[Episode 202454] [Episode 202454]The rest of the day had been rather interesting. There had been an outpouring of notes from the male members (and some female members) of the class, all asking rather lewd and some downright disturbing questions. A bit of unconventional application of Amaguriken, and every note sender had a suitably sarcastic reply: “Ever heard of a ‘joke’? Look it up, you hormonal idiots.”
It was rather interesting to see more then half the class facefault.
Another thing that had piqued his interest was the absence of Hinako-sensei. The sub had said something about the flu, but Ranma had a gut feeling that it was something more. He made a mental note to check up on the teach if she was sick again tomorrow.
Of course, all good things had to end, and he once again learned that every action had an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, his action had been a little bit of out-of-character sarcasm. His reaction was a school-wide mob (how the hell had the rumor spread so fast?) trying to accost him as soon as class ended, all intent on learning about his new personality and/or how good Xian Pu had been in the sack.
Annoyed, but not in the mood for dealing with the consequences of doing grievous bodily harm to the entire student body, Ranma did the only thing he could do and jumped out the window… only to promptly grab the sill and switch his destination from the ground to the roof, so as to avoid the waiting crowd in the courtyard. It was quick work to lock the roof access, and he took the resultant breather to try and think of a way out of this situation he had stupidly gotten himself into.
‘But it was so worth it,’ he thought to himself, leaning back against the door.
“Ranchan.”
‘Aw, fuck.’ He knew he should have scanned the roof as soon as he locked the door. Well, might as well get this over with.
“Ucchan. How did you know I was here?” Ranma turned his head to the side and eyed Ukyo calmly.
“Mob in the middle, mob at the bottom. The only way out was up,” she replied, taking a seat beside him. He was momentarily surprised she was being so rational, but brushed it off for more important matters at hand.
“Huh. If everybody else knew me as well as you do, I’d be screwed.”
“Glad to hear that, Ranchan.”
Silence descended on them, as one tried to gather her thoughts, while the other waited for the inevitable.
“Something happened to, you, Ranchan. You’re different, now… almost like you changed overnight,” she finally said, something he couldn’t place in her voice. Her aura was a jumbled mess of depression, guilt, and determination, with a touch of resentment for good measure; all it told him was she wasn’t as cheerful as she made herself out to be.
“I decided to grow up,” he answered. He noticed he’d been saying that a lot today.
“I can see that.”
Silence again.
“What happened to us, Ranchan?”
“Fucked up childhoods. Revenge quests. Pointless goals,” he answered, smiling humorlessly, “Oh, and fathers who don’t have the IQ of a rock between them.”
“Huh. Those would damage friendships, huh?”
“But of course.”
Silence again.
“I take it you’ll be making a choice soon?”
“What choice?”
“Don’t play dumb, Ranchan. You know what I mean.”
Ranma chuckled dryly. “But of course. But why would I be making a choice?”
“You said so yourself, Ranchan: you grew up. You might have unknowingly strung us along before, but I doubt you’ll let it continue, now that you know what’s been happening. Your new maturity and your sense of morals won’t let you… that is, of course, provided that they, at least, have remained relatively unchanged?”
“I still don’t take joy in death and destruction, if that’s what you mean,” Ranma replied, just a touch sarcastically, “And you’re assuming that I haven’t already chosen.”
Ukyo started beside him, turning to look at him in shock. “You’ve already made your choice?”
“Yep.”
“…It’s not me, is it?”
“No. It’s none of you, actually.”
“What?!?”
Ranma shrugged. “I’m not accepting any of the engagements.”
“But… what about your honor?”
“What about my honor?”
“The engagements were made on your honor, Ranchan. You can’t just turn it down!”
“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong.”
Ukyo blinked, surprised at the answer. “Huh?”
“You’re assuming MY honor is on the line.”
“…What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that even though the engagements were made in my name, it was not made by ME. It’s not MY honor that is on the line, since it was not my promise.”
Ukyo blinked. Then blinked again. Then blinked one more time as she tried to comprehend what he was saying. Ranma took pity on her and elaborated a bit.
“I see honor much the same way as beauty: it’s in the eye of the beholder. The old bastard sees it as nothing more then a tool, and I see it as something only I can define when it applies to me.”
“I… guess that makes sense. But whose honor is it on, then?”
Ranma gave her a smirked and answered, “I would think it rather obvious: our fathers and Tendo-san. Theirs is the only honor at risk with the engagements, since they were the ones who made the promise.” He paused as he considered what he’d just said, then amended it. “Or rather, just your father and Tendo-san; the old bastard, as stated earlier, only sees honor as a means to an end. Frankly, he has no honor of his own.”
“And you don’t care about their honor?”
“Why should I? If they want to be stupid and risk their honor for something as volatile as an arranged marriage, let it be on their heads.”
Ranma looked over to his companion when no response was forthcoming, and saw a thoughtful expression on her face. He wondered just what was going through her head. He found out soon enough.
“You know our parents won’t see it that way, right?”
Ranma raised an eyebrow at her comment. Sounded like she accepting his views on the matter. “My old man I could care less about. Your old man was an idiot to begin with for thinking my old man would drop one engagement for another. Okaa-san… well, that’s a bit harder, but I’ll find a way to deal with it.”
Ukyo made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat, and they both went back to staring out into the city skyline.
“You’re taking this awfully well, Ucchan,” Ranma finally commented, finally voicing the thought that had been bothering him for some time.
“How did you expect me to act, Ranchan?” she asked.
“Pissed, I guess. Homicidal. Maybe pull an Akane on me.”
“A what now?”
“An Akane. You know, violently bludgeon me to death with something blunt and heavy.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah… so, what gives?”
She stayed silent, trying to compose her thoughts. It was several seconds before she finally said: “Did you know I never really knew how I was supposed to go about wooing you?”
Ranma raised an eyebrow. “News to me. You seemed to do it pretty well: chasing me all over Nerima, trying to tempt me with food, pulling underhanded tactics to get me to bend over backwards, hitting me hard enough to kill most regular people… etcetera, etcetera.”
She gave him a flat look. “I was copying the competition that was already here.”
“Oh. Well, that might not have been the best idea.”
“Obviously.”
“Obviously,” Ranma repeated. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”
Ukyo sighed. “My father only gave me a crash course in our family fighting style before sending me out to hunt you down. I was six when he kicked me out of the house, and I had to learn how to take care of myself from scratch. I had to learn how to start a business, take care of the resulting finances, defend myself from pedophiles… and that was along with… other things a girl had to deal with growing up. I had to put myself through school, find my own living quarters, deal with the yakuza… I had to learn a lot of things the hard way, and had so many close calls that I still have nightmares about them at night.”
“In other words, you had to grow up quickly.”
“Yeah. I love you, Ranchan, I really do, but the ‘cute fiancé’ bit has always only been an act, a childish escape from the lonely life I had before meeting you again. It was… fun, you know? Being able to act like a lovesick teenager from a shojo manga. It was the closest thing I was going to have to a childhood, and I quickly lost myself in it.
“But then the Wedding Fiasco happened, and I realized that, despite it being fun, despite it being a little slice of childhood, it was time to end the dream. I could have seriously hurt some of the guest with my little play-acting… I don’t think I could have lived with myself if I had harmed someone in my selfish desires.”
“So you dropped the act; went back to being Ukyo the self-made chef. I was wondering why you weren’t hounding me for the last week.”
She gave a dry, mirthless chuckle, but chose not to make a comment. They once again descended into silence.
“So, what now?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean, Ranchan. What happens to us now? I’m not chasing you anymore, but the chaos was the only thing we both took part in.”
“…It doesn’t have to be, you know.”
Her head turned so fast a crick could clearly be heard. “What?”
“We can still hang out. Just because I don’t see you as my fiancé anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t see you as my friend,” he said, giving her a smile, “Heck, you were my best friend, once. I’d like that to be true again.”
“You… you really mean it, Ranchan?” she asked.
“Of course, Ucchan.”
“R-ranchan…” Ukyo whispered. Her face lowered, and her bangs fell down to hide her eyes. Even so, Ranma could have sworn he saw a tear before it was hidden by her hair. “T-thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me.”
Ranma just smiled.
They sat there in companionable silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company in a way that hadn’t been possible for more then ten years. It wasn’t until Ranma realized he was watching the sunset that it struck him that it’d been hours since school ended, and the mob had already gone home. He looked to his side to see that Ukyo had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He smiled softly; she looked so peaceful sleeping there, more relaxed then he recalled seeing her in a long time.
Unfortunately, it WAS sunset, and they had to be getting home. That thought in mind, Ranma regretfully nudged the sleeping girl awake. She came to with a feminine snort that he thought was rather cute.
“Ugh… Ranchan?”
“Hey Ucchan. It’s sunset. Everybody’s probably beginning to worry, so we have to get back.”
“Aw darn… I was so comfortable, too,” Ukyo muttered, yawning and getting up.
“So was I, surprisingly,” Ranma admitted, a little shocked himself at the fact. He marveled on it for a bit, before getting up himself. “You need a ride home? You can’t jump from this far up, can you?”
Ukyo shook her head. “I can, actually, but it’s alright. I’ll walk; I’ve got things to think about anyway.”
“Alright then.”
“We should do this again sometime, Ranchan.”
Ranma grinned impishly. “Yeah, we should. I had so much fun being your pillow,” he mock-griped. Ukyo giggled.
“I know. Didn’t you just?” she shot back. Ranma laughed.
One last wave goodbye, and Ranma was over the ledge and dropping. He landed lightly, on to be off again as he roof-hopped back to the Tendo Dojo.
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