery that I doubt he’d have the courage to do so either. Also, we spent most of the time in out-of-the-way places; for instance, the movie we saw was in a small art house theater.”
“So, what, it was an artsy film then?”
“Actually, it was classic movie night, so we got to see a double feature of Kurosawa films.”
“Oh? Ya mean like Seven Samurai?”
“That movie’s more than three hours long, Ranma. There’s no way it could ever be a double feature with anything. But to answer your question, we saw Yojimbo and Throne of Blood. Pretty good stuff, I guess, though I could tell Hikaru was more into it than me. I found out later that he’s into photography, though, so maybe that explains it a little. Anyway, the intermission was long enough for us to grab a bite to eat from a ramen joint just outside the theatre. It was pretty good — I think you’d like it. Then again, you like anything that’s edible.”
Ranma nodded; it seemed that Akane’s foray into the world of dating had gone relatively well. “Sounds good; ya gonna go out again?”
Akane looked a bit flustered at this. “I, well, uh, I think we will. He did say he wanted to wait a bit, just to be safe.”
“Makes sense — havin’ ta worry about Kuno lookin’ over yer shoulder’s bound ta make anybody nervous. Probably wants ta make sure he don’t have ta buy life insurance.”
“I suggested that he learn some sort of self-defense, and he said he was considering it — though I’m not sure how he can solve the short-term problem without hiding. Maybe there’s some sort of Martial Arts Photography he could look into.”
“Well, if there is, I’m sure they teach it in Nerima,” Ranma commented. He paused and then added an afterthought. “If all else fails, there’s always the oldest form of self-defense.”
“And that is…?”
“Run like hell.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny.”
“Who’s jokin’? It really works — why else would my Pops incorporate it inta the Saotome school?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talkin’ about the Saotome Secret Technique.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Well, duh. It’s s’posed ta be a secret.”
“So, what is it?”
“I’d like ta tell ya, Akane, but Pops is likely ta chew me out as it is jus’ for lettin’ ya know that we even have a secret technique, so I’m gonna have ta leave ya hangin’, I guess.”
“Oh, well. Have a nice day, Ranma.”
“Will do.” Ranma gave Akane a wave, stepped out of the door, and took to the rooftops.
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(Posted Wed, 07 Feb 2007 07:22)
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